Last night while checking the stats on GrandmasterB, I noticed a something new in the Plugins box on the admin panel. The Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plugin, is well, just that…a plugin that will automatically upgrade your Wordpress installation. I’m usually not one to mess around with things that claim to be “automatic”, but this plugin actually works. I decided rather than try it out on my live version of GrandmasterB dot com; I would try it out on a local install I have for development.

The installation was very easy, just like every other WordPress plugin. The only thing that I had to do was unzip it and upload it to the wp-content/plugins directory and activate it. After activation you will need to create a new directory in your WP root and name it ‘wpau-backup’ and CHMOD it to 777 (check out the Q&A with GrandmasterB - August 21 for more detail on directory permissions). to enable the plugin to do it’s thing. The great thing about this plugin is that before upgrading your WordPress installation it does a complete backup of your install and database before doing the upgrade. It guides you step-by-step through the process and provides you with the links to download the backups before you continue on.

Through the entire process I think it probably took about 10 minutes to complete; which really isn’t too bad. The great thing about the plugin is that it does exactly what it’s supposed to and it is “automatic”. If you manage multiple blogs and spend a lot of time upgrading them all to the latest version of WordPress; I highly recommend this plugin! If you’ve installed it already on your blog, let me know what you think of it. I’d be interesting in hearing your opinions.

~ GrandmasterB