[wp-hackers] Upgrade instructions fatally flawed for Mac

[Michael B]

I don't know where that came from, it always said to not overwrite
wp-contents...

I do know that the detailed instructions give this info, and it was always a
point of contention as to what the upgrade instructions should be.  If my
memory serves me correctly, Matt didn't want the basic upgrade instructions
to include the delete everything but wp-config and wp-content, then upload
new files instruction.  So perhaps in the editing, the important step of not
overwriting wp-content was left out.

I've CC'd this to wp-docs, perhaps Michael H or someone else who still
manages the codex will look into it.

MB




On 1/15/07, Elliotte Harold <elharo at metalab.unc.edu> wrote:
>
> There is a major bug in the upgrade instructions on
> http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress that can cause Mac users
> to lose their data. This needs to be corrected. The problem is here:
>
> Step 3: Overwrite Files
>
> Get the latest and greatest WordPress (http://wordpress.org/download)
> and upload it to the WordPress directory, overwriting all the files that
> exist there. This will preserve your images and themes.
>
> Actually it won't, at least not on a Mac. I think what happens on
> Windows is that when you copy a folder such as wp-content onto an
> existing folder, files inside the target folder are retained if the new
> folder does not contain different versions of those files. However, on a
> Mac the behavior is different. The entire target folder is completely
> wiped out and replaced by the new folder. No content from the target
> folder is retained under any circumstance.
>
> I would recommend making an upgrade distribution that does not include
> the wp-content folder to avoid the possibility of overwriting user files
> within this folder. User and system files should be more cleanly
> separated. An upgrade should not touch the user's files.
>
> --
> Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo at metalab.unc.edu
> Java I/O 2nd Edition Just Published!
> http://www.cafeaulait.org/books/javaio2/
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596527500/ref=nosim/cafeaulaitA/
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