CUNY Academic Commons

Thanks for raising the issue, Dom.

I don't have a problem handing off updates to you. There are a few things you should know about, though.

Some plugins never get updated. These are plugins we've made modifications to:
- BP Import Blog Activity/Blog Toolbox
- BuddyPress Group for Community Admins and Mods
- Forum Attachments for BuddyPress

The theme Atahualpa also never gets updated. I've been forced to make some mods to that theme to make it compatible with WP Multisite, and the theme authors refuse to accept the patches I've sent them.

As a rule, don't upgrade BuddyPress itself unless we've talked about it first. Also, don't upgrade WordPress to a new major release (such as from 3.4.x to 3.5) without first discussing it on Redmine.

Aside from these exceptions, I generally install whatever updates are available. This is not an ideal situation, as it means trusting that devs (like the devs of Thematic, for instance) haven't made breaking changes. But at this time, it's the only system we've got, because we don't have the resources to stress-test every one of our themes and plugins on every update.

I had a feeling that there were themes and plugins that were being held back for a reason. Some version numbers are off by way to much for there to be another explanation.

For now I will keep this lower on my list and open in Not Tracked. Ill start identifying potential upgrades and open individual tickets so they can be discussed. I would never upgrade something as fundamental as BP or WP without at least saying something first! :-)

With the addition of Network Plugin Auditor it should make it a little bit easier for me to identify potential pain-points for upgrades so I can bring those up to you before an upgrade takes place; which I hope will make your life a little easier - at least where updates are concerned.

Just a quick heads up on this issue.

I've created a new Redmine doc to keep note of what plugins/themes we DO NOT update:

http://redmine.gc.cuny.edu/documents/93

I'll use this list as I move forward with more routine updates.

I also removed the DG Priorities doc that we created when I first started. None of us were using it and I think I've gotten a little better at prioritizing my tasks since I became more involved with the current release cycle.

Boone,

Would you like me to add the plugins above to our new cac_hide_plugins function? It will remove them from the available updates list so they're never updated but it will also prevent them from being activated on any other blog because they'll be invisible everywhere.

Just a thought. Let me know what you think.

The plugins you list above are network activated, so they don't show up on individual site plugin pages anyway.

I think it's probably harmless to add them to the ignore list anyway. Just redundant.

Well, I was trying to cleanup and simplify the plugin updates admin page but adding them to the $disabled_plugins list just confuses things more. The update totals don't match up and the plugins still appear on some update pages. So I'm just gonna leave them alone. Like you said, it's redundant and therefore unnecessary.

Boone,

What about BP Docs? Current version on the commons is 1.1.25 but version 1.2.5 is the latest.

I looked through the changelog and looks like there might have been some significant updates. Are we holding off on updating this plugin for now?

Yes yes yes, do not update BuddyPress Docs right now. We will probably do this with CAC 1.5.

Understood. :-)

The Category Page plugin in our repo is currently 2.5. It's active on the following blogs:

Le Hub
Twenty Eleven
Remix in Tech & Teaching
Wait, What?
Digitocentrism:
Help Wanted!
Service Learning in Urban Studies

The latest version is 3.0.6. According to the changelog, version 3.0 was a "complete rewrite for 3.4+." Is there a reason we're holding this one back?

Nope, no reason. Despite the version numbers, looks like the 3.0 release of that plugin was within the last few weeks: http://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/page2cat

Go ahead and update.

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply. I'm trying to get as many updates into 1.4.11 as I can.

I've got class and the dentist today and then heading to my Aunt's place on Long Island for Thanksgiving. Do you have an idea of what time you're shooting for the release tonight?

I'll try to do it around 8 or 9pm.

Great, thanks.