• Contributors: Andy Fragen, Gary Jones, Seth Carstens, contributors
• Tags: plugin, theme, update, updater, github, bitbucket, gitlab, remote install
• Requires at least: 3.8
• Requires PHP: 5.3
• Tested up to: 4.3 alpha
• Stable tag: master
• Donate link: http://bit.ly/github-updater
• License: GPLv2 or later
• License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

A simple plugin to enable automatic updates to your GitHub, Bitbucket, or GitLab hosted WordPress plugins and themes. It also allows for the remote installation of plugins or themes.

This plugin is not allowed in the wp.org repo. 😦

This plugin was designed to simply update any GitHub hosted WordPress plugin or theme. Your plugin or theme must contain a header in the style.css header or in the plugin's header denoting the location on GitHub. The format is as follows.

GitHub Plugin URI: afragen/github-updater
GitHub Plugin URI: https://github.com/afragen/github-updater

or

GitHub Theme URI: afragen/test-child
GitHub Theme URI: https://github.com/afragen/test-child

...where the above URI leads to the owner/repository of your theme or plugin. The URI may be in the format https://github.com/<owner>/<repo> or the short format <owner>/<repo>. You do not need both. Only one Plugin or Theme URI is required. You must not include any extensions like .git.

Run the composer command: composer require afragen/github-updater

1. Download the latest tagged archive (choose the "zip" option).
2. Go to the Plugins -> Add New screen and click the Upload tab.
3. Upload the zipped archive directly.
4. Go to the Plugins screen and click Activate.

1. Download the latest tagged archive (choose the "zip" option).
2. Unzip the archive.
3. Copy the folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
4. Go to the Plugins screen and click Activate.

Check out the Codex for more information about installing plugins manually.

Using git, browse to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory and clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/afragen/github-updater.git

Then go to your Plugins screen and click Activate.

1. Choose a method from above for installation.
2. DO NOT activate!
3. Symlink wp-content/plugins/github-updater/mu/ghu-loader.php in wp-content/mu-plugins.

cd <WordPress root>
ln -sv wp-content/plugins/github-updater/mu/ghu-loader.php wp-content/mu-plugins

cd /D <WordPress root>
mklink wp-content\mu-plugins\ghu-loader.php wp-content\plugins\github-updater\mu\ghu-loader.php

This way you get automatic updates and cannot deactivate the plugin.

There must be a GitHub Plugin URI, Bitbucket Plugin URI, or GitLab Plugin URI declaration in the plugin's header.

/*
Plugin Name:       GitHub Updater
Plugin URI:        https://github.com/afragen/github-updater
Description:       A plugin to automatically update GitHub hosted plugins and themes into WordPress. Plugin class based upon <a href="https://github.com/codepress/github-plugin-updater">codepress/github-plugin-updater</a>. Theme class based upon <a href="https://github.com/WordPress-Phoenix/whitelabel-framework">Whitelabel Framework</a> modifications.
Version:           1.0.0
Author:            Andy Fragen
License:           GNU General Public License v2
License URI:       http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Domain Path:       /languages
Text Domain:       github-updater
GitHub Plugin URI: https://github.com/afragen/github-updater
GitHub Branch:     master
*/

There must be a GitHub Theme URI, Bitbucket Theme URI, or GitLab Theme URI declaration in the style.css file. When initially adding a theme, the directory must be identical to the repo name.

/*
Theme Name:       Test
Theme URI:        http://drfragen.info/
Version:          0.1.0
Description:      Child theme of TwentyTwelve.
Author:           Andy Fragen
Template:         twentytwelve
Template Version: 1.0.0
GitHub Theme URI: https://github.com/afragen/test-child
GitHub Branch:    master
*/

GitHub Branch, Bitbucket Branch, and GitLab Branch are available but not required.

Add the GitHub Enterprise header to the plugin or theme that is hosted on your GitHub self-hosted installation. The settings should be similar to GitHub Enterprise: https://github.yourhost.com.

Add the GitLab CE or GitLab Enterprise header to the plugin or theme that is hosted on your GitLab self-hosted installation. The settings should be similar to GitLab CE: https://gitlab.yourhost.com or GitLab Enterprise: https://gitlab.yourhost.com.

GitHub Updater reads the Version headers from both the local file and the remote file. For an update to show as available the remote version number must be greater than the local version number. It is required to have a Version header in your main plugin file or your theme's style.css file. It is better to use Semantic Versioning.

If you tag releases the version number of the tag must be the same as in the file inside of the tag. Otherwise a circle of updating may ensue. You do not have to tag releases; but if you do the tagged version will be downloaded preferentially. Please refer to the sections below on branches and tags.

When testing I find it simpler to decrease the version number in the local file rather than continually push updates with version number increments or new tags.

To specify a branch that you would like to use for updating, just add a branch header. If you develop on master and are pushing tags, GitHub Updater will update to the newest tag. If there are no tags or the specified branch is not master GitHub Updater will use the specified branch for updating.

The default state is either GitHub Branch: master or nothing at all. They are equivalent.

If you want to update against branch of your repository other than master and have that branch push updates out to users make sure you specify the testing branch in a header, i.e. GitHub Branch: develop. When you want users to update against the release branch just have them manually change the header to GitHub Branch: master or remove it completely. Tags will be ignored when a branch other than master is specified. In this case I would suggest semantic version numbering similar to the following, <major>.<minor>.<patch>.<development>.

In the GitHub Updater Settings there is a new setting to enable branch switching for plugins. When checked there will be a new ability from the Plugins page to switch between plugin branches. Switching to the current branch will reinstall the current branch.

If the branch header, i.e. GitHub Branch or Bitbucket Branch, is not specified (or is set to master), then the latest tag will be used. GitHub Updater will preferentially use a tag over a branch in this instance.

If you prefer to create a release asset for distribution, this will be used in preference to a tag.

Instead of the GitHub Plugin URI header you will need to use the Bitbucket Plugin URI header.

Instead of the GitHub Theme URI header you will need to use the Bitbucket Theme URI header.

The Bitbucket Branch header is supported for both plugins and themes.

Instead of the GitHub Plugin URI header you will need to use the GitLab Plugin URI header.

Instead of the GitHub Theme URI header you will need to use the GitLab Theme URI header.

The GitLab Branch header is supported for both plugins and themes.

You must set a GitLab private token. Go to your GitLab profile page under Edit Account. From here you can retrieve or reset your GitLab private token.

Only private repositories will show up in the Settings page.

In order to specify a private repository you will need to obtain a personal access token. Once you have this, simply add the token to the appropriate plugin or theme in the Settings tab.

Leave this empty if the plugin or theme is in a public repository.

Add your personal Bitbucket username and password in the Settings tab. In order to authenticate with the Bitbucket API you will need to have at least read privileges for the Bitbucket private repository.

In order to specify a private repository you will need to check the box next to the repository name in the Settings tab.

Leave this unchecked if the plugin or theme is in a public repository.

Do not include your username or password in the plugin or theme URI.

There are now two optional headers for setting minimum requirements for both WordPress and PHP.

Use Requires WP: to set the minimum required version of WordPress needed for your plugin or theme. eg. Requires WP: 3.8

Use Requires PHP: to set the minimum required version of PHP needed for your plugin or theme. eg. Requires PHP: 5.3.0

At the moment the default values are WordPress 3.8.0 and PHP 5.3.0

If you use the Check Again button in the WordPress Updates screen then all the transients will be deleted and the API will be queried again. This may cause timeout issues against the API, especially the GitHub API which only allows 60 unauthenticated calls per hour.

Be careful about refreshing the browser window after this as you may be continually deleting the transients and hitting the API.

If you develop your plugin on GitHub and it also resides in the WP.org repo, the plugin will preferentially pull updates from WP.org if GitHub Branch: master. If GitHub Branch is anything other than master then the update will pull from GitHub. Make sure that the version of your plugin uploaded to WP.org has GitHub Branch: master.

The same applies for Bitbucket or GitLab hosted plugins.

From the GitHub Updater Settings Page there is a tabbed interface for remote installation of plugins or themes. You may use either a full URI or short <owner>/<repo> format.

GitHub Updater now reports a small error message on certain pages in the dashboard. The error codes are HTTP status codes. Most often the code will be either 403 or 401. If you don't have an Access Token set for a private GitHub repo you will get a 404 error.

There is a new setting for a personal GitHub Access Token. I strongly encourage everyone to create a personal access token. Create one with at least public_repo access and your rate limit will be increased to 5000 API hits per hour. Unauthenticated calls to the GitHub API are limited to 60 API calls per hour and in certain circumstances, like shared hosting, these limits will be more frequently hit. Thanks mlteal.

• usually this means that you have reached GitHub API's rate limit of 60 hits per hour. This is informative and should go away in less than an hour. See above regarding the setting of a personal access token to eliminate this entirely.
• a private GitHub repo without an Access Token designated in the Settings.
• will tell you how long until GitHub API's rate limit will be reset.

• incorrect Bitbucket user/pass, no read access to private Bitbucket repo
• private Bitbucket repo not checked in Settings

• using an incorrect private repo GitHub Access Token for a public repo
• an incorrect Access Token for a private GitHub repo.

I've seen this error code occasionally with Bitbucket.

There's a hidden preference to use extended naming for plugin directories. Extended Naming follows the convention <git>-<owner>-<repo>. The normal method is to name the plugin directory <repo>. Unfortunately there may be a potential conflict with a WP.org plugin. This preference mitigates that potential conflict. If you switch between normal and extended naming you might have to reactivate your plugins.

To set Extended Naming add define( 'GITHUB_UPDATER_EXTENDED_NAMING', true ); in your wp-config.php or your theme's functions.php.

szepeviktor has created an add-on plugin to GitHub Updater that identifies all plugins with an icon in the plugin view for GitHub or Bitbucket depending upon where they get updates. It's very clever. https://github.com/szepeviktor/github-link

• French by
  • Daniel Ménard
  • fxbenard
• Italian by Enea Overclokk
• Portuguese by
  • Valerio Souza
  • Pedro Mendonça
• Ukrainian by Andrii Ryzhkv
• Swedish by Andréas Lundgren
• Arabic by Hyyan Abo FAkher
• Spanish by Jose Miguel Bejarano
• German by Linus Metzler
• Romanian by Corneliu Cirlan
• Japanese by ishihara
• Russian by Anatoly Yumashev

Please log issues on the GitHub at https://github.com/afragen/github-updater/issues

If you are using a WordPress Multisite installation, the plugin should be network activated.

When first downloading and installing a plugin from GitHub you might have to do the following, otherwise the next update may not be able to cleanup after itself and re-activate the updated plugin or theme. Or you can just use the remote install feature and this will be done for you. 😉

1. Unzip the archive.
2. Fix the folder name to remove to extra stuff GitHub adds to the download, like -master.
3. Copy the folder to your plugins directory or re-zip folder and add from plugins page.

W3 Total Cache object cache also clears the transient cache. Unfortunately this hampers GitHub Updater's storage of API data using the Transient API. The solution is to turn off the object cache.

See CHANGES.md. In your project create a CHANGES.md or CHANGELOG.md file.

This plugin's theme updater class was based upon Whitelabel Framework's updater-plugin.php, which was based upon https://github.com/UCF/Theme-Updater.

The plugin updater class was based upon codepress/github-plugin-updater.

Includes

• Emanuil Rusev's Parsedown for rendering ChangeLogs.
• Mark Jaquith's WordPress Plugin Readme Parser for parsing readme.txt.

GitHub Updater logo by LogoMajestic.

Please fork and submit pull requests against the develop branch.