WP Engine has expressed outrage over co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, for “appropriating” the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) developed by the WP Engine team since 2011.
The Advanced Custom Fields is a sophisticated plugin with over 200,000 lines of code that is regularly updated. Since joining WP Engine, there have been more than 15 plugin updates in the past 2 years.
WP Engine considers the changes made to the ACF distribution under a unique plugin identifier (SLUG) in the WordPress.org repository as a violation of the principles and values of open-source code. According to the ACF team, Mullenweg’s actions resulted in the replacement of millions of plugin settings with unapproved and unverified code by ACF developers.
The updated plugin page in the WordPress catalog.
WP Engine assures users using WP Engine, Flywheel hosting, and ACF Pro that they will continue to receive the latest updates and innovations from the ACF team. However, the free version of the plugin on WordPress.org is no longer under the control of the ACF developers.
Users managing sites with the free ACF version on other hosting platforms are advised to download version 6.3.8 from the AdvancedCubeomfields website as a one-time measure to protect themselves and continue receiving updates through the WordPress administrator panel. The same process applies if the plugin has already been updated to the modified version of “Secure Custom Fields.”
WordPress representatives stated that WP Engine, while in the catalog, automatically agrees to the rules, which allows WordPress to block access to the old plugin and add a new developer, among other actions.
WP Engine emphasized that Mullenweg’s actions pose a serious threat to the entire WordPress ecosystem. Mullenweg’s attempt to take control of this open platform, created by the efforts of many plugin developers and contributors, is seen as a breach of trust and a violation of community principles of openness and honesty.
This situation marks the peak of the conflict between WordPress and WP Engine. Previously, WordPress had