[wp-hackers] Final push for 2.1

[Daniel Jalkut]

On Jan 8, 2007, at 3:07 AM, Computer Guru wrote:
> However, that doesn't mean that 2.1 is ready for release now, like  
> Mark has been saying with the 2.0.6 issue, we need heavy testing  
> _from the public_

As a sort of casual technical-but-not-super-wp-savvy developer type,  
I'd be interested in helping in the 2.1 beta testing effort, but one  
of the hangups is I don't know exactly what I'm getting into by  
installing it.  I understand the best advice is "back up everything  
before you test it," but if the rest of the world is anything like  
me, they need a little context to understand exactly what it means to  
enter the beta zone.

In particular I'd like to see some clear description of whether I can  
easily go back to 2.0.6 if things go wrong. I know I can just back  
out the files on disk, but what are the implications to my database?  
WP always seems to "update the database" when I update the release,  
but is that always the case? Is there really always a change in the  
DB to reflect the version?  If so, do I have to restore from backups  
or does simply replacing the old files allow me to downgrade? These  
kinds of questions might have obvious answers to many of you, but  
you're not looking for help from people who this stuff is obvious to.

I think in particular at this page:

http://wordpress.org/download/beta/

You could keep the emphasis on "do this at your own risk" while  
making it a lot clearer what the implications of beta testing are, so  
technically brave people have that many fewer mental roadblocks to  
getting on board. Right now to become a beta tester I have to:

1. Search around for information about what the implications of  
installing are.
2. Backup, install, and test.

Since you want "the public" to help, you want to make it as easy as  
possible for them to do so. A guide of best practices or at least  
more explicit warnings will help that, I think.

MIght not be the right time for anybody to focus on that, but for  
future testing exposure it might help to make it more accessible.

Daniel