3.8.1 auto update rollout

I’ll be using this thread to track the rollout of automatic background updates for 3.8.1, released earlier.

The WP.org APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. is now sending update instructions to about 1 in every 128 sites. This is for all locales (not just English). 3.8.1 was released about four hours ago and I’d like to have the rollout complete in the next six hours or so. Sites check WP.org every 12 hours, but this timetable means all sites should be updating within one day of the initial release.

So, why a slow rollout? Well, we’re monitoring a number of things that would cause us to put a pause on auto-updates, such as whether there were any critical issues in 3.8.1, whether update failure rates are higher than usual, how WP.org is handling the load, etc. The rollout is happening much faster this time than last time (3.7.1), and yes, the goal will be to eventually push out auto-update instructions immediately.

So far, we’ve seen a 100% success rate for about a thousand auto-updates to 3.8.1, and north of 99% for one-click updates. (A reminder: a failure only means the site couldn’t update, not that it broke.) I’ll comment to this thread with more numbers as the rollout continues.

#3-8-1, #updates