Ceci n'est pas une pipe

I quote here a post appeared on the blog of Flavio Copes dated February 7. I found this article interesting and written in a manner understandable to all, even to those who ask me for days to assist nell'upgrade from a release 2.2. * The current one. Tired of trying to post the URL of Flavio Copes, I put your article here. Thanks to distance Flavio Copes, then!

With the ' release of version 2.3.3 of WordPress , I took the opportunity to update the blog software, which was still at version 2.2, mainly because when you output the 2.3 was still not very clear how to transform tags managed by Ultimate Tag Warrior tags in the native WordPress ... and also because I never found the time (or inclination, diciamocela all) to do In fact ... the software update of the blog is a delicate operation and not much fun, but it is a duty to stay abreast of technology and avoid using components of which - perhaps - over time have known several vulnerabilities. However do not worry, we can get away quickly.

Yesterday I did the upgrade, and this is a diary with a list of operations required to update the blog and the template, changing the code to handle the tags. Maybe you too are going to do that, and this roadmap may be helpful.

Before anything else, back up files and databases. Another tip, it is better to have an installation "twin" of your blog, either locally or remotely, in order to perform these operations on a test version, then apply the update to the production site.

Important: If you do some damage to your blog, I had nothing to do

The detailed instructions - in English - to update the blog can be found on the official WordPress site .

1. must first make a list of which plugins are installed, check the version and verify that they are compatible . It 's recommended that you update all the plugins we've installed older versions. How to update a plugin? Disable it, then delete the old files and upload new ones, then reactivate the plugin. Also install plugins WordPress 2.3 Related Posts and Simple Tags leaving them disabled.
2. Now you must edit the template to call the new functions for managing tags, introduced by Simple Tags. We modify the template used, replacing the functions the following features UTW Tags Simple tags management, and related posts tag cloud:
   st_related_posts()
st_tag_cloud()
st_the_tags()
st_meta_keywords() st_related_posts()
st_tag_cloud()
st_the_tags()
st_meta_keywords() The instructions for their use can be found here , but for the most common tasks you just know the basic statement (without parameters), then you can configure the output from the plugin admin interface. More information can be found in this interesting post Webwards .
3. Install the plugin Maintenance Mode, which allows visitors to obscure the site showing a page that indicates that the site is undergoing maintenance, and invites them to come back later. Activate the plugin and we set the page to show to visitors, then we start to dance
4. Disable all plugins (except Maintenance Mode)
5. Perform the instructions to save the important files: ssh into practice
   $ mkdir backup
$ cp wp-config.php .htaccess backup
$ cp -R wp-content backup
$ rm wp*.php .htaccess license.txt readme.html xmlrpc.php
$ rm -rf wp-admin wp-includes
6. Now take the new version of WordPress files and transfer them to the directory on the server, all but the wp-content folder. Copy the file wp-config.php from the backup folder. Enter wp-content/plugins and copy the new installation directory Akismet, so you have the new version of its anti-spam plugin.
7. Run the file wp-admin/upgrade.php web browsers, to update the database, and follow the instructions.
8. From administration interface click Manage-> Import-> Ultimate Tag Warrior, and follow the instructions to import UTW tags and making them into WordPress tags.
9. Activate the plugins that before were deactivated
10. Activate the plugin WordPress 2.3 Related Postes and Simple Tags. WP 2.3 Related Posts need to list the posts related to the current one, based on the tags assigned. The Simple Tags plugin instead replaces the management of WordPress tags, to improve their management and customization. For example, you can define colors and features the tag cloud.
11. To upload the modified template file.

If you are well organized and has changed the template in advance, the total downtime of the site - barring any unforeseen events - may be less than 20 minutes, once a very acceptable site for any small to medium size.