Support

Hello Arnold,

This is only possible for plugins which are listed in and distributed through the WordPress Plugin Directory. Unfortunately, the directory poses some restrictions which make it impossible for us to use it. Most notably it requires developers to not make money out of their software. Developing and supporting Akeeba Backup is a full time job for four people. It simply can't be done free of charge. We don't have millions in venture capitalist funding like Automattic does...

Besides, I have no idea why you filed this ticket to begin with. Watchful.li supports updating Akeeba Backup for WordPress since late 2014. You may need to enter your Download ID. If unsure, ask them :)

Um, that doesn't make any sense whatsoever! I have often replied to tickets filed by Vic Drover specifically regarding the way Watchful.li handles Akeeba Backup updates. In fact we were talking about how to apply a definitive plugin name by means of a subdirectory in the ZIP file just a few months ago. I am wondering if they have the feature in beta but not deployed...?

If you are feeling adventurous, edit wp-content/plugins/akeebabackupwp/akeebabackupwp.php and find this block:

// Autoupdate info
// add_filter ('pre_set_site_transient_update_plugins', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'getupdates'), 10, 2);
// add_filter ('plugins_api', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'checkinfo'), 10, 3);
// add_filter ('upgrader_pre_download', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'addDownloadID'), 10, 3);
// add_filter ('upgrader_package_options', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'packageOptions'), 10, 2);
// add_filter ('after_plugin_row_akeebabackupwp/akeebabackupwp.php', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'updateMessage'), 10, 3);

Change it to

// Autoupdate info
add_filter ('pre_set_site_transient_update_plugins', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'getupdates'), 10, 2);
add_filter ('plugins_api', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'checkinfo'), 10, 3);
add_filter ('upgrader_pre_download', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'addDownloadID'), 10, 3);
add_filter ('upgrader_package_options', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'packageOptions'), 10, 2);
add_filter ('after_plugin_row_akeebabackupwp/akeebabackupwp.php', array('AkeebaBackupWPUpdater', 'updateMessage'), 10, 3);

This will report the updates the WordPress' Plugins page. However, there was a reason we disabled it. Some badly written third party plugins interfere with these filters, causing WordPress to throw a white page / error 500. The problem does not come from our code so we can't fix it. It comes from third party code. Our code only triggers the bug in the third party code. So I disabled this feature until I can add a switch to let our users disable the integrated update.

Uncommenting the lines I indicated you will re-enable this feature. Akeeba Backup will now be reporting the availability of updates to WordPress. It will also provide the correct Download URL, with the Download ID, when WordPress tries to fetch the plugin update. I guess that should be more than enough for Watchful.li if that's what they meant in their reply (and not that the plugin has to be hosted in the Directory so they can query the update status through the Directory's API). Please let me know if that works.