Fatal error in WordPress update
Updating a version of WordPress is a simple matter of clicking a button – the currently installed version even indicates whether or not a newer version has been made available. I tried the update once or twice but was stumped by an error that indicated a lack of memory.
The error relates to the PHP processor and has nothing to do with WordPress itself. There are a couple of possible fixes, but which one to apply depends very much on the type of access one has to the WordPress installation one is attempting to upgrade. In most hosted setups, there is no chance of editing the .htaccess file to add a memory parameter in the form php_value memory_limit 256MB, or to modify an entry in the PHP.ini file to change the memory limit by way of the parameter memory_limit = 256M;
The easiest means of fixing the upgrade procedure in my case was to ssh to my blog’s hosted system and to add a parameter to the wp-config.php. I added the following: define(’WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’);. That provides 256MB to the PHP processor and should hopefully cater for future upgrades to WordPress whenever those come along.
The change to the file is all that is required – after that, the update to 2.9 worked without a hitch.
Once again, the update to WordPress is highly recommended – the amount of time the update takes is negligible and will ensure that all the latest security patches are present.
