Tag: backwards compatibility
Updated on December 19, 2016
Why Security Vulnerability Disclosures Aren’t Easy to Do
Disclosing security vulnerabilities publicly is absolutely essential, but it’s nearly impossible to do it without upsetting some people. For some, the WordPress update to version 4.2.3 caused, to put it lightly, a bit of a headache. (Listen to …
Posted on November 22, 2016
Definition: Backward Compatibility
back·ward com·pat·i·bil·i·ty /bakwərd kəmˌpadəˈbilədē/ — noun The ability for hardware or software to interface with each other, regardless of its current version. If an update to one system interferes with another system’s ability to function, we would say …

Updated on November 22, 2016
4.2.3
Richard Tape of the University of British Columbia runs a massive multi-site WordPress installation infrastructure with tens of thousands of individual websites. A change to the WordPress shortcodes API broke hundreds of them, and Richard had to get creative to fix it. The incident would keep him busy with hundreds of urgent support requests for days, and it shook his faith in the WordPress project.