WordPress update core problem

Short version: please contact the plugin [at] ww.wp.xz.cn email with these details.

Longer coffee fueled version which is just my opinion as I am not on the plugins team:

We are the authors of the Contact Form plugin: https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/contact-form-plugin/

And others. *Drinks more coffee*

We also have a premium plugin version with additonal features which is called Contact Form Pro. It is available for purchase on our official website.

OK.

We have found another free plugin in the WordPress repository which has the same name – Contact Form Pro: https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/custom-user-contact-form-builder/

OK.

Now WordPress core (standard WP option) is trying to install this update instead of our Contact Form Pro plugin. Our users will lost heir plugins (data) in such a way. They have paid for the plugin.

Yes, that will happen due to the slugs. Here is my recommendation and it is just my opinion:

Change the slug on your “premium” plugin.

*Drinks last coffee*

The author on the WordPress repository is also following the rules and the slug that plugin is using custom-user-contact-form-builder is legitimate, does not violate any rules and works too.

You could add to your clug bws-custom-user-contact-form-builder and then that should not ever happen again. If you were using a unique identifier like that bws- prefix then if this did happen, you could point out that you tried.

A slug like custom-user-contact-form-builder is pretty generic and this will happen with non-unique slugs that are used outside of the WordPress plugin repo. It’s happened before.

A third option would be to contact the author (if the author shares that info) and have a conversation with them. Someone will have to change it and the first one to do that get’s “Grown Up” points. 😉

Or contact the plugins team via that email address above. The public forum really isn’t the place to resolve this.

*Finishes last of coffee, goes back to support topics*

This isn’t new, and you should name your plugins better.

The update system uses both the directory name of the plugin and the name given in the plugin to look for matches. Also, it uses the “Plugin URI:” field in the plugin header, so make sure that you have set that to a unique value on a domain you control.

For naming, if you have a “pay” plugin that is not in the directory, then you should name it using your brand name, and not in a generic way. “Contact Form Pro” is extremely generic. But “BrandName – Contact Form Pro” is not. Brand things. Then you will have less conflicts.

Additionally, if you have a non-free plugin, then you should add code to it to prevent it from checking for updates in any case. There’s plenty of examples on the web as to how to make a plugin prevent itself from updating to one from the directory, or examples of how to have it check somewhere else (like your site) for updates. Use those examples. Plugins can do anything they like, including control how they update.