Wordpress 2.6 is live and has been around in the wild for a few days now. At first glance it looks like a great release with some very useful new features. The theme preview function is worth the upgrade alone.
Or is it?
I have a test blog running out of sight of the search engines that I use specifically for testing Wordpress themes and upgrades.
Wordpress 2.6 broke it. I took all the usual precautions, deactivated the plugins and followed the upgrade instructions to the letter.
More specifically it broke the categories, scattering them into oblivion never to be seen again. The category permalinks were broken as well. There is a solution to this problem but it’s a long winded trek though the database that is not for the faint hearted.
As a fresh installation Wordpress 2.6 is, from what I can see so far, flawless. But as an upgrade it’s a potential minefield. A quick search for similar problems via Google brings up a growing number of angry early adopters with broken blogs.
Perhaps whatever the problem is will be fixed in 2.6.1.
If you know your way around a Wordpress database then go ahead and take the risk. If you just want to get on with hassle free blogging wait until the next update or two. Or, perhaps better still, just stay with Wordpress 2.5.
Scary Wordpress 2.6?…
I recently upgraded my Wordpress mirror blog to 2.6. Everything, thankfully, went well. I used an automated upgrade feature provided by my hosting service, which may explain why it worked without any problems. But looking around the Internet today, I c…
Worked fine for me.
Ha! My laziness may have saved me again!
Hi Ashley,
Thanks for the headsup!
A broken blog kills traffic and SERP. Happened to me in May 2008 when I activated an incompatible plug-in. Took me a month to recover …. am not going to break it again!
I upgraded my blog to 2.6 and it was a flawless upgrade with absolutly no issues what so ever.
If only I found your post BEFORE upgrading!! :-(
Now my categories are all messed up…
You say that there is a solution… can you post a link to it please?
Stefano
There’s no harm in waiting a week or two after a release before upgrading. Usually the last-minute kinks are worked out by then.
Cheers for the heads-up Ashley.
I was about to do this, but figure I’ll wait a few weeks now. Would prefer if they released security patches in addition to full upgrades.
A quick googlin’ threw up this post on fixing broken cats in 2.6 via the database: http://blog.cumps.be/wordpress-26-upgrade-fix-missing-categories/.
That’s odd. I’ve upgraded to 2.6 and all is hunky-dory, even though I have to confess that I didn’t take all the precautions.
Next time, I’d better be careful, just in case this happens to me.
Ashley,
I managed to upgrade from 2.5.1 to 2.6 (forgot to deactivate all the plug-ins beforehand, too) with no problems. However, I did encounter some crazy SQL errors today at one point. I ran some repairs on the database and all appears to be well… for now. I would second the suggestion that people stick with 2.5.1 for a bit until the release issues with 2.6 are ironed out, although I decided to stick it out with 2.6. Rolling back is more work than I wish to do at the moment. Also, some plug-ins have been a bit dodgy, but their developers were quick to issue fixes, which is great. In any case, good luck with the eventual upgrade. Be well.
Ian
thanks for the head up on wp 2.6.
Thanks for the tip, Ashley. I’m glad I went with my gut on this one. I put off upgrading for a couple of days. Yesterday, I was going to attempt it, but couldn’t get a proper backup of my site made. So I decided it was a sign and I should just wait. And then I checked out this post today. *phew* Thanks for saving me a lot of heartache.
I used the wordpress automatic upgrade plugin…..worked fine..
I’m pleased that it worked for some of you. But, the fact that it seems to be causing category destruction seemingly at random is still a major cause for concern.
Martin - Thanks for the link. As you can see, the solution isn’t for the fainthearted.
my upgrade seemed to work just fine…
I guess I got real lucky.
However, not one incoming link since I upgraded has registered as a trackback and that makes me nervous. Esp after reading about work they did in the whole “remote access security” stuff, and xmplrc or whatever it is called.
I use the Cutline theme, and the upgrade to 2.6 went off without a hitch. Except for a small coding problem any layperson like myself would be able to fix in seconds (in the widget file) — with the help of the Wordpress.org knowledge base.
I should mention that I also used an automated upgrade provided by my hosting service. Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe your problems stem from your manual installation somehow.
I’m just now getting around to upgrading to Wordpress 2.6+ from 2.5.1. I arrived here looking for problems and issues users experienced.
I almost never upgrade immediately on releases (e.g., 2.x) of Wordpress unless it’s an immediate bug-fix or security patch release. I usually wait until the issues have been exposed. When Wordpress goes to version 3.0, I’ll do the same.
Regardless, thanks for providing a forum of sorts for those of us who wait to upgrade.
Cheers,
Dan