duplicate theme names from 2 separate developers cause problems

  • I set up my site using Chromatic theme from Graph Paper Press. I am getting notified there is a newer version via the dashboard, but it is giving me the Chromatic theme from myHoot. When I update the theme, it blows my site out of the water. Current version from Graph Paper Press is 4.0.1 and the update from myHoot is 4.0.4.

    Even Wordfence believes myHoot is the base theme when it should be Graph Paper Press.

    Website: https://www.briankmiller.com

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    WordPress uses what’s in the comments at the top of the theme’s style.css file.

    Yours is:

    /*
Theme Name: Chromatic
Theme URI: https://graphpaperpress.com/themes/chromatic/
Author: Graph Paper Press
Author URI: https://graphpaperpress.com
Description: Showcase your images in this clean, responsive portfolio theme packed with color and layout options.
Version: 4.0.1
License: GNU General Public License
License URI: license.txt
Tags: black, white, light, dark, one-column, left-sidebar, flexible-width, custom-background, custom-colors, custom-header, custom-menu, editor-style, featured-images, post-formats, rtl-language-support, sticky-post, theme-options, translation-ready, photoblogging
*/

    so it looks to https://graphpaperpress.com/themes/chromatic/ for updates.

    (Digging futher to see exactly how theme updates work… back soon)

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    It seems that wp.org gets searched first.

    Here’s one way to disable that: https://wptheming.com/2014/06/disable-theme-update-checks/

    I have also read, but cannot verify, that the folder name is important, so if you rename wp-content/themes/chromatic to wp-content/themes/chromatic-graph-paper, that may help (although you may lose any theme settings in the database.

    The easiest work around is to edit style.css for your theme and give it a very very big version number (e.g., 100004.0.1), and make a note for yourself to manually check for updates.

    Thread Starter artzcj

    (@artzcj)

    just fyi, because I got burned on this, it’s not the theme name in your stylesheet but the Directory name that seems to matter. My theme name was different, but the directory name was the same, and WP auto updated it.

    Above is what someone else said.

    So do I only rename the folder or is it in the style.css as well?

    If I rename the folder – will it show me the updates when they are available?

    I have copied the customizations.

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    if you rename the folder, it will probably not show you any updates. As a said, you’d probably have to look for them manually.

    (This seems dumb to me, too. A theme should have a line in style.css like “Theme Update URL: https://someurlgoeshere”)

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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