Adding User-Agent when contacting update server

[SDGPeteBatin]

Hey,

I've been using plugin-update-checker for a while. I've noticed recently that some attempts to update are unsuccessful depending on what hosting the plugin is installed on (those with less than brilliant reputations). Turns out the hosting that the plugin update server is using has their own WAF's and captcha service, and the hosting that the plugin is using triggers those rules resulting in a captcha.

We've been advised by the update server hosting to include a modern style User-Agent when connecting/downloading. Is this possible already? We're still using v5.4 and appreciate there's now 5.7 but I didn't see anything about User-Agent when reading the change logs.

[YahnisElsts]

The update checker doesn't explicitly set a custom User-Agent, so you would usually end up with whatever WordPress sets by default for wp_remote_get(). According to the docs, the default is this:

'WordPress/' . get_bloginfo( 'version' ) . ‘; ‘ . get_bloginfo( 'url' )

I think you could use the custom request_info_options filter to set your own User-Agent. For example (not tested):

$updateChecker->addFilter('request_info_options', function($options) {
	$options['user-agent'] = 'Example Agent';
	return $options;
});

The filter basically gets the request arguments array that will later be passed to wp_remote_get(). So you can use or change any of the arguments documented in the link above.

Edit: That only applies to update metadata requests, not downloads. This is because PUC isn't what performs the download; WordPress core does that. To change the user agent for downloads, you would probably need to filter all HTTP requests and identify your download somehow, e.g. by URL or hostname.

[SDGPeteBatin]

I think that might just do the trick! Basically when even when checking for updates it was erroring so if it applies to update metadata requests then this might be perfect for the job. Interesting that WordPress send's it's own, I'll have to check with the hosting company.

Thank you for the information!