Break Something / Fix Something

My “break” officially begins today. I now have a couple of weeks to relax and catch up on tasks I have been putting off.Today, I decided I should update the software that runs this blog (WordPress).

The maxim “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t always apply to open software. Patches for various problems, including security issues, are constantly being incorporated into new versions and it is considered irresponsible to operate vulnerable software. The downside of upgrading is that things that worked before often break.

The software that operates this blog was created by many talented people. There is the main program that is capable of operating a basic blog, but also plugins that perform special functions. Unfortunately, sometimes plugins that worked before conflict with changes made to the basic software. That is what has happened to me. The plugins I have been using to “tag” my posts, generate a tag cloud, and retrieve posts by tag no longer work. I have found a replacement, but I now have to decide if I want to retag my posts. There are more than 1000 posts so it will be a considerable amount of work. Still, I added the original tag plugin only a year or so ago and many original posts could not be located by tag.

I guess I will start and see how far I get. Working backwards is probably the best strategy. If I decide to abandon the task, at least the most recent and probably most relevant material will be tagged.

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