2.9 my story.

Based on my experience of past couple days updating from 2.86 to 2.9, I must say that WP rushed 2.9 – apparently not enough thought process went into realeasing it. This is arrowgance. Which causes lots of unnecessary frustration, anguish, and headach for those who maintain blogs.

Sorry, but this is my opinion based on my experinece.

I’ve upgraded dozens of sites to 2.9. None of them has had the slightest issues.

In any new release, there’s always a few dozen people who post on these forums saying “New WP version sucks! My site is broken now!” and so on. You have to understand that this is normal. Some percentage is always going to break. No amount of testing will prevent that, there’s too many installations out there.

And on these forums, we tend to get people with problems, not people who don’t have problems. So the noise level is always high.

WordPress 2.9 is stable and fine. I can’t tell you why your site exploded, but this is always a possibility with any software changes. Always backup.

BTW, if you used any sort of auto-installation mechanism to install the blog instead of installing it yourself, this often causes breakage to occur on upgrades later. DO NOT USE AUTOMATIC INSTALLERS. Ever. Not GoDaddy’s, not Fantastico, not anybody else’s. WordPress can’t upgrade something that is different from what it is expecting.

Good to know otto42 that you did not have “the slightest issue”.

And thanks for the good advice “DO NOT USE AUTOMATIC INSTALLERS. Ever.” I will remember That.

Guys, I’ve just found a solution for WP2.9: reinstall my last version WP2.8.6!!!!!

Wow… After this tsunami I will be carefully paying attention to the world and I will only upgrade after I read more than 100 to 500 opinions in favor of next WP version (whatever that will be). What a crash…

I can tell you I didn’t use the auto installer. Haven’t since they released it. Because it caused nothing but drama. That said lets keep a few things in mind. I used an FTP to upgrade always do. 2.9 caused a major problem for me. End story. Please don’t start screaming about free produced on own time etc either.

Moderator or not screaming at those needing help solves nothing. Yes new builds no matter how well they are tested will have users who have problems. I’m aware of this from years of providing support help online and doing beta testing. Whether you feel it is the case or not. To me there currently are a high number of users experiencing problems. This means the issues need addressed. So far I’ve only seen a couple of threads here that come close to trying to do that.

I went through the same anguish when I updated from 2.7 to 2.8. My webserver got corrupted. Even in the directories where my blog files weren’t residing on. Hence the importance of backing up — although that is in itself, another pain.

I’m holding back on my blogs now before upgrading to 2.9. Waiting for 2.9.1 might be a good idea, too! ??

https://www.ads-software.com/download/counter/ it is at 427,031 for version 2.9 so indeed, the number of problems here is relatively small.

Still, if your site is important to you, always use a test site to test a new version: https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/343132?replies=3

I agree, people who blame WP for issues just don’t get it … its a website, it will cost time (and possibly money) – that’s why plugin developers ask for kind donations for their plugins … btw – where is the donate for wp developement button?

Anyhow, how do I suggest to upgrade?

– first backup database
– then download just prior to upgrading all your files to local maschine
– for the hell of it do an xml export as well
– deactivate all plugins
– upgrade automatically
– reactivate all plugins (easily found in recently active plugins – all bulk action stuff)

– go to my file which tells me what all I have changed in the core files and enter my code (yes, I do that, shame on me)

and voila, see if it has kinks anywhere.

This is the absolutely most rudimentary doofus upgrade strategy for the basic user (like myself). If anything goes wrong, you can just reinstate a prior wp release and upload all your files and import your db and you are good to go – will still take time and effort, however. So do it when you have time to deal with any issues arising out of any upgrade.

I’ve had minor issues upgrading in my time, caused by the WPAU plugin, file permissions or an FTP hickup, but I never had the idea the new version of WP was the problem. Some people like to think it is, always. Many things can go wrong, but out of 430,000 downloads, how many people come here with problems? What percentage would that be? Do you still think it’s WP? I’m a lazy user, especially since the auto-upgrade. I just make an export and hit “upgrade automatically” (don’t tell anyone). All sites upgraded (5 of them) in about 15 minutes, not one hickup (not a serious one at least), but of course I only do that when I have the time if something should happen.

I am one of those who are having an “issue,” and who doesn’t appreciate being yelled at by Otto. I am a long-term user of WordPress, and have never had the slightest problem I couldn’t work out. Now my comments have disappeared from below the posts, even though they are still in the db. I’m going back to 2.86 from this wonderful, stable release until this issue is resolved.

Count me among the people who downloaded 2.9 and never installed it. That might help your percentage a bit. ??

After having all kinds of adventures with brand new versions of WP, I learned to wait for the .XX fixes. It’s inevitable … my secondary sites upgrade beautifully with no problems whatsoever, but my main site always has, um, *issues.*

So I’m reading and have decided to wait. It’s the only thing that makes sense for my situation. Obviously, most people don’t have problems. And with four sites, including a couple of sandboxes, I don’t either. But it’s just the *one* that always gives me fits.

Like vegasrenie, I’m waiting a bit before taking the leap from 2.8.6 to 2.9. I was even running 2.9 rare on a test site and had no trouble, and upgraded 3 other sites successfully. But my “main” site is a busy online community newspaper, and I have to take things really slowly and carefully. I have a lot of plugins on that site, and many widgets working to make WordPress behave like a real CMS. The other sites I successfully upgraded are much simpler in their construction, with many fewer plugins and widgets.

I shouldn’t need the Scissors plugin after 2.9, anyway!

WordPress 2.9 is a major upgrade. WP and WordPres Multi-User codes are merging by version 3.0 and new functions have been added to WP.
In a nutshell
– You MUST Backup Databsse and server files and folders.
– You SHOULD disable all plugins (you could keep maintainance mode plugin on)
– You MUST RUN https://yoursite.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php after uploading WordPress files and folders because a new database table, commentmeta, will be created
– You SHOULD activate plugins one by one. You might like to check compatibility in WP repository prior to activating the plugin.
– If any plugin activated renders white screen either in front end or backend (admin) deactivate it by renaming/deleting the plugin folder via FTP or cpanel.

rlolson1 – You were very smart to BACK UP your blog before upgrading ?? Notice how many people are bitching because they didn’t? The auto-upgrader even tells you to back up.

Otto’s not yelling at anyone, he’s stating the obvious.

I’m going to make numbers smaller so maybe people get an idea what’s happening here.

10 people build WP 2.9
100 people test the nightly builds.
1000 people test the RCs
100,000 people use the FINAL build

You see the gap there? The people who test found LOTS of problems before the rest of us every get there. I pick up the tests on the RC version usually to test my plugins, but even then I didn’t have any issues on my test site and I had a couple http.php issues on my live site.

This is inevitable. This happens with every single piece of software in existence. Even Microsoft has this problem. You simply cannot test everything.

I’m testing 2.9.1 Beta1 right now and opening tracs to help out. You can too ?? And we simple users would love the help!