WordPress is the CMS that powers millions of websites around the globe. There are many people that are contributing to the development of new version of WordPress and releasing bug fixes and updates. Sometimes it may happen that the core team may miss a bug and they may think to fix it with the release of next version. Till that time, users will need to wait for the fix. Some bugs are such that they affect only specific server environments and users and won’t affect everyone. So how to get bug fixes ahead of next core release/update for WordPress?
Enter Hotfix, a plugin developed by Mark Jaquith and Andrew Nacin who are the core contributors of WordPress. This is an unofficial plugin that provides fixes for selected WordPress bugs, so you don’t have to wait for the next WordPress core release.
The Hotfix plugin has recently fixed a bug in WordPress 3.4.2 related to adding and updating custom fields. In future, this plugin can provide many such bug fixes and the best part is that you don’t have to wait for the next update for WordPress.
You can start using Hotfix by installing the plugin. There’s no need to configure any other settings, nor there is any settings page. All you need to do is to just install this plugin, activate it and keep it updated.
Note: This does not in any sense mean that you should stop updating WordPress core. This plugin is not a replacement to the official updates, but think of it as just a way to get some selected bug fixes ahead of next core updates.