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 1.17 ==
   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 developments
  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 in 1.17 ===
  22 * DatabaseFunctions.php that was needed for compatibility with pre-1.3 extensions
  23   has been removed.
  24
  25 === New features in 1.17 ===
  26 * (bug 10183) Users can now add personal styles and scripts to all skins via
  27   User:<name>/common.css and /common.js (if user css/js is enabled)
  28 * (bug 22748) Add anchors on Special:ListGroupRights
  29 * (bug 21981) Add parameter 'showfilename' to <gallery> to automatically apply
  30   the names of the individual files within the gallery
  31 * (bug 12797) Add $wgGalleryOptions for adjusting of default gallery display
  32   options
  33 * $wgAllowUserCssPrefs option allows disabling CSS-based preferences; which can
  34   improve page loading speed.
  35 * Future-proof redirection to fragments in Gecko, so things work a little nicer
  36   if they fix <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=516293>.
  37 * Support git:// and mms:// protocols by default for external links
  38 * (bug 15810) Blocked admins can no longer unblock themselves without the
  39   'unblockself' permission (which they have by default)
  40
  41 === Bug fixes in 1.17 ===
  42 * (bug 17560) Half-broken deletion moved image files to deletion archive without
  43   updating DB
  44 * (bug 22666) Submitting user block form with an invalid user name no longer
  45   throws an error
  46 * (bugs 22665 and 22667) User '0' can now be unblocked and have its block
  47   settings changed
  48 * (bug 22606) The body of e-mail address confirmation message is now different
  49   when the address changed
  50 * (bug 22664) Special:Userrights now accepts '0' as a valid user name
  51 * (bug 5210) preload parser now parses <noinclude>, <includeonly> and redirects
  52 * (bug 22709) IIS7 mishandles redirects generated by OutputPage::output() when
  53   the URL contains a colon.
  54 * (bug 22353) Categorised recent changes now works again
  55 * (bug 22747) "Reveal my e-mail address in notification e-mails" preference is
  56   now only displayed when relevant
  57 * (bug 22772) {{#special:}} parser function now works with subpages
  58 * (bug 18664) Relative URIs in interwiki links cause failed redirects
  59 * (bug 19270) Relative URIs in interwiki links break interwiki transclusion
  60 * (bug 22903) Revdelete log entries now show in the user preferred language.
  61 * (bug 22905) Correctly handle <abbr> followed by ISBN
  62 * (bug 22940) Namespace aliases pointing to main namespace don't work
  63 * (bug 15810) Blocked admins can no longer block/unblock other users
  64 * (bug 22876) Avoid possible PHP Notice if $wgDefaultUserOptions is not
  65   correctly set
  66 * (bug 14952) Page titles are renormalized after html entities are removed so that
  67   links with non-NFC character references work correctly.
  68 * (bug 22991) wgUserGroups JavaScript variable now reports * group for
  69   anonymous users instead of null.
  70 * (bug 22627) Remove PHP notice when deleting a page only hidden users edited.
  71 * (bug 21520) Anonymous previews now also gives a warning about not being
  72   logged in (anonpreviewwarning).
  73 * (bug 22935) image/x-ms-bmp mime type added for BMP files
  74 * (bug 23024) Special:ListFiles now escapes file names correctly
  75 * (bug 22867) "View source" tab is now only displayed if there's source text
  76
  77 === API changes in 1.17 ===
  78 * (bug 22738) Allow filtering by action type on query=logevent
  79 * (bug 22764) uselang parameter for action=parse
  80 * (bug 22944) API: watchlist options are inconsistent
  81 * (bug 22339) "Go" result should be available through the API
  82 * (bug 22868) don't list infinite block expiry date as "now" in API logevents
  83 * (bug 22290) prop=revisions now outputs "comment" field even when comment
  84   is empty, for consistency with list=recentchanges
  85
  86 === Languages updated in 1.17 ===
  87
  88 == Compatibility ==
  89
  90 MediaWiki 1.17 requires PHP 5.1 (5.2 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer supported.
  91
  92 MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
  93 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
  94
  95
  96 == Upgrading ==
  97
  98 1.17 has several database changes since 1.16, and will not work without schema
  99 updates.
 100
 101 If upgrading from before 1.11, and you are using a wiki as a commons reposito-
 102 ry, make sure that it is updated as well. Otherwise, errors may arise due to
 103 database schema changes.
 104
 105 If upgrading from before 1.7, you may want to run refreshLinks.php to ensure
 106 new database fields are filled with data.
 107
 108 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
 109 changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
 110 break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
 111
 112 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
 113
 114
 115 === Caveats ===
 116
 117 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
 118 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
 119 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
 120 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
 121 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
 122
 123 For notes on 1.16.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
 124
 125
 126 === Online documentation ===
 127
 128 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
 129 built up on MediaWiki.org, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
 130 License (except for pages that explicitly state that their contents are in
 131 the public domain) :
 132
 133   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 134
 135
 136 === Mailing list ===
 137
 138 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 139 wikitech-l list:
 140
 141   http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 142
 143 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 144
 145   http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 146
 147 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 148 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 149
 150
 151 === IRC help ===
 152
 153 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net