WordPress 2.5 released: blog updated in a blink

A new version of WordPress – the publishing system behind this website – have been released today and brings several improvements and changes over the older version

As I just upgraded this blog, I will give here my comments on this new version and the ease it was for me to back up my files and install the latest one.

All in all, it took me less than 20 minutes to backup the database and the files behind this little space of the Internet. I am simply amazed at that.

First I followed the instructions of OVH, my website’s host which are very clear concerning backuping the database.

Second and final : I did what WordPress mentioned concerning the upgrade itself. Three steps, six minutes. In a blink of an eye, it was done :

Step 0: Before You Get Started

* Just in case something goes wrong, make sure you have a backup. WordPress Backups is a comprehensive guide.
* Deactivate your plugins. A plugin might not be compatible with the new version, so it’s nice to check for new versions of them and deactivate any that may cause problems. You can reactivate plugins one-by-one after the upgrade.

Step 1: Replace WordPress files

1. Get the latest WordPress. Either download and extract it to your computer or download it directly to the server.
2. Delete your old wp-includes and wp-admin directories.
3. Copy the new files to your server, overwriting old files in the root. You may use FTP or shell commands to do so.

NOTE The wp-content folder requires special handling, as do the plugins and themes folders. You must copy over the contents of these folders, not the entire folder. Copying the entire folder overwrites all your customizations and added content.

Also take care to preserve the wp-config.php file in the root directory, as it contains your database sign-in information. Do note though that usually this will not be a problem since in a new installation the config file will be named wp-config-sample.php.

Step 2: Upgrade your installation

1. Visit the upgrade page. It will be at a URL like http://example.com/wordpress/wp-admin/upgrade.php. This updates your database to be compatible with the latest code, and before you do this your blog might look funny.

Step 3: Do something nice for yourself

If you have caching enabled, your changes will appear to users more immediately if you clear the cache at this point (and if you don’t, you may get confused when you see the old version number in page footers when you check to see if the upgrade worked).

Pretty easy, isn’t it ?