Upgrade WordPress Faster with Changed Files List

Time to upgrade to WordPress again. A security update (external site) release is now available for both the 2.1 and 2.0 branches of WordPress and is highly recommended for all users of both branches.

These releases include fixes for several publicly known minor XSS issues, one major XML-RPC issue, and a proactive full sweep of the WordPress codebase to protect against future problems.

When an upgrade is announced, my next stop is Mark on WordPress (external site), where Mark Jaquith usually puts in the effort to figure out the changed files (external site) and create some very useful files to help you identify the changes and upgrade WordPress faster. Of course, it is unofficial wordpress stuff.

These are the 3 files you will usually find –

• Changed Files List with a list of all the files that have changed since the last (2.1.2) release.
• Changed Files ZIP – this is a zip file that includes only the files that have changed since the last (2.1.2) release.
• Changes Diff – This is a diff file (a patch) with all the changes made since the last (2.1.2) release.

See which file suits your needs. Never forget to do a full file and database backup before attempting to upgrade WordPress using these or any other files. Mark is a wordpress developer and you can trust the files he compiles. I have been using his files for the last few times and a lot of FTP time is saved.

If you have multiple blogs to upgrade, you can try shell access or the InstantUpgrade Plugin.