Developer says don't ever update WordPress

Can you clarify with him if he edited core WordPress files? These are files that are within WordPress itself, and not themes and plugins.

@sjandbj

With WordPress, we encourage developers to use Child Themes so that the original theme can be updated without being overriden.

We also encourage plugin developers to write new plugins to interface / alter existing plugins so that plugin updates would not remove customisations.

With WordPress core itself, there is never a need to edit a core file since any customisation needed can be done through hooks which can be realised in custom theme and plugin files

The only reason I can see why your developer would say updates would override customisations would be because he/she edited core files.

We strongly encourage people to update their WordPress installations.

Please feel free to show your developer this reply. ??

Thank you Andrew and Jon. I forwarded your comments and this is his reply:
“The issue here is not WordPress per se, the issue is really dependent on the plugins. The reason i said not to update WordPress is that most plugins are dependent on the version of WordPress.
IF you update WordPress, and the plugin is not compatible hence your site would not work until there is a stable update to the plugin. Also since most plugins and themes have been extensively customized , you would have to make sure that all the updates to the plugin and themes are merged into the new version accordingly. So like any customized software project, an update is not just a click of a button and everything is supposed to work right. When the site was built, it was done on the latest and stable version of WordPress.
For future updates and upgrades, this now falls under a maintenance contract that we can put in place if you want to keep the site current with version updates and updates to plugins etc.”

I can understand the maintenance contract but shouldn’t he bring it up to the current WP version before we launch? Our version is 4.3.3. Thanks again.

I can’t speak to your contractual terms with your developer.

I would advise your developer not to be too worried about the WordPress version. There isn’t any breaking change between 4.3 and 4.4. There are some in 4.5 but it’s pretty easily resolved.

Also, plugin developers have been notified to update their plugins to work with WordPress 4.5

He is also right that typically in the industry, keeping your WordPress updated in a safe and controlled manner is usually in the terms of a maintenance contract.

However, if he has edited themes and plugins directly such that they cannot be updated – then he is not adhering to best practices.

See my previous reply on child themes and custom plugins ??

Sent him your replies and he updated the site “to the latest stable Version of 4.4.2. The update made 3 plugins stop working” which he is working on. I’m sure they need updating too.

Thanks very much for your advice.
bj