Will it be ultimately possible to update ClassicPress core with WP-management systems/plugins such as MainWP, ManageWP, InfiniteWP, etc?
I’ve noticed that MainWP will update plugins on a ClassicPress installation that runs the MainWP Child plugin. So far so good 
But I assume that core updates would depend on discussions with the owners of these management systems and so I wondered if this is on the roadmap.
I have never used any of those plugins, do they require a special WP install or do they work on native WP?
If they work on native WP, they theoretically should work on CP.
I’d agree with this. The way each of these plugins/systems work is probably slightly different, so each one would need to be tested with ClassicPress and then someone would need to reach out to the developers.
This is mostly academic at the moment though: ClassicPress updates are coming soon, but not implemented yet.
We do have an example of a similar plugin that has some conflicts with ClassicPress for a similar reason (Wordfence and its core file checks): Installing ClassicPress | ClassicPress Documentation
If there are any more, we’d definitely like to know about that. Here on the forums is fine, and we’ll get the needed info and get it copied over to the docs site.
Thanks for the feedback. I’m happy to post any future issues I find with MainWP (that’s the one I use).
In fact I wonder - if the only different things about updating CP core as opposed to WP are the URLs to check for updates and then get them, maybe we’ll find it just works.
@wadestriebel - the way MainWP works is that you have a stock WP install running the “MainWP Dashboard” plugin, then each of your production sites runs the “MainWP Child” plugin. The dashboard connects to the child sites when you ask it to, and checks if updates are required (core, themes, plugins, translations). It reports back and then you can trigger the updates individually or in groups. There are allied functions such as reporting and backups but updating is the core function.
So essentially a master-slave configuration like with MySQL load balancing … quite an interesting approach.
Saves you time for a custom, stand-alone script located somewhere else.
cu, w0lf.
So far, so good with InfiniteWP.
The way each of these plugins/systems work is probably slightly different, so each one would need to be tested with ClassicPress and then someone would need to reach out to the developers.
Might be an opportunity to establish a defacto-standard to work across them all?
Since “MainWP” is one of the more open out of these management plugins it would be great to have them also support ClassicPress out of the box.
They are on GitHub too, here: MainWP · GitHub
And have a Public Roadmap (dashboard & child plugins): Trello - and for their extensions: Trello
Might be worth a try to get in contact with them.
I am a MainWP user since last year, and very happy with it. Currently only use their free stuff as it is sufficient for me. But when i start to use ClassicPress for the first live projects it would be awesome if I could also add ClassicPress installs to my existing MainWP Dashboard instance.
@deckerweb I added a ClassicPress install to my MainWP dashboard, and found that it worked without errors. No core update was offered, but it did find out of date plugins and allowed me to update them.
I don’t think that for this solutions is a problem support ClassicPress. Consider that 1.x is based on 4.9 with only few things changed (php minimum, composer support, rebranding) and probably bugfixes and performance improvements from 5.0.
In few words the best from the 2 worlds so this tools because support also old wordpress version should not have issues with them also because they use the wordpress internals that are the same of classicpress.
InfiniteWP checks the WP theme and plugin repositories to look for updates. I can add a CP site to IWP and track updates right now without issues. When (and if) there are CP-only themes and plugins that aren’t housed in WP repositories, they won’t be included in the update search unless (a) there are central CP repositories and (b) IWP decides to check those repositories as well.
I use InfiniteWP to manage over 40 sites (a few of my own, and many client sites). I’ve converted a few to ClassicPress now.
It works fine, what I did notice, in one case, I needed to deactivate and activate it again in the IWP panel to login directly from InfiniteWP to the website’s admin panel (passing by the “login screen”). This was with a website that has gone from Wordpress 5.0 to ClassicPress 1.0.
On other sites, that were converted from Wordpress 4.9 to ClassicPress 1.0., I didn’t need to de-activate/activate the plugin.
Anyway – IWP works fine so far. To my relief
I had contacted both iControlWP and BlogVault (as already mentioned), that both allow such site management (plugin updates, etc.) from a central place.
For the time being, no commitment from iControlWP, mainly due to additional workload it would mean and uncertainties about the prospects of CP; in case, CP gains a strong following and iControlWP gets a number of requests, I understand that it might be considered.
As already mentioned in another thread, BlogVault promises to support ClassicPres. And they seem serious about it. See the attached screenshot of my BlogVault panel: the site on the top has been switched to CP. In the listing, it shows as being on WP 4.9.9, but not in need of update. The site below (as well as the other ones) are still on WP: they are listed as being on WP 4.9.9, but in need of update (yellow), which shows that BlogVault recognizes the CP site as different.
I have written to support suggesting that CP sites might be listed as such, instead of being shown as WP 4.9.9 - but I could understand that they would prefer to wait until the stable v. 1 is out.
The real test will be if the core icon will turn yellow at the time CP updates come.
I would say that such management tools have saved me many hours of work, and allowed to keep an overview on the status of some fifteen sites. Definitely, I could no longer see myself working without them in the long-run. Not even mentioning the safety provided by those external, easily restorable backups.
Noticed something interesting with InfiniteWP this morning (might’ve been this way all along):
If I look at site details for a ClassicPress site, it shows WordPress v4.9.9. That part I already knew.
What I noticed today is that CP sites are not included in the list of sites that need WP core files updated.
This isn’t v1 related, but MainWP still isn’t recognizing CP core when checking for updates, just WP.
Details:
Not sure if this would be an easy fix, but needed imo.
You’d need to contact MainWP to ask about this I think. It’s the same with InfiniteWP and they’ve told me that if there is enough interest they’ll add support for CP.
My last couple of updates have been picked up by ManageWP just fine. The most recent one, I used ManageWP to update, and everything worked.
So ManageWP is updating core files? Interesting. I’ll have to give it a try. If InfiniteWP don’t move on this I may switch.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think ManageWP is a remote hosted service?
So you can’t maintain localhost or private sites with it, only live sites.
To manage sites on a local server, you have to use either InfiniteWP or MainWP, because they’re self-hosted solutions and therefore you can install them on your localhost server.
This may not be an issue for everyone but will be for some I’m sure (including me). I’m hoping MainWP will jump on the CP bandwagon.
Public stats showing how many CP installations are out there would help with this I think.