WordPress updating automatically?

[outlawgt]

I got a email from wordpress saying my site has been auto updated to 3.8.2. I have never received such an email before is this something new they're doing? I've always updated on my own for obvious reasons to make sure everything is compatible.

Seems suspicious they would send and email like that.

[Susan]

I would be suspicious about that, too! I get emails from my hosting company, advising that they are planning on updating, but it's never done without notice, and an e-mail doesn't come from WordPress.

Are you sure that it is from WordPress?

[outlawgt]

Here is what the email said

Howdy! Your site at *snip* as been updated automatically to WordPress 3.8.2.

No further action is needed on your part. For more on version 3.8.2, see the About WordPress screen:

If you experience any issues or need support, the volunteers in the WordPress.org support forums may be able to help.
http://wordpress.org/support/

You also have some plugins or themes with updates available. Update them now:

[Susan]

Did you check the headers of the email to see where it actually came from? You might want to post this over at the WordPress.org support forums.

[outlawgt]

I just posted on there. the email actually came from my admin email. and i've seen reports other people getting this email

[Summer]

Remember, as of WordPress 3.7, WP will auto-update for you unless you specifically disable it in the config file.

See http://make.wordpress.org/core/2013/10/25/the-definitive-guide-to-disabling-auto-updates-in-wordpress-3-7/

I thought I had it disabled on all my sites, but one that was still running 3.7.1 shot me a happy email saying that it had updated to 3.7.2 for me. I disabled it on that site a few moments later 🙂

I'm wondering how many sites are going to break when they push out a few million auto-updates on unsuspecting or unaware admins, bumping their sites up to WP 3.9 next week...

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WordPress / Genesis Site Design & Troubleshooting: A Touch of Summer | @SummerWebDesign
Slice of SciFi | Writers, After Dark

[Andrea Rennick]

WordPress only upgrades for you on minor versions. They will not do this for 3.9.

outlawgt - it;s a normal email and as stated above, started after 3.7. Yes, this was in the announcement post.

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**forum signature**
If you need technical support for your theme please file a ticket.

The forums are community based. Staff only monitors the forum for issues relating to the forum itself and to redirect users to where they need to go.

[Susan]

Andrea - thank for the clarification!

[Summer]

People have the ability to enable major version updates, and I'm guessing that more than a few have done so.

That, combined with more than a handful of instances where minor version updates caused major website failures, I'm going to wait a few more years until they've had time to collate the data from using everyone else's websites as guinea pigs to work out the bugs 🙂

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WordPress / Genesis Site Design & Troubleshooting: A Touch of Summer | @SummerWebDesign
Slice of SciFi | Writers, After Dark

[Summer]

Also, did anyone ever find out definitively if possibly the ability to allow theme updates is what caused that snafu with Prose a few months back? Where people who were using the Genesis child theme Prose had their themes "updated" to the Prose theme in the repository by CS Themes automatically?

I don't know what was fixed, but I think that it stopped happening after a week or two.

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WordPress / Genesis Site Design & Troubleshooting: A Touch of Summer | @SummerWebDesign
Slice of SciFi | Writers, After Dark

[Andrea Rennick]

until they’ve had time to collate the data from using everyone else’s websites as guinea pigs to work out the bugs

They have been - which is why they decided to do auto-updates for minor versions.

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**forum signature**
If you need technical support for your theme please file a ticket.

The forums are community based. Staff only monitors the forum for issues relating to the forum itself and to redirect users to where they need to go.

[sokratesagogo]

You can always disable WordPress core updates with a constant in wp-config.php:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Configuring_Automatic_Background_Updates

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“I toast, therefore I am”

[outlawgt]

I think they should change this. It should always be optional to update minor or major. I've already read a couple cases online where someones site broke when the automatic update happened. Its a liability for WP I think.

[outlawgt]

Plus, Not everyone is comfortable messing with code. Should be a option to turn it off in the dashboard.

[Summer]

In addition to a dashboard/admin option to disable the email nag, which is a separate toggle to disable from the actual update.

Lots of people griping about receiving 40-50-100 emails from all the sites they're admin for, nagging about the 3.8.2 update. I'm getting them for my test sites, where I didn't add the filter to disable the emails for. So yeah, thanks for all the spam.

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WordPress / Genesis Site Design & Troubleshooting: A Touch of Summer | @SummerWebDesign
Slice of SciFi | Writers, After Dark

[outlawgt]

Another automatic update sheesh. 3.8.3. How many updates does wp need to do its like the third notice i got from them in a week.

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