WordPress 6.1 Release Candidate 6 (RC6) Now Available for Testing

• Updated on: 2023-08-04
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Tags: 6.1 ( 81 ) , releases ( 27 )   
WordPress 6.1 Release Candidate 6 (RC6) Now Available for Testing
WordPress 6.1 is scheduled for release tomorrow, November 1, 2022! This RC6 release is the last milestone for testing ahead of the official release.
The following issues have been addressed since RC5:
Unexpected quotes around search text in custom LIKE queries (see #56933 )
This has resulted in a decision to postpone escaping table and field names with wpdb::prepare() to 6.2 .
Thank you to all of the contributors who tested the BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process./RCrelease candidate One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see alpha (beta) . releases and provided feedback. Testing is a critical part of making each release strong and a great way to contribute to WordPress.
Installing RC6
This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it is recommended that you install RC5 on a test server and site. 
You can test WordPress 6.1 RC6 in three ways:
Option 1: Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party (select the “Bleeding edgebleeding edge The latest revision of the software, generally in development and often unstable. Also known as trunk .” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).
Option 2: Direct download the release candidate version (zip) .
Option 3: Run the following command to upgrade via WP-CLIWP-CLI WP-CLI is the Command Line Interface for WordPress, used to do administrative and development tasks in a programmatic way. The project page is http://wp-cli.org/ https://make.wordpress.org/cli/ :
wp core update --version=6.1-RC6
Plugin and Theme Developers
All plugin and theme developers are encouraged to complete testing of their respective extensions against WordPress 6.1 RC6 and update the “Tested up to” version in their readme file to 6.1 this week. If you find compatibility problems, please post detailed information to the support forums , so these items can be investigated promptly.
Review the WordPress 6.1 Field Guide , for more details on this release.
You can find additional information on the entire 6.1 release cycle .
Check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.1-related developer notes for further details on the 6.1 release.
How to Help Test WordPress
Testing for issues is critical for stabilizing a release throughout its development. Testing is also a great way to contribute to WordPress. If you are new to testing, check out this detailed guide that will walk you through how to get started.
If you think you have run into an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. If you are comfortable writing a reproducible bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. report, you can file one on WordPress Trac . This is also where you can find a list of known bugs .
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Haikus for RC6
%i must wait for 6.2 now
Too weird for RC5