WordPress 5.5.1 Maintenance Release September 1, 2020

Why does WordPress release a maintenance update ?

This version is released as WordPress 5.5 negatively affected millions of websites around the globe. WordPress version 5.5.1  is designed to serve as a patch to give time for plugin and theme developers to update their software.

According to WordPress:

“The plan is to remove this fallback code in two major versions, so this will be deleted in WordPress 5.7. This gives plugin and theme developers ample time to remove the conflicting code and switch to using wp.i18n”

As per wordpress reports this release features 34 bug fixes, 5 enhancements, and 5 bug fixes for the block editor. These bugs affect WordPress version 5.5, so you need to update if your website is facing some major issues. Also developers need to check error logs and plugin compatibility.

The WordPress 5.5.1 maintenance release is designed and launched in quick time to stop sites from breaking, but make sure that errors need to be fixed soon by plugin and theme developers.

Plugin and theme developers have until March 2021 to patch the code. As per wordpress in the next two releases this maintenance fixes will be removed and in wordpress 5.7 version all sites, plugins and themes need to be compatible with the code.

Some plugins have already fixed their code according to version 5.5, but many of popular plugins were affected as below

• WordPress Gallery Plugin – NextGEN Gallery
• Polylang
• Child Theme Configurator
• Simple Custom CSS and JS
• Toolset Types – Custom Post Types, Custom Fields and Taxonomies
• Max Mega Menu
• WP AutoTerms: Privacy Policy Generator, Cookie Notice Banner, Terms & Conditions Generator
• YITH WooCommerce Wishlist
• Ocean Extra
• WordPress SEO Plugin – Rank Math
• Meta Box – WordPress Custom Fields Framework
• Hummingbird – Speed Optimize, Cache, Minify & Defer Critical CSS & JavaScript
• Content Views – Post Grid & List for WordPress

Popular Themes Affected by WordPress 5.5:

• Astra +1 million users
• Storefront +200,000 users
• Hestia +100,000 users
• Neve +100,000 users
• ColorMag +100,000 users
• Customizr
• Hueman
• Zakra

What is the minimum Server Requirement for WordPress 5.5.1 ?

• Please make sure that you have PHP version 7.4 or greater enabled.
• MySQL version 5.6 or greater OR MariaDB version 10.1 or greater is required
• HTTPS support is must and should be enabled for your site security

Here I give you some tips to Update WordPress 5.5.1 Maintenance Release which will help you in securing your database and code

Backup your WordPress Database

If you are on a Managed/ Dedicated WordPress Hosting platform, go to your hosting Panel  and create a backup-point there. There are different ways to create a backup point as per provider. You can also set automatic Backup point. Take help of hosting provider to make this easy

For those who are in shared hosting, I will share as very helpful plugin which will make sure that your database backup is always done smoothly. UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin. This plugin is a must have and you can set database backup interval and it will automatically take backup and send at selected option (Mail, Google Drive, FTP etc). It will also keep backup file in your own  server.

Connect to your server with FTP and take backup of Theme, Child Theme and Plugin (wp-content folder)

This is so that you have a copy off your server. The Backup should always be stored on cloud services such as Google Drive,  Dropbox or your Personal Hard Disk. Don’t keep copy only on your server, as if it crashes or you lost access backup taken will be not at all useful. If you are developer or know how to use GitHub or Bit bucket, you can keep your code safe in repository.