Turn off auto-updates?

  • Resolved Abigailm

    (@abigailm)


    8 years, 2 months ago

    Feature request:

    Please add an option within settings to disable auto-updates on this plugin.

    The plugin updated itself with the 1.9.9.8.2 shortly after midnight in my time zone. It broke the site — the home page produced a 500 error with wordpress error log showing:

    PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined method WPSS_Utils::is_plugin_active() in /home/..../wp-content/plugins/wp-spamshield/includes/class.utils.php on line 179

    Once I figured out the problem I was able to restore function by disabling and re-enabling the software — but by then the site had been down for an hour– and it would have been much longer if I had not become aware of the problem. (Because, you know, some people go to sleep late at night).

    You recommend clearing all caches with an update and that is something I can only do if know the updated has been passed through. So auto-updates are bound to cause problems with this program, at least on sites using caching.

    I found this article: https://www.redsandmarketing.com/plugins/wp-spamshield/faqs/?faqs=16#faqs_16 – where you recommend installing another plugin to control auto-updates — but I shouldn’t have to install a different plugin to prevent this one from breaking my site.

    Given that updates of this plugin frequently cause site function problems that are detailed in your troubleshooting guide, it seems to me to that you should not be using the wordpress auto-update API by default, but at least give users a choice.

    Now it is 2 am for me but instead of going to bed I have to check all my other sites using wp-spamshield to make sure this problem does not recur on other sites.

Viewing 16 replies (of 16 total)
  • Plugin Contributor redsand

    (@redsand)

    @abigailm,

    I realize that I may not always express it, I do genuinely care about every single one of our plugin users. Most of the time, I’m pretty blunt, and I can often be overly business-like, and that can be misinterpreted by those who don’t know me. If we interacted one-on-one, I think it’s easier to see the context. We do not want you to be frustrated. We felt that we were being professional, but if that didn’t come across, then I apologize. I also genuinely apologize for any miscommunication or further frustration.

    We will keep your thoughts in mind. ??

    Again, thank you for heeding my suggestion…. the check box in the settings page is exactly what I wanted to see and resolves my concerns and frustrations.

    You are very welcome.

    I hope you enjoy the new feature. There is even a further step that you might like. If you have client sites, and you don’t want the client to have the option to auto-update, if you define a constant in wp-config.php, the plugin will not only disable auto-update, but it will even remove the option from appearing on the settings page.

    Just add the following code to the wp-config.php :

    
define( 'WPSS_AUTOUP_DISABLE', TRUE );

    We felt this additional setting would be useful for developers with clients and multisite owners.

    – Scott

    • This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by redsand.
Viewing 16 replies (of 16 total)
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