On WordPress.org Plugin repository, Last Updated Date doesn't match with Plugin Version Update Date

Question

I have been going through the Plugin lists on all my client sites, looking for Plugins that haven't been updated by Plugin Authors. Every time we update a Plugin on a website, we note the date in our documentation. In the process, I have noticed a strange disagreement: on WordPress.org Plugin repository, Last Updated Date doesn't match with the Plugin's Version Update Date.

For example, in our documentation, a plugin named Category Post shows that the last update to version 4.9.13 was done on 9/29/2021. The date here would cause this to be marked as a plugin that might need to be replaced, because it looks like it's a plugin that isn't being maintained.

But, when I went to WordPress.org (on February 2023) to check on the plugin, it says Last Updated: 1 month ago, to that same version number (4.9.13)!

Any clue as to what is happening?

Answer 1

Please check the Category Posts Plugin's Changelog on WordPress.org (on the Development tab). I'm providing the screenshot below:

You'll notice that version 4.9.13 was indeed updated on JULY 22 2021.

4.9.13 – JULY 22 2021

Fixed Line number with WordPress 5.8

However, on the right side it shows: Last updated: 1 month ago.

This last update doesn't refer to updates to the plugin version itself, rather updated information on wordpress.org that it was Tested up to: 6.1.1.

I've dug further down the source code to the last commit of the plugin files, and you can see that the change was only made on the readme.txt file and it's just the Tested up to: 6.1 part:

WordPress.org's plugin listing page is generated from this readme.txt file. So what WordPress.org is referring to when it says: Last updated: 1 month ago, is only this much.

So you see, there's no significant update and there's no actual disagreement about the update date.