[Wes Davis at The Verge]

The feud between Automattic (or more specifically, Matt Mullenweg himself) and WP Engine is getting bonkers:

"WordPress.org has taken over a popular WP Engine plugin in order “to remove commercial upsells and fix a security problem,” WordPress cofounder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg announced today. This “minimal” update, which he labels a fork of the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin, is now called “Secure Custom Fields.”"

What appears to have happened is this:

1. WP Engine was banned from the WordPress plugin portal.
2. A flaw was found in its popular Advanced Custom Fields plugin and patched - but because it was banned from the portal, WordPress users couldn't get an automatic update.
3. Rather than seed the patch, Automattic forked the plugin, renamed it, and took over the upgrade path in-place.
4. All WordPress users of ACF that upgrade via the portal will now get Automattic's version, which removes all commercial ties to WP Engine.

Technically, Automattic (or anyone) can fork any open source plugin - that's what open source is all about. But seizing the upgrade path and swapping for the new version in-place in the portal is a pretty rotten move.

ACF is well-used in commercial sites and is often provided by agencies as a bedrock for their customizations. This isn't some sideline: for many users, ACF makes WordPress significantly more useful.

It's an existential issue for any open source plugin contributor. Again, forking is well within anyone's rights - but replacing the upgrade path is something only Automattic can do.

This is only muddied by the fact that the portal is technically owned by Matt alone, rather than Automattic. But the lines are blurry at best.

Whereas the feud had previously not created a risk to WordPress's functionality, for many serious users this is now a big problem. A stable platform with solid upgrade paths is a huge part of why people choose WordPress. Whatever's going on behind the scenes, this altercation has created huge risk for anyone who's thinking about making the leap (and, at the same time, may open up opportunities for other open source CMS vendors).

#Technology

[Link]