RK-CMS is a platform that makes it equally easy to launch a blog, a corporate portal, or a website with financial features (payment acceptance, billing, personal accounts). We don't have a "One-Click Update" button. Instead, we release distributions—complete update packages that you download and install yourself.
At first glance, this may seem inconvenient, especially if you're used to automatic updates from other CMSs. But this approach is a conscious decision, driven by concern for the stability and security of your website. We explain why.
The world is changing rapidly, and so are the rules
Technology, security standards, and legal requirements—everything changes rapidly. One version of PHP is relevant today, and a new one comes out tomorrow. Payment systems change their APIs, search engines update their markup requirements, and new data exchange protocols emerge.
RK-CMS must keep up with these changes. Therefore, new versions are released frequently, and they often contain not just cosmetic fixes, but architectural changes: core reworks, database schema updates.
No automatic update can handle such changes correctly. It's designed for simple, predictable updates, where files are simply replaced with new ones. When the architecture changes, you need to manually check compatibility with all modules, themes, and custom modifications. The distribution allows you to do this consciously and in stages.
Automatic updates don't take into account your unique configuration
Each RK-CMS website is more than just a standard installation. You customize themes, enable modules, and possibly customize templates to suit your needs. Automatic updates operate "blindly": they replace core and module files without understanding how this will affect your custom modifications.
Financial features require special care
Even if your website is primarily informational, but you use RK-CMS's built-in financial features (for example, paid subscriptions or digital product sales), any error during an update could result in the loss of transaction data or disruption of billing.
Automatic updates cannot guarantee the integrity of the database when the structure changes. If the new version changes the tables responsible for payments and the update is performed incorrectly, you risk desynchronization: a payment goes through, but the balance in the user's account remains unchanged.
New core features do not appear in your theme automatically
When we add new features to RK-CMS—for example, the "Upcoming Events" widget for a blog or the "Account Number" field for the financial module—these features appear in the admin panel but are not automatically displayed on the website. Your custom theme simply doesn't know about them.
Security: No Automatic Delivery Channels
Automatic updates require your site to regularly contact the update server, download the package, and install it. This is an additional entry point for attackers: if the update server is compromised, thousands of sites could receive malicious code.
With manual updates via the distribution, you download the archive from the official RK-CMS website and upload it to the server manually. This eliminates automatic delivery and makes file substitution virtually impossible.
Manual updates are a concern, not a limitation
RK-CMS doesn't aim to be a "CMS for dummies," where everything happens magically and breaks just as magically. We create a tool that gives you complete control over your site—from design to financial transactions.
Updating via the distribution is easy. It's predictable, secure, and transparent. You always know what changed, why it changed, and how it will affect your project. For a blog, this means your articles won't disappear due to template conflicts. For financial functions, it means your clients' funds will be safe.
So: download the distribution → read the update instructions → make a backup → update. No surprises.
