Snapshot Backup – Version 1.5 Release Notes

Here’s a maintenance release of Snapshot which fixes a handful of issues many of you have experienced over the last month. Let me share with you what I’ve done to make Snapshot even better. It’s all about compatibility.

Thank you all forover 4000 downloads at the time of writing!

Special thanks go to Ozh, Justin and Brad and their new book Professional WordPress Plugin Development which is helping me enormously in getting a grip on WordPress constants and functions.

New Database Readout

I had previously used David Walsh’s database readout script in this plugin. Unfortunately some hosts had a problem with it, showing up memory issues, or – even worse – not writing the file. An easy fix was to use the MYSQLDUMP shell command instead.

The resulting .sql file in your Snapshot will now be compatible with pretty much every host. Sweet!

Replaced hard-coded links with dyanmic ones

This change affected the readout of where the files are saved and are the logos were located, no matter which server you’re on.

Added permanent downlaod option

In the past you could download your Snapshot from the local server once the backup was finished – but not before you’ve made a new one. That’s fixed now: you can download your most recent snapshot anytime of the day now.

Fixed root .htaccess issue

I’m using the TAR command to amalgamate all files into one – and it works really well. However TAR has one issue: by default the rather important .htaccess file is not included if the command is executed in the directory you’re doing the TARing in. I didn’t know about this issue had it not been for user feedback.

I found a workaround and implemented it at once – .htaccess is now included.

Added support for Additional Directory Inclusion

Until now Snapshot Backup assumed you’ve got a default WordPress installation (i.e. all folders in one place). However, WordPress gives you the option to move your wp-content directory to more secure locations.

Now you’ve got the option to include a non-default wp-content directory if you wish: under Include Additional Directory you need to define the full path to whatever else you’d like included and it shall happen. The “example” path is the full path to your wp-content folder.

If you have a default installation (like most of you will have) please leave this field blank – otherwise your wp-content folder could be included twice in the Snapshot, making the resulting file unnecessarily big.

Certified WordPress 3.1.1 compatibility

While I was at it, I did this as well.

That’s it for now 😉

You can download the latest version from the WordPress Repository or by using the amazing update function from within your back end.

There will be at least one more release before 2.0 hits the floor. If you have any issues, please leave a comment or use the Snapshot Forum over at WordPress.org.