Auto-updates feature meeting summary: May 4, 2020

These are the weekly notes for the WP Auto-updates team meeting that happened on Tuesday May 4, 2020. You can read the full transcript on the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.-auto-updates SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel.

As a reminder, WP Auto-updates Feature PluginFeature Plugin A plugin that was created with the intention of eventually being proposed for inclusion in WordPress Core. See Features as Plugins. is developed on GitHub and is available for testing on WordPress.org plugins repository.

Core merge announcement

Last week, we announced the incoming core merge of the Feature Plugin 💥

@whyisjake already opened the Trac ticket. It will be used to merge the feature into WordPress core.

However, @azaozz and other people raised some issues, especially with JSJS JavaScript, a web scripting language typically executed in the browser. Often used for advanced user interfaces and behaviors./AJAX implementation. Our top priority is to fix them before sending a full patchpatch A special text file that describes changes to code, by identifying the files and lines which are added, removed, and altered. It may also be referred to as a diff. A patch can be applied to a codebase for testing. on TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress..

Version 0.7 scope: core merge prerequisites

Version 0.7.0 will be focused on core merge prerequisites.

@pbiron is currently working on cleaning the AJAX part of the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. For reference, see PR #103 on GitHub. This is one of the major blockers before core merge and that’s why we absolutely need a new release before the core merge. @azaozz added that this pull request is almost ready to be merged.

While @pbiron is working on cleaning the existing AJAX code, @audrasjb will focus on other minor issues, like internationalization issues raised by @PascalC.

Once PR #103 is merged, the team will release version 0.7.0 and give it around one week to be tested before sending the patch proposal on Trac.

@azaozz pointed out issue #95 which raises some user interface issues. The setting that the users can change (enable|disable auto-updates) is actually the default setting. It can be changed at the moment of updating by plugins and by core. He thinks it should be reflected in the UIUI User interface to avoid giving wrong expectations to users. It can be addressed by changing the wording and/or the name of the functions, for example by replacing the existing functions with something like maybe_auto_update_plugins or default_auto_update_plugins. Concerning the interface wording, @audrasjb noted it could be addressed by changing the column heading: Enable/disable auto-updates or Toggle auto-updates so users could understand we’ll be able to disable it later. By the way, the team agreed this concern is not a blockerblocker A bug which is so severe that it blocks a release. for the merge.

After few discussions, it was also decided to remove the feature’s constants. Indeed, constants are used in WordPress core for specific cases:

  • Very early use, before WP is loaded
  • For use mostly by hosting companies/low level settings
  • Mostly for things that are really “constant” (never change)

@audrasjb will remove the existing constants once PR #103 is merged.

@azaozz also noted few small bugs on the AJAX action links. It kind of “jumps” when you click on the link, then “flashes” different text (when the networknetwork (versus site, blog) is fast) and the user cannot see/read the changed text, then it changes it again. These bugs are not a blocker for core merge and can be fixed in WordPress core after the merge. @pbiron noted that some of these bugs will be fixed in PR #103. @azaozz added that adding some delay (so text changes are readable) would be nice, or alternatively not changing the text while AJAX is running is another thing. (so there is only one text change instead of two).

The team also discussed the idea to add some filters for plugin authors to override what is outputted in the UI, for example to show something like “Updates enabled by [plugin/theme name]”.


Next meeting is scheduled on Tuesday May 12, 2020 at 17:00 UTC.

#5-5, #auto-update, #core-auto-updates, #feature-projects, #feature-autoupdates