wordpress update will overwrite files changes?
Yes, theme update will overwrite its folder completely. If you are using third party theme with possibility of updates the normal practice is to put your customizations into a Child Theme for it.
updates
How to stop – Database Update Required – from happening again?
Was a bug in the core, I published the ticket ( https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/32310 ) and is added for the next version 4.2.3. In this version the code change the collation of some tables and this works fine if the change is fast. But in big tables this change take time, hive a timeout in the upgrade … Read more
Function to see how many plugins on a site need updating
I don’t know what your “system” as a whole is intended to look like but the function you want is wp_update_plugins() in wp-includes/update.php.
When can changing a theme damage a website?
In short yes. The best way to achieve this is by setting up a staging environment. This will have a carbon-copy of the latest version of your WordPress site. From there, you can update the theme and verify that everything works as planned. Once everything checks out, you can apply those changes to your live … Read more
Post update RSS notification plugin
First this is clearly not a bug. Feeds generated by WordPress are ordered by post publication date, which is both intended and makes sense. Second RSS clients uniquely identify items. In specific case of WP feeds unique identifier is guid field with non-pretty (?p=xxx) permalink. Even if post is changed and brought back into feed … Read more
Updating to new 3.0.5
Updating is always important. They contain security fixes and other bug fixes. Generally update within the 3.0x considered safe. Moving between 3.x could require some changes and updates to your theme or plugins. I like to take the mantra, better safe than sorry. I would back up your database and anything your wp-content folder (plugins, … Read more
Can I rename a theme’s folder and still receive updates?
changing the theme folder I guess it won’t affect on updates but changing it’s name do. So like you said the best way that every professional company advice is to create a child-theme and modify everything you want on it.
How can we deal with unmaintained plugins with vulnerabilities?
One of the contributing factors to the use of old, outdated and broken plugins are the website owners. A lot of websites get abandoned, owners are not informed enough or interested enough to spend some time researching alternative plugin, or just keep the WordPress (or any other CMS) updated and secured. So, many websites are … Read more
How can I allow core, plugin, theme update checks only for selected admins?
I think you should better create a custom role for “administrators-non-administrators” without the update_core, update_plugins and update_themes capabilities.
Possible to stay on Version 4?
It is not recommended in any way to maintain a website on the 4.9.9 WordPress release to support legacy code that is poorly written. Although some of the security patches may be backported, scriptbots will target your website seeking out known exploits to access user data. According to WordPress: “The only current officially supported version … Read more