It used to be that WordPress 2.0.11 was the only other stable WordPress release available. However, the WP devs have now decided to discontinue support for this legacy version. But not to worry. I’ll show you here how to safely upgrade from 2.0.11 all the way to 2.8.2. You shouldn’t do it in one fell swoop, since there are too many changes close to the bone along the way. Remember, 2.0.11 will be two years old on August 5, so it’s time to retire it and move forward with all that WordPress has to offer.

The key to a successful WP upgrade is a healthy database. If the database is stable and has survived the upgrade, and you don’t have any weird calls to obsolete tags in your templates, you are cleared for takeoff. Here are the steps you should follow to ensure that your database (which contains all your posts, pages, settings and comments, your WP site’s heart and soul) survives intact.

Download the latest Pixelita whitepaper on Troublefree WordPress Installation and Upgrade here (255KB PDF)! The appendices contain a sample wp-config.php file and links to help you lock down your site from hackers.

WordPress has released its first bugfix, 2.5.1, people are getting the hang of the new WP backend and plugin authors are catching up. What better time to upgrade? A lot of prudent folks, like us, have been playing the wait and see game, standing pat with 2.0.11, the only other stable WP release.

I’ve just now upgraded this blog from 2.0.11 to 2.5.1 and there was only one hitch, and that was easily corrected, and in fact if I’d paid attention to my own advice, wouldn’t have happened at all. :-)