This is not a completely automated solution, there is more that you could do to improve the process, but it should save a lot of the time normally spent updating WordPress.

Note: the provided script will only work if you do the WordPress install using subversion and in the domain/sub-domain’s html/ directory.

Installing WordPress

Yes, there is a 1-click install for installing WordPress on the (gs), but I don’t use it. Here is how I install WordPress on a domain or sub-domain (ex: blog.site.org):

1. Ensure that you have an alternate domain or sub-domain created that has an empty html/ directory.
2. Find the latest tag listed in the WordPress repository. (ex: 2.8.3)
3. SSH into the (gs) as the serveradmin.
4. cd domains/blog.site.org/html
5. svn checkout http://svn.automattic.com/wordpress/tags/2.8.3/ ./ --force

Once the svn checkout is complete you should be able to visit the install page (ex: blog.site.org/wp-admin/install.php) and finish the installation of WordPress like normal.

I also suggest you take steps to harden your WordPress install.

Upgrading Many WordPress Installs at Once

When you learn of a new version of WordPress you can do the following to easily upgrade all of your installations at once.

1. SSH into the (gs) as the serveradmin.
2. You will need to upload the updateWP bash script to your serveradmin home directory (~/) if it does not already exist.
3. Run the bash script with the new version number: ./updateWP.sh 2.8.4
4. The script will look at each of your domains to see if you have WordPress installed. If it finds WordPress it will switch to the new tag.
5. After all the installs are updated you can view the updateWP.log to see all of the installations that were completed. On some tags you may need to go to each of the /wp-admin/ page and manually tell it to update the database. You can check if this is necessary by visiting one of your WordPress install’s /wp-admin/ directory.

Subversion Cheatsheet

I’d definately check out his other cheatsheets while you are on the site, they are an excellent resource for many different languages and common tasks.

Added Bytes Cheatsheets

Also for any developers interested in the discussion going on about the cheatsheets Dave has created a google group specifically for cheatsheets. Awesome.

Cheatsheet Google Group