Every few weeks there is a new wordpress release or security patch. Being the victim two seperate times of wordpress exploits, I don’t let my wordpress versions get outdated anymore. It can get old real quick, constantly trying to update wordpress.

One way to upgrade wordpress is through Fantastico in Cpanel. Not all web hosts have that, but thankfully I use a good web host like Hostgator. Fantastico is a automatic installer that comes with Cpanel on some hosts. It has wordpress and other free software such as smf forums. Fanatastico conveniently installs software into a database with a couple clicks of the mouse. The problem with relying on Fantastico for updates, is usually there is a few weeks delay between new releases. There also have been many people who have had things go wrong when trying to do it through Fantastico.

Another option of upgrading wordpress, is to do it manually by downloading the newest wordpress version and overwriting the old wordpress files. But if you upgrading to a major wordpress release, where there are database changes like with 2.5, then you have to also reinstall the database too.

I finally stumbled on the best way to upgrade wordpress. It is using the wordpress automatic upgrade plugin. This plugin is great, as it gives you backups of your databases and files and does everything automatically with a few clicks of the mouse. Not all hosts will allow the automatic upgrade wordpress to work, but it works on Hostgator.

Before using the automatic wordpress plugin, I would test all your plugins and themes on a test installation before upgrading, if you’re upgrading to a major new wordpress release (e.g, from 2.3 to 2.5 ). If its just a minor wordpress release (example: 2.2 to 2.3), then you shouldn’t need to first test your plugins or themes, as they would just be minor bug fixes and shouldn’t effect plugins or themes. Wordpress.org gives detailed information about each release, to know whether or not it’s going to be a major new release that might effect plugins and themes.