= MediaWiki release notes =

Security reminder: MediaWiki does not require PHP's register_globals
setting since version 1.2.0. If you have it on, turn it *off* if you can.

== MediaWiki 1.9 ==

THIS IS NOT A RELEASE YET.

MediaWiki is now using a "continuous integration" development model with
quarterly snapshot releases. The latest development code is always kept
"ready to run", and in fact runs our own sites on Wikipedia.

Release branches will continue to receive security updates for about a year
from first release, but nonessential bugfixes and feature development happen
will be made on the development trunk and appear in the next quarterly release.

Those wishing to use the latest code instead of a branch release can obtain
it from source control: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Download_from_SVN

== Configuration changes ==


== Major new features ==


== Changes since 1.8 ==

* (bug 6835) Removing the includes/Parser.php::getTemplateArgs() function, 
  because it seems to be unused.
* (bug 7139) Increasing the visual width of the edit summary field on larger
  screen sizes, for the default monobook skin.
* Fix PHP notice and estimates for dumpBackup.php and friends
* Improved register_globals paranoia checks
* (bug 7545) Fix PHP version check on install
* Disable PHP exception backtrace printing unless $wgShowExceptionDetails
  is set. Backtraces may contain sensitive information in function call
  parameters.
* (bug 6164) Avoid smashing Cite state if message transformation triggers
  during bad image list check, by skipping message transformation.
  This isn't a good permanent fix.
* (bug 6918) Stopped borders and backgrounds from showing through floated
  tables in Monobook
* (bug 6868) Un-hardcode section edit link style
* (bug 3205) Stop right floats from stacking horizontally in non-Monobook skins
* Added global $wgStyleVersion to centralize bumping CSS and JS file versions
  for cache-friendly style and script updating
* (bug 7562) Fix non-ASCII namespaces on Windows/XAMPP servers
* Friendlier check for PHP 5 in command-line scripts; it's common for parallel
  PHP 4 and 5 installations to interfere on the command-line.
* Fix regression in autoconfirm permission check
* (bug 3015) Add CSS ids to subcategory and page sections on category pages
* (bug 7587) Fix erroneous id for specialpage tab, enabling informative popup
* (bug 7599) Fix thumbnail purging, PHP notices on HTCP image page purge
* (bug 7581) Update language name for cbk-zam
* (bug 7444) Update namespace translations for Telugu (te), kept old values as
  alias for compatibility


== Languages updated ==

* German (de)
* Hebrew (he)
* Indonesian (id)
* Occitan (oc)
* Portuguese (pt)
* Upper Sorbian (hsb)


== Compatibility ==

MediaWiki 1.9 requires PHP 5 (5.1 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer supported.

MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.


== Upgrading ==

Some minor database changes have been made since 1.7:
* new fields and indexes on ipblocks
* index change on recentchanges

Several changes from 1.5 and 1.6 do require updates to be run on upgrade.
To ensure that these tables are filled with data, run refreshLinks.php after
the upgrade.

If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!

See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.



=== Caveats ===

Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)


For notes on 1.5.x and older releases, see HISTORY.


=== Online documentation ===

Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
built up on Meta-Wikipedia, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
License:

  http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation


=== Mailing list ===

A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
wikitech-l list:

  http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l

A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:

  http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce

It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.


=== IRC help ===

There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net