RELEASE-NOTES

   1 = MediaWiki release notes =
   2
   3 Security reminder: MediaWiki does not require PHP's register_globals
   4 setting since version 1.2.0. If you have it on, turn it *off* if you can.
   5
   6 == MediaWiki 1.9 ==
   7
   8 THIS IS NOT A RELEASE YET.
   9
  10 MediaWiki is now using a "continuous integration" development model with
  11 quarterly snapshot releases. The latest development code is always kept
  12 "ready to run", and in fact runs our own sites on Wikipedia.
  13
  14 Release branches will continue to receive security updates for about a year
  15 from first release, but nonessential bugfixes and feature development happen
  16 will be made on the development trunk and appear in the next quarterly release.
  17
  18 Those wishing to use the latest code instead of a branch release can obtain
  19 it from source control: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Download_from_SVN
  20
  21 == Configuration changes ==
  22
  23
  24 == Major new features ==
  25
  26
  27 == Changes since 1.8 ==
  28
  29 * (bug 6835) Removing the includes/Parser.php::getTemplateArgs() function,
  30   because it seems to be unused.
  31 * (bug 7139) Increasing the visual width of the edit summary field on larger
  32   screen sizes, for the default monobook skin.
  33 * Fix PHP notice and estimates for dumpBackup.php and friends
  34 * Improved register_globals paranoia checks
  35 * (bug 7545) Fix PHP version check on install
  36 * Disable PHP exception backtrace printing unless $wgShowExceptionDetails
  37   is set. Backtraces may contain sensitive information in function call
  38   parameters.
  39 * (bug 6164) Avoid smashing Cite state if message transformation triggers
  40   during bad image list check, by skipping message transformation.
  41   This isn't a good permanent fix.
  42 * (bug 6918) Stopped borders and backgrounds from showing through floated
  43   tables in Monobook
  44 * (bug 6868) Un-hardcode section edit link style
  45 * (bug 3205) Stop right floats from stacking horizontally in non-Monobook skins
  46 * Added global $wgStyleVersion to centralize bumping CSS and JS file versions
  47   for cache-friendly style and script updating
  48 * (bug 7562) Fix non-ASCII namespaces on Windows/XAMPP servers
  49 * Friendlier check for PHP 5 in command-line scripts; it's common for parallel
  50   PHP 4 and 5 installations to interfere on the command-line.
  51 * Fix regression in autoconfirm permission check
  52 * (bug 3015) Add CSS ids to subcategory and page sections on category pages
  53 * (bug 7587) Fix erroneous id for specialpage tab, enabling informative popup
  54
  55
  56 == Languages updated ==
  57
  58 * German (de)
  59 * Hebrew (he)
  60 * Indonesian (id)
  61 * Occitan (oc)
  62 * Upper Sorbian (hsb)
  63
  64
  65 == Compatibility ==
  66
  67 MediaWiki 1.9 requires PHP 5 (5.1 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer supported.
  68
  69 MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
  70 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
  71
  72
  73 == Upgrading ==
  74
  75 Some minor database changes have been made since 1.7:
  76 * new fields and indexes on ipblocks
  77 * index change on recentchanges
  78
  79 Several changes from 1.5 and 1.6 do require updates to be run on upgrade.
  80 To ensure that these tables are filled with data, run refreshLinks.php after
  81 the upgrade.
  82
  83 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
  84 changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
  85 break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
  86
  87 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
  88
  89
  90
  91 === Caveats ===
  92
  93 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
  94 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
  95 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
  96 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
  97 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
  98
  99
 100 For notes on 1.5.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
 101
 102
 103 === Online documentation ===
 104
 105 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
 106 built up on Meta-Wikipedia, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
 107 License:
 108
 109   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 110
 111
 112 === Mailing list ===
 113
 114 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 115 wikitech-l list:
 116
 117   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 118
 119 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 120
 121   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 122
 123 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 124 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 125
 126
 127 === IRC help ===
 128
 129 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net