Automatic update check in Panel#111

Optional (via config settings) automatic update check that runs when signing into the Panel. Update notification could vary between just being shown in the Settings view (automatic or by pushing a button) or as an error dialog for updates that include crucial security fixes.

That is a really bad idea, IMHO - and one of the main reasons for moving away from Wordpress Automatic updates tend to break things and make life a living hell for anyone doing maintenance.

To be clear: this idea is only about a notification for available updates. It’s neither about automatically running updates nor starting updates from the Panel.

OMG, I can already see the client calling me “hey, it’s telling me that my site is out-of-date”… Please, make this notification OPTIONAL.

It is very important to us to keep our users in control, so this will definitely be a feature that can be disabled in the config.

The reason why we are introducing the check is that we often see in support that users have outdated Kirby installations, which means that bugs or even security threats are present that have already been fixed by us.

If you update your sites regularly anyway, you are not the target group of this feature, so you can safely disable it. 🙂

We have also thought about options to limit notifications only to releases that fix security threats - if usual bugfixes or features aren’t so much of your concern, but you’d like to make sure not to miss those crucial ones in terms of security.

An option to show the notification only to certain groups, e.g. admins, would be nice.

TBH, I’d rather not have it, but if it’s going to be added, then I’m happy that we’ll be able to hide it, or switch it off.

Have this feature ‘off’ by default, please. Don’t want any panel warnings for my clients.

We discussed this internally and will implement the feature in a way that security warnings will be on by default but other update notifications will be switched off. You will also be able to hide the warnings entirely.

I think this solution should make everyone happy as it doesn’t force you into one particular direction, but it will also help to promote important security updates.

BTW again: this is not an auto-update feature like in Wordpress. It will only be visible in the settings view when there are updates available.

We would also appreciate it if anonymous users could claim their accounts. We will stop showing and accepting anonymous comments and votes in the near future for the sake of quality in this platform.