Updating WordPress Revisited
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Updating WordPress Revisited

One of the things I dread most about upgrading wordpress (and actually the thing I least like about wordpress over all) is the actual deleting and uploading of the upgraded files.

However, with the new MacFusion (which uses MacFuse from Google) it is super easy to mount an FTP site through an SSH connection. Now mounting an ftp drive in the mac finder was not a big problem; being able to write to it was: Finder will mount an FTP site but it is read-only. Until now it was all a matter of hunt and delete to find the right files to delete; sometimes certain files in a folder needed to be deleted while others needed to be left alone. Needless to day, it was a huge pain! But now sunny days have come and we are all able to grab hands, sing, and dance all the day long…or something like that… So here is how to have the sunny days arrive…

It goes without saying (but I will say it anyway) that you should have EVERYTHING (MySQL, WordPress, etc) backed up. This cannot be expressed to severely. Check out this post for more information on how to back up you wordpress site.

First, you will need a few downloads:

1. MacFusion (and MacFuse)

2. ChronoSync (or some other type of folder sync program)

3. the newest version of WordPress

Once everything is installed and unstuffed, go ahead an run MacFusion and mount your webroot/ftp site.

Next, start up ChronoSync (or your sync program of choice). Then select the unstuffed, upgraded version of WordPress that is on your local computer as the master folder (or the one which is the basis for the sync). Next select the wordpress folder on your remote ftp site. NOTE: Be careful to not hit the sync button at this point. You could erase all your posts and content if you do.

Now comes the really important part: setting up the rules for the sync.Basically you need to set a rule up for each file that should NOT be repalced by the new upgrade. There are 5 or 6 folders/files that should not be upgraded depending on what kind of installation you have and how you use WordPress. Those files are: wp-config.php file; wp-content folder; (Special Exception: the wp-content/cache and the wp-content/plugins/widgets folders should be deleted.); wp-images folder; wp-includes/languages/ folder–if you are using a language file do not delete that folder; .htaccess file; robots.txt file.

This is a screen shot of the rules that I use in ChronoSync.

ChronoSync Rules Screen Shot

Pay special attention to the logic in the rules. I set it so the listed files are not included in the sync from the local folder;

another-wards they are the only files that are not replaced.

Once you have all the rules set up (and have saved the sync settings so you don’t have to go through all this the next time an update comes out), if your sync program allows you to, do a trial sync. Check the output log and make sure that none of the files that are replaced are the ones we have listed above as exceptions.

Finally, double check that you are all backed up and hit the sync button. The program does all the rest of the work and next time you have to upgrade it will but just a few clicks of the button (assuming you saved the settings) and you will be good to go.

Don’t forget to go to the ../wp-admin/upgrade.php file in order to install the upgrade once it is done syncing/uploading.

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