How could I verify whole WP directory before/after working with a freelancer?

I'm thinking of the common definition of 'opinion'. "Which is better, chocolate or vanilla?"

The question seeks a solution, and the simpler answer to the question is actually what I think I'm going to implement (in comments):

"Add everything and create a commit before your freelancer does anything, then look at the history that happened afterwards to see what changed. [...] if the freelancer goes into the .git folder and tries to mess with the files then it'll be super obvious, any git command will raise alarm bells, every git subcommand does a verification and integrity check."

I'm thinking of making multiple clones on the server, and offering FTP to the cloned directories.

The opinions I read are in the answers suggesting:

"If your freelancer can modify git without git knowing they're in for a nobel prize"

"Shared hosting is not the most useful hosting, aside from it being cheap. "

"...it's hyper localised to your specific case" As the Rapper 50cent says, lots of guys have 50$ bucks


There are only few possible close reasons which many time to not map exactly into why a question is voted to be closed and reflects just the most appropriate reason.

"Opinion" here means that every expert might have its own way, and neither of them is best .

I would have closed this question as an off-topic, because you ask about things which are related more to psychology/security audit/data backup/etc than actual development, or at least your question have nothing wordpress unique in it.

  • 1) Good point. off-topic is a category or bucket. 2) Some questions don't have a 'best' or single answer, and multiple answers are possible on SE. 3.) I wish to hire a freelancer to make CSS/Template changes, eg. it is development and i have to set it up 4.) I must grant Wordpress login--the site is a Wordpress site-- eg. it's a Wordpress question. 5) Why such a high standard? My question is for anyone who uses Wordpress on Shared Hosting and wants to hire a gig-freelancer? Why is that not OK? Whatever--this is a discussion and you're welcome to your opinion. – xtian Jul 20 '17 at 1:18
  • @xtian RE #3 - your freelance developer will have access to the codebase - and access to the codebase implies direct access to the database. Within the context of your question WordPress itself is only acting as an incidental database interface; your freelancer could trivially add himself as a site administrator using code without any action on your part. Thus there's nothing WordPress-specific about your question, rather it applies to hiring a freelancer for any shared-hosting served site, not even specific to PHP/MySQL. – bosco Sep 26 '17 at 23:26

I'm by no means a git expert. Far from it. But I am/was simply aware of high-level discussions on the unintended security benefits using git. [1] [2].

If there's a particular niche in the direction of my question, its only the result of my framing of the question. The "opinion" in my post that's a problem is my opinion. hahah! I question if git will give me everything I want despite never using it for security--it's simply naivete on my part.

This is a perfect example of an opinion based discussion:

Is there way to ask even opinion based or non programming question but if it is useful for WordPress Developers?

Whereas, my problem can be addressed by a useful list of technical instructions which may be implemented. These instructions include the use of cPanel, Bash (git), and WordPress Administrator settings. This file includes a list of vulnerabilities you may encounter from cloning a WordPress site. Do you still think this isn't a WordPress developer question?

Can we agree there is a difference sense of the term 'opinion' as it applies to the above post compared to my post?

  • 1
    Git is simply one of many choices to track changes to a codebase. Any source control system could be used. Others might argue it would be far better to have the freelancer submit individual tickets and patches for close review. There simply is no limit to the number of acceptable answers to your question. In any scenario, while your question is certainly relevant to WordPress developers, it's not about WordPress. It would be much better fit over at webmasters.se - and indeed have the potential to help a great many more people there. It's certainly where I would look – bosco Sep 26 '17 at 23:33
  • Overlap in individual stack-exchange sites' scopes is undesirable as it decentralizes the subject knowledge-base, which defeats the purpose of having individual sites in the first place and ultimately makes good information more difficult to find. Our "bucket" is questions about WordPress and WordPress development - the less we cater to generic web development, the higher the quality of stack exchange network. There's already a "bucket" for generic web development, and another for server administration elsewhere on the network. – bosco Sep 26 '17 at 23:38

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