SiteGround Auto-Updater and ClassicPress

General Discussion Hosting Forum
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I suddenly wondered whether SiteGround’s famously aggressive WordPress auto-updater would see ClassicPress sites as WordPress 4.9.10 sites and promptly update them to the next version of WordPress when it is released. In the past I’ve sent SG tickets to exclude all my sites from the auto-updater, and they have complied, but it’s possible that one or two slipped through the net.

So I’ve sent them a ticket:

“Several sites in my xxxxxx.xxx account and my other accounts are now running on ClassicPress, not WordPress. However your WordPress auto-updater will probably detect them as running WordPress 4.9.10 (because ClassicPress is derived from WordPress).
Please can you assure me that no ClassicPress sites will be automatically updated when the WordPress updater updates in the future.
For information about ClassicPress, please see classicpress.net .”

I’ll let you know what they say.

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They replied quite quickly and requested that I give them a list of all my CP sites so they can ensure these are left alone by the auto-updater. So that’s what I’ve done.
I’ve also told them more sites will be switched in the near future and it would be far better if they could simply turn off the auto-updater per client, not just per site. I suspect they’ll ignore that though.

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Good to know about this and that they’ll work with you. Maybe if their updater could just check for the existence of the classicpress_version function, or something…

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Well I don’t mind asking. Which core file is the function in?

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SiteGround isn’t the only one that does the auto-update thing… I wonder if we should compile a list of hosting companies that do that, so as we grow and more people make the switch, they are armed with information that they can use to protect their site from being “auto-updated” back to WP?

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My host (a2hosting) auto updates, but they do recognise that ClassicPress is not WordPress.

I had a false positive when I migrated over and thought it was incorrectly identifying a site as WordPress instead of ClassicPress. They were very nice about not calling me an ass while pointing out it was still running WordPress. I’d forgotten to update that site.

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classicpress_version is defined in wp-includes/version.php for ClassicPress sites.

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Thanks James. I’ve now asked SG about this.

“It would be useful to the growing number of ClassicPress developers if your autoupdater could recognise and ignore ClassicPress installations.
it’s quite easy: if the file /wp-includes/version.php contains a function called classicpress_version, then the installation is a ClassicPress one, not a WordPress one.
I and other ClassicPress developers would be grateful if the autoupdater could be updated to check for this.
Thanks very much.”

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I tested SiteGround—great and helpful support, but for me, the auto-update feature was indeed one reason why I cancelled my plan after less than a month. I hope that they will consider the function allowing to identify a CP site. Beside the practical issue, such moves also contribute to the awareness that CP exists.

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The guy on my SiteGround ticket promised to raise the issue in his daily report to his manager.

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I had them turn off the auto-update feature and have had no trouble since.

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I have also contacted Siteground with regards to autoupdates with a similar message to @anon95694377. Their reply -

Unfortunately, it is not possible to disable the Auto-Update tool for future installations and you might have to contact as again via another support ticket for this matter.

However, I am going to pass your recommendation to our developers by leaving this ticket in my daily report. If the implementation of the above mentioned check can be easily made, there is a high percentage that our developers are going to make it in future updates of the tool.

So there’s hope and good reason for creating support tickets :wink:

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That’s great, thanks Christine :slight_smile:

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I just had a chat with SiteGround about this issue and they suggested
"1. The easiest way to do this is by installing and activating Disable Updates Manager plugin.
2. Alternatively, you can disable automatic updates in WordPress by adding this line of code in your wp-config.php file:

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define( ‘WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE’, false );
This will disable all automatic WordPress updates. "

I wonder if the php fix will do the trick. We will see. If so should that setting be part of the ClassicPress core files?

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That setting goes into your wp-config file; it will also mean that ClassicPress does not auto-update.

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If you use the following, it will allow minor updates (ie, security updates), but not updates from one major version to the next:

define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', 'minor' );

I’m not absolutely certain, however, that a webhost (like WP Engine, for instance) wouldn’t choose to over-ride this, or any other measure you might have taken, and force an update.

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So ClassicPress are saying that their updater respects the WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE directive?

That’s potentially a great time-saver - no more tickets pleading with them to turn it off for each site.

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Two things that could be a fly in the ointment:

  1. I’m not certain if all webhosts detect CP accurately or if some still detect it as WP4.9
  2. If they detect it as WP4.9, they may force an update for ‘security reasons’, as WP Engine is doing for all WP installs below 5.x
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My first test was a fail. I added define(‘WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE’, false ); at line 40 and The Siteground Updater promptly updated me back to WordPress and removed that line. But it didnt remove the comment line I had put above it.
But I notice that plugins that limit updates put the line need at the bottom of wp-config.php so it may have been that I put it in the wrong place. So on to the next try with the code added at line 95 the next to the last line.

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This is where SiteGround’s arrogance really gets my goat. How dare they alter one of OUR files in OUR hosting space without seeking our express permission first?

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