What EXACTLY does the migration plugin do?

Maybe I missed it, but I don’t see any serious explanation on the migration page which explains exactly what the plugin will do, and not do, to your site. Also, having chosen so far not to ge through the process, I don’t see any encouragement to make/keep a backup of the site, just in case. Just woke up so maybe I missed it, so don’t shoot me down please. Just saying.

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Hi Terence and welcome to the forum. I’m sure someone on the coding side of things will chime in here about what is does exactly. From memory, I think it does recommend that you backup before migrating, but I’ll check that.

If it doesn’t, it should! :grinning:

Hi @TerenceMilbourn, once the plugin has been installed and you are preparing to migrate there are plenty of warnings about backing up your site (files and database) in the off chance anything may happen.

All the code for the migration plugin is open source, but in non-technical terms - it overwrites all the WordPress files of your site with ClassicPress files.

In addition to all the checks the plugin does in order to ensure nothing bad happens to your site, the migration plugins does also support migrating back to any version of WordPress.

If you want more technical terms, we may have to wait for @james or @invisnet to jump in.

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Thanks Wade - this is correct, both regarding the backup warnings and the actual function of the plugin.

If there are any more specific questions we will be happy to answer them here.

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OK, that’s clear, thanks.

Just a thought though… it could help to include a short sentence or two to that effect on the migration page, i.e. what the plugin does, as apposed to what it is, I mean.

Many thanks.

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Just updated the text to be more clear and also added a bit about backing up your sites before proceeding :slight_smile:

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@wadestriebel - it still says what it is, not what it does. Personally I wouldn’t load a plugin on any site if I didn’t know what it is supposed to do to my site. Just saying you need it for migration is not enough to pesuade me. But there again, maybe its just me being picky. :smiley:

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I had added this part:

The ClassicPress Migration plugin overwrites all of the WordPress files of your site with ClassicPress files.

But I am open to editing it further to make it more clear. Do you have any suggestions on how we could get across ‘what it does’?

PS. I do appreciate the feedback, it is good for us to know because I highly doubt you are the only one that wonders :slight_smile:

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I was thinking I didn’t know what it was going to do exactly, so I didn’t use it. Its kind of hard for me to say what would have taken that indecision away, but probably more than a simple one liner. Maybe a link to a sem- or fully technical description somwhere, kinda like plugins have in the WordPress repository.

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Guess something like a feature list … :slight_smile:

Or x steps towards the end of the world - lets give it a try:

  1. Backup your site, to revert your world back to existance if all fails!
  2. Migration plugin is downloading the latest release from github
  3. Migration plugin is unpack that downloaded archive the usual way of how WP upgrades are done
  4. Now lil migration plugin is gonna explode the world, ie. overwrite all files - exactly the same way of how WP upgrades are done, too
  5. Some slight DB updates might be performed - ehm, dito.
  6. Now for a quick refresh - and lets hope the world has resurfaced :slight_smile:

SCNR :smiley:

cu, w0lf.

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Sounds good. And much better than simply saying you need to use it.

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I agree. That “you need to use it” has a touch of the snobbish replies of Gnome 3 Developers, when being asked to add more settings to fine-tine the behaviour of the desktop itself.

So for future references: Just ask - a lot of processes about WP are poorly documented or one has never deemed the rest of the people worthy enough to inform them about it, paternally (and carelessly) keeping them in the dark …

cu, w0lf.

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