An icon, a Check again that checks, and the auto-update rule written down

Three gaps found by being asked plain questions about it.

**The auto-update toggle was a promise nobody had checked.** offer_update()
answers even when the installed version is current, on the reasoning that the
answer has to land in WordPress's no_update list for the "Enable auto-updates"
link to exist at all. That was a comment and an intention; it is now an
assertion against the real WP_Plugins_List_Table, which is where the flag is
actually read:

    $plugin_data = array_merge( (array) $plugin_info->no_update[ $plugin_file ],
                               array( 'update-supported' => true ), $plugin_data );

A plugin in neither response nor no_update gets "Auto-updates are not available
for this plugin" while looking entirely healthy.

**An icon.** Without one, Dashboard → Updates shows a generic grey plug.
assets/icon.svg, handed over in the offer's icons key, served from the shop's
own copy rather than the release host — one fewer thing that must be reachable
for wp-admin to render, and it cannot go mixed content on an HTTPS shop. Drawn
as paths rather than <text>: an SVG that leans on a font renders differently on
every machine, and this one is shown at about 40px, which is the size where
that is the difference between a mark and a smudge.

**"Check again" now checks again.** The six-hour cache is right for the check
WordPress runs twice a day and wrong for a link whose whole promise is that it
looks now. Publishing a release and then clicking it showed nothing for up to
six hours, which reads exactly like a broken updater.

And docs/REUSE.md was missing all of this: it covered Update URI, where to
instantiate the updater and making the repo public, but not the one rule that
is genuinely easy to get wrong.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
kristianwind
2026-09-16 12:23:05 +02:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent cef52734ee
commit 200f791f40
5 changed files with 219 additions and 3 deletions
+49 -3
View File
@@ -155,11 +155,57 @@ That means all of this works with no extra code:
- the update notice on **Plugins** and **Dashboard → Updates**
- the **update now** link
- the per-plugin **Enable auto-updates** link — WordPress builds that from the
plugins it has an answer for, which is why the updater answers even when the
installed version is already current
- the per-plugin **Enable auto-updates** link
- `wp plugin update woocommerce-email-discount-manager` over WP-CLI
### Turning on automatic updates
Plugins screen → the **Automatic updates** column on the right → **Enable
auto-updates**. WordPress then installs new versions by itself on its
twice-daily check.
That link is not free for a plugin outside wordpress.org.
`WP_Plugins_List_Table` marks a plugin as `update-supported` only if it finds
it in the update transient's `response` list (an update is waiting) or its
`no_update` list (we were asked, there is none):
```php
// wp-admin/includes/class-wp-plugins-list-table.php
$plugin_data = array_merge( (array) $plugin_info->response[ $plugin_file ], array( 'update-supported' => true ), $plugin_data );
$plugin_data = array_merge( (array) $plugin_info->no_update[ $plugin_file ], array( 'update-supported' => true ), $plugin_data );
} elseif ( empty( $plugin_data['update-supported'] ) ) {
$plugin_data['update-supported'] = false;
```
A plugin in neither list gets "Auto-updates are not available for this plugin"
and no toggle — while looking entirely healthy otherwise. That is why
`offer_update()` answers even when the installed version is already current:
the answer lands in `no_update`, and the link stays. `tests/smoke.php` builds
the real list table and asserts the flag rather than trusting the reasoning.
### "Check again" really checks again
The feed is cached for six hours. That is right for the check WordPress runs on
its own twice a day, and wrong for a link whose entire promise is that it looks
*now* — so the cache is dropped when wp-admin is loaded with `force-check`.
Without that, publishing a release and then clicking **Check again** shows
nothing for up to six hours, which reads exactly like a broken updater.
From the command line, `wp transient delete wc_edm_release_feed` does the same.
### The icon
`assets/icon.svg`, handed to WordPress in the offer's `icons` key. Without it
Dashboard → Updates shows a generic grey plug. WordPress takes the first of
`svg`, `2x`, `1x`, `default` that is set.
It is served from the shop's own copy of the plugin, not from the release host:
one fewer thing that has to be reachable for wp-admin to render correctly, and
it cannot go mixed-content on an HTTPS shop. The mark is drawn as paths rather
than `<text>`, because an SVG that leans on a font renders differently
everywhere — and this one is shown at about 40px, which is the size where that
matters.
`Update URI` earns its place a second way: since WordPress 5.8, a plugin that
declares one is **never asked about on wordpress.org**. Without it, a .org
plugin that happened to share this slug could be pushed onto a shop running