What Is The Best Way To Keep Wordpress Up to Date?

dont think theres any way, hence no replies. You are correct it is a pain in the ass. I dont think u really NEED to upgrade to the latest version every time though...

There is an auto update plugin for wordpress, not sure where I saw it but it was just a couple of weeks ago. I will check to see if I can find it and let you know.

Joel

Susan,

Here is link:WordPress › Wordpress Automatic upgrade WordPress Plugins

Joel

The latest versions of WordPress tell you when they need updating and can be set up so that they can be updated with one click. The same applies to plugins. So after you do your regular backup, look at the top of the dashboard and in the plugins section and update whatever needs updating.

It's quite rare that a WordPress upgrade is urgent, although the current upgrade to 2.8.1 could be regarded as such if you currently use 2.8.

Be wary of the autoupgarde plugin above as it was last updated on 19th Feb.

Just a heads up. I'm sure there's other plugins that do the job

Since v2.7 Wordpress (it's now at 2.8.1, I believe) you've been able to upgrade Wordpress just by going to Tools > Upgrade.

As for your plugins, the plugin posted above works great.

It's not the "hands off" solution I believe you were looking for, but it's much speedier than it was in the past, that's for sure.

-DareDevil

Be careful of auto upgrading. You might break your plugins.

I have not had a problem with auto update - it is relatively new though and the plugins that I use are kept up to date by their authors.

To use auto update follow the instructions from the Wordpress team. Backup. Check that the plugins you use are OK for the version that you are updating to. Disable them. Auto update Wordpress and any plugins that need updating and then enable the plugins again.

I have tried doing updates without disabling the plugins and it seems to work, but there is probably a good reason for recommending that they are disabled - compatibility I assume.

However, should the update fail there is no auto roll back!

Yes, the wp automatic upgrade plugin will can actually be set to do a hands-off auto upgrade of WP for you; or you can go in and manually do it with a few mouse-clicks. The beauty of that plugin, over the new built-in WP upgrade feature is that the plugin literally does all the necessary upgrading steps for you from backing up your files and database as well as deactivating your plugins and then reactivating them once it finished upgrading - something the built-in feature does not do.

I do use the wp auto upgrade plugin and have used it for about 2-3 yrs now, even having my clients use it, and have had very few issues with it; that said - I believe everyone should know how to manually upgrade WP. Technology is never perfect, things can and do go wrong, and sometimes the only way to fix it is with a manually upgrade.

But 99% of the time, the wp auto upgrade plugin does the job perfectly well.

Some months ago I would have recommended the plugin 'instantupgrade' however after finding that it had an exploit in it that allowed some blogs to get hacked with injection of spam links, etc I'd say, just upgrade the old fashioned way or hire someone to custom code you something to handle upgrades to your sites.