WP Dove is here to bring you the latest news on WordPress 6.2, which was slated for launch today. However, an unexpected bug involving date formats was discovered during the final 24-hour freeze, prompting concerns about potential impacts on vital features such as bookings, date permalinks, and e-commerce stores.
The decision was taken this morning to postpone the release, with the consensus being to revert the changes and launch a silent 6.2 RC5 containing the necessary fix. Tonya Mork, WordPress 6.2 Core Tech Co-Lead, proposed the revert, citing the widespread effects of the issue as too risky to proceed with today’s release and delay the fix to a minor update.
Colin Stewart, 6.2 Core Triage Lead, supported this view, stating that the issue couldn’t wait until version 6.2.1, as it could have serious consequences, including financial and operational stress, for site owners and managers handling bookings and related features.
Jonathan Desrosiers, a WordPress Core Committer, also favored the revert and silent RC5 release. He emphasized the importance of comprehensive testing for even the smallest changes, as a responsibility owed to users. Desrosiers warned that releasing the issue with 6.2 could lead to a larger problem that would be difficult to identify and rectify for most users. Moreover, he pointed out that relying on Core to “auto-fix” such occurrences in future minor updates would be nearly impossible and create a significant maintenance burden and technical debt.
In light of these concerns, contributors unanimously agreed that releasing a known issue just to maintain the schedule would be unwise, and that rolling out a fix today might cause additional complications. An announcement regarding this decision will be published on Make/Core, followed by the release of 6.2 RC5. This will restart the 24-hour countdown leading up to the official WordPress 6.2 release tomorrow.