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 1.8 ==
   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 * None yet!
  24
  25
  26 == Major new features ==
  27
  28 * None!
  29
  30
  31
  32 == Changes since 1.7 ==
  33
  34 * (bug 6562) Removed unmaintained ParserXml.php for now
  35 * History paging overlap bug fixed
  36 * (bug 6586) Regression in "unblocked" subtitle
  37 * Don't put empty-page message into view-source when page text is blank
  38 * (bug 6587) Remove redundant "allnonarticles" message
  39
  40 == Languages updated ==
  41
  42 * Albanian (sq)
  43 * English (en)
  44 * German (de)
  45 * Hebrew (he)
  46 * Hungarian (hu)
  47 * Telugu (te)
  48
  49 == Compatibility ==
  50
  51 MediaWiki 1.8 requires PHP 5 (5.1 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer supported.
  52
  53 MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
  54 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
  55
  56
  57 == Upgrading ==
  58
  59 Several changes to the database have been made from 1.6:
  60
  61 * A new "langlinks" table tracks interlanguage links
  62 * A new "filearchive" table stores information on deleted files
  63 * A new "querycache_info" table stores information on query page updates
  64
  65 To ensure that these tables are filled with data, run refreshLinks.php after
  66 the upgrade.
  67
  68 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
  69 changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
  70 break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
  71
  72 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
  73
  74
  75
  76 === Caveats ===
  77
  78 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
  79 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
  80 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
  81 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
  82 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
  83
  84
  85 For notes on 1.5.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
  86
  87
  88 === Online documentation ===
  89
  90 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
  91 built up on Meta-Wikipedia, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
  92 License:
  93
  94   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
  95
  96
  97 === Mailing list ===
  98
  99 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 100 wikitech-l list:
 101
 102   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 103
 104 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 105
 106   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 107
 108 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 109 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 110
 111
 112 === IRC help ===
 113
 114 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net