In my most recent post I used Magento as a poster child for my argument that applying software updates without regard to the consequences is a bad idea. I highlighted the problems discovered by those who had unwisely installed the 1.1.7 release of Magento on live e-commerce stores without testing and who had then come to realize they had a big problem on their hands. Almost on cue, later that same day Magento released an update to their update to fix the bugs that had been inadvertently introduced. [Kudos to Magento for jumping on the problems as quickly as they did.]
The newer update posed an interesting problem for those who abide by all or some of the rules I outlined in that post. On the one hand, installing the 1.1.8 update would tend to violate the basic tenet of not installing any update until it has been out for at least a few days, allowing other daring souls to share their results first. On the other hand, some of the bugs introduced by 1.1.7 were serious enough to trump that concern. In the end, my recommendation has to be split in this case: if you’ve already installed 1.1.7, then fixing it with the 1.1.8 release is probably the best course of action (assuming you’ve backed up as per rule #4); if, however, you have wisely not installed 1.1.7, I would counsel waiting – perhaps even until after the holiday rush ends.
The really scary part about the 1.1.8 update was that it was released on Thanksgiving-eve, right at the outset of the holiday shopping rush. As I remarked to a client, I think anyone who installed that update at that time during what is already expected to be a very challenging holiday e-commerce season should have their head checked.
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