Unfortunately, I have to agree with you on this point. The problem is that that approach ("automated update") needs to take into account many, many possible changes to the configurations, as well as the security situation. If we had the income and number of developers that WordPress has (or even 1%), it would be possible to do this. I guess that's part of the impetus behind Series Zero, which is a "put-the-pieces-together" approach. It still doesn't auto-update, but I think we're headed in that direction. At least that's my impression. Still, the best way to update right now is to install the new version, port your apps over, change the config variables to match your old installation, and then test. Regards. BobS