Jan 13, 2007
Retooling wordpress
I love WordPress, but man oh man is it a pain in the ass sometimes. It’s so powerful and extensible, but upgrading is a total chore (can’t that be automattic? har), comments code is harsh at best (despite my best efforts I can’t get wordpress to parse and use my new and improved version), and keeping rogue URLs from running amok is also really frustrating (see: ryanblock.com/rdf/ — I’ve NEVER linked that anywhere or officially supported that URL, and yet apparently people are reading it!). I wonder when WordPress will get modular, lean, and mean; it seems like a good time for some fat-cutting.
Co-founder of 
You can upgrade using Subversion. Any time a new version comes out it’s as easy as typing “svn up” if you have command line access.
Good timing. WordPress devs just launched some feedback projects for proposing new features and anonymously submitting complaints:
http://wordpress.org/development/2007/01/ideas-and-kvetch/
Which version are you trying to upgrade?
I upgraded from 2.0.4 to 2.0.6. It worked fine after some futzing (yay dormant Linux skills) but still, an upgrade button is an order. And so is a codebase house cleaning!
I lost you.. what went wrong during the upgrade? Something i can think of is the jump from 2.0.4 to 2.06 skipping 2.0.5. Did you have a look here?
My host has Fantastico enabled, which is pretty much auto install for this stuff. When a new WordPress comes out (or Drupal and all that other stuff), I just make a few clicks in the control panel and it’s backed up and upgraded. Just make sure you don’t have any hacks outside your themes and plugins, or you’ll still kill things!
I had the new 2.1 WordPress up a day after it was launched. Sm-oooo-ooth.
My host is Bluehost, by the way. Click through on my site (I get a good kickback and my renewal is due this month!)
http://www.mistercharlie.co.uk/blog
[...] on your portable. Matt also says they’re evaluating automated installed-Wordpress upgrades (what I really want), better installed-Wordpress integration with the new Automattic stats feature, fixing up the image [...]