WARNING TECHNICAL TALK AHEAD

I haven’t written about technical blog issues in quite a while, as usual, just skip this entry if you aren’t interested.

I updated to the most recent WordPress version (6.7.2) and it has been a little over a year since the last update. This is inexcusable but with each successful update, I am less worried about some sort of catastrophic mistake which did occur once in the distant past.

One challenge is that there is an automatic process for version upgrades, just a push a button and let it happen. Unfortunately this simply does not work and I’m not really interested in figuring it out because it is likely an issue with my ISP. The failure of the automatic version update is not a particularly difficult problem. The manual update process is not especially difficult.

No matter what method you use, the process starts with a backup. This is surprisingly slippery. My method is to use all possible methods of backup:

1. Full system backup … sounds like a good thing but is actually only useable in the event of a need for a full system restore; really only useful for transferring to a new server.
2. Home page backup … not a full backup but a good start; I do it but I have no idea what I would ever use it for.
3. Database backup … this is done from inside the PHPAdmin system and is probably the most useful, if the system is somehow destroyed, by whatever means it is rebuilt, you can restore the active database and continue.
4. Copy all files … this is done with the FTP system and takes around 45 minutes for abelfamily.ca, this will create a copy of all files on a local workstation, highly comforting considering the methods used in the manual version update.

With the backup done, the manual process involves downloading the latest version from WordPress, deleting a couple of folders, copying the new versions of the deleted folders into the live system and then overwriting a few other files correctly.

This brings us to CPanel. CPanel is underlying structure for managing a domain. CPanel has been upgraded, a good refresh. I was also directed to a new function that automatically renews my SSL certificate which saves me about $70 a year. Anyone interested in manual WordPress upgrades, be aware, you need CPanel’s file management system available at all points in the process.

I’m happy to report that embedding seems to be working again, there are some new difficulties with linking so my new pages now have a specific link for slide shows instead of clicking on the teaser photo. I will keep experimenting with this.