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 1.16 ==
   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 1.16 ===
  22
  23 * (bug 18222) $wgMinimalPasswordLength default is now 1
  24 * $wgSessionHandler can be used to configure session.save_handler
  25
  26 === New features in 1.16 ===
  27
  28 * Add CSS defintion of the 'wikitable' class to shared.css
  29 * (bug 17163) Added MediaWiki:Talkpageheader which will be displayed when
  30   viewing talk pages
  31 * Add group convertsion support for LanguageConverter. New magic word
  32   "{{GROUPCONVERT:xxx}}" enabled for this new feature. You can set related
  33   conversion rules in [[MediaWiki:Groupconversiontable-xxx/language_code]].
  34 * Superfluous border="0" removed from images
  35 * Added new hook 'MessageCacheReplace' into MessageCache.php. For instance
  36   to allow extensions to update caches in similar way as MediaWiki invalidates
  37   a cached MonoBook sidebar
  38 * Special:AllPages: Move hardcoded styles from code to CSS
  39 * (bug 6092) Add parser function equivalents of {{REVISIONID}},
  40   {{REVISIONTIMESTAMP}}  (and friends) and {{REVISIONUSER}} magic words
  41 * (bug 18529) New hook: SoftwareInfo for adding information about the software
  42   to Special:Version
  43 * Added $wgExtPGAlteredFields to allow extensions to easily alter the data
  44   type of columns when using the Postgres backend.
  45 * (bug 16950) Show move log when viewing/creating a deleted page
  46 * (bug 18242) Show the Subversion revision number per extensions in
  47   Special:Version
  48 * (bug 18420) Missing file revisions are handled gracefully now
  49 * (bug 9219) Auth plugins can control editing RealName/Email/Nick preferences
  50
  51 === Bug fixes in 1.16 ===
  52
  53 * (bug 18031) Make namespace selector on Special:Export remember the previous
  54   selection
  55 * The svn-version version numbers on Special:Version have been removed
  56 * (bug 17374) Special:Export no longer exports two copies of the same page
  57 * (bug 18190) Proper parsing in MediaWiki:Sharedupload message
  58 * (bug 17617) HTML cleanup for ImagePage
  59 * (bug 17964) namespaceDupes.php no longer fails on an empty interwiki table
  60 * Improved error handling for image moving
  61 * (bug 17974) On Special:SpecialPages, restricted special pages are now marked
  62   with <strong> tags, helps with text-based browsers
  63 * (bug 18259) Special:DeletedContributions now also uses
  64   MediaWiki:Sp-contributions-logs for the link to Special:Log
  65 * Don't add empty title="" attributes to links to anchors on the current page
  66 * (bug 18291) rebuildrecentchanges.php failed to add deletion log entries
  67 * (bug 18304) rebuildrecentchanges.php got size changes wrong
  68 * (bug 18170) Fixed a PHP warning in Parser::preSaveTransform() in PHP 5.3
  69 * (bug 18289) Database connection error page now returns correct HTML
  70 * "successbox", "errorbox" and related CSS classes are now available in all
  71   skins
  72 * Fixed a PHP notice when $wgEnableSerializedMessages was set to false
  73 * (bug 18316) Removed superfluous name="fulltext" from Special:Search
  74 * (bug 18331) MediaWiki:Undelete-revision can now have wikitext
  75 * The "noautoblock" flag is no longer displayed in the block log when blocking
  76   an IP address
  77 * (bug 18009) $wgHooks and $wgExtensionFunctions now support closures
  78 * (bug 17948) Maintenance scripts now exit(0) or exit(1) as appropriate
  79 * (bug 18377) Time in Enhanced ChangesList lacking localisation
  80 * (bug 12998) Allow <sup>, <sub>, etc. in DISPLAYTITLE
  81 * (bug 1553) Lowercase navigation headings in German
  82 * (bug 7830) Pending transactions failed to commit on loginToUse() error
  83 * (bug 11613) session.save_handler being over-ridden
  84 * (bug 11381) session.save_handler being set twice (causes error)
  85 * (bug 17835) ForeignAPIRepo throwing error on first page load for file
  86 * (bug 18115) ForeignAPIRepo cache isn't working
  87 * Fixed a bug caused by LanguageConverter.php, which brings an abnormal '}-'
  88   after some parsed math syntax.
  89 * (bug 18441) rebuildrecentchanges.inc no longer ignores $wgLogRestrictions
  90 * (bug 18317) Bolded selections in 1 | 3 | etc days on RecentChanges now use
  91   <strong> instead of hardcoded styles
  92 * (bug 18449) Fixed items number per column on category pages when the total is
  93   divisible by 3
  94 * (bug 18121) maintenance/deleteArchivedRevisions.php no longer deletes
  95   revisions when --delete is not passed
  96 * (bug 13172) GPS coordinates in image Exif data are now actually displayed
  97 * Overhaul of preferences system, includes the following bug fixes:
  98 * (bug 5363) Changes to default preferences now impact registered users.
  99 * (bug 14806) Hook to enable putting preferences in existing tabs.
 100 * (bug 17191) Registration date now listed on preferences page.
 101 * Note that this change will break some extensions which have not been adapted
 102   for it.
 103 * (bug 17020) Adding fallback encodings for Traditional and Simplified Chinese
 104   languages while the the text is typed as URLs.
 105 * (bug 18535) Search tab tool-tops are corrupted
 106 * (bug 17614) Prev / Next links not need on ImagePage file history if less than limit
 107 * (bug 18207) Strange spacing before [[irc:...]] links
 108 * Removed float from the user login form in RTL interface - caused display
 109   problems in FF2
 110 * (bug 15008) Redirect images are now subject to Bad image list rules
 111 * Fixed the circular template inclusion check, was broken when the loop
 112   involved redirects. Without this, infinite recursion within the parser is
 113   possible.
 114 * (bug 18677) Give proper error message when viewing &action=protect without
 115   sufficient rights
 116
 117
 118 == API changes in 1.16 ==
 119
 120 * Added uiprop=changeablegroups to meta=userinfo
 121 * Added usprop=gender to list=users
 122 * (bug 18311) action=purge now works for images too
 123 * Add parentid to prop=revisions output
 124 * (bug 17832) action=delete returns 'unknownerror' instead of 'permissiondenied'
 125   when the user is blocked
 126 * (bug 18546) Added timestamp of new revision to action=edit output
 127 * (bug 18554) Also list hidden revisions in list=usercontribs for privileged
 128   users
 129 * (bug 13049) "API must be accessed from the primary script entry point" error
 130 * (bug 18601) generator=backlinks returns invalid continue parameter
 131 * (bug 18597) Internal error with empty generator= parameter
 132 * (bug 16422) Don't display help for format=jsonfm unless specifically requested
 133 * (bug 18617) Add xml:space="preserve" attribute to relevant tags in XML output
 134 * Added PHP and database version to meta=siteinfo output
 135 * (bug 18533) Add readonly message to meta=siteinfo output
 136 * (bug 18518) Add clprop=hidden to prop=categories
 137
 138 === Languages updated in 1.16 ===
 139
 140 MediaWiki supports over 300 languages. Many localisations are updated
 141 regularly. Below only new and removed languages are listed, as well as
 142 changes to languages because of MediaZilla reports.
 143
 144 * (bug 18474) Sorani (ckb - Central Kurdish) (renamed from ku-arab)
 145 * Add PLURAL function for Scots Gaelic (gd)
 146
 147 == Compatibility ==
 148
 149 MediaWiki 1.16 requires PHP 5 (5.2 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer supported.
 150
 151 PHP 5.0.x fails on 64-bit systems due to serious bugs with array processing:
 152 http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=34879
 153 Upgrade affected systems to PHP 5.1 or higher.
 154
 155 MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
 156 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
 157
 158
 159 == Upgrading ==
 160
 161 1.16 has several database changes since 1.15, and will not work without schema
 162 updates.
 163
 164 If upgrading from before 1.11, and you are using a wiki as a commons reposito-
 165 ry, make sure that it is updated as well. Otherwise, errors may arise due to
 166 database schema changes.
 167
 168 If upgrading from before 1.7, you may want to run refreshLinks.php to ensure
 169 new database fields are filled with data.
 170
 171 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
 172 changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
 173 break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
 174
 175 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
 176
 177
 178 === Caveats ===
 179
 180 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
 181 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
 182 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
 183 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
 184 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
 185
 186 For notes on 1.15.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
 187
 188
 189 === Online documentation ===
 190
 191 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
 192 built up on MediaWiki.org, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
 193 License (except for pages that explicitly state that their contents are in
 194 the public domain) :
 195
 196   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 197
 198
 199 === Mailing list ===
 200
 201 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 202 wikitech-l list:
 203
 204   http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 205
 206 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 207
 208   http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 209
 210 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 211 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 212
 213
 214 === IRC help ===
 215
 216 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net