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 * (bug 550) Allow blocks on anonymous users only.
  29
  30 == Changes since 1.7 ==
  31
  32 * (bug 6562) Removed unmaintained ParserXml.php for now
  33 * History paging overlap bug fixed
  34 * (bug 6586) Regression in "unblocked" subtitle
  35 * Don't put empty-page message into view-source when page text is blank
  36 * (bug 6587) Remove redundant "allnonarticles" message
  37 * Block improvements: Allow blocks on anonymous users only. Optionally allow
  38   or disallow account creation from blocked IP addresses. Prevent duplicate
  39   blocks. Fixed the problem of expiry and unblocking erroneously affecting
  40   multiple blocks. Fixed confusing lack of error message when a blocked user
  41   attempts to create an account. Fixed inefficiency of Special:Ipblocklist in
  42   the presence of large numbers of blocks; added indexes and implemented an
  43   indexed pager.
  44 * (bug 6448) Allow filtering of Special:Newpages according to username
  45 * (bug 6618) Improve permissions/error detection in Special:Lockdb
  46 * Quick hack for extension testing: parser test doesn't create new message
  47   cache object.
  48 * (bug 6299) Maintain parser's revision ID across recursive calls to fix
  49   {{REVISIONID}} when Cite extension is used
  50 * (bug 6622) Removed deprecated function Image::newFromTitle
  51 * (bug 6627) Fix regression in Special:Ipblocklist with table prefix
  52 * Removed forced dereferencements (new() returns a reference in PHP5)
  53 * Note about $wgUploadSizeWarning using byte
  54 * (bug 6592) Add most viewed pages summary to Special:Statistics
  55 * Pre-strip characters ignored in IDNs from URLs so they can't be used
  56   to break the blacklists for regular URLs
  57 * Fix regression in blocking of user accounts
  58 * (bug 6635) Fix regression searching for range blocks on Ipblocklist
  59 * Fix regression searching Ipblocklist with ugly URLs
  60 * (bug 6639) Use a consistent default for upload directories
  61 * Preserve entered reason when reporting unconfirmed lock on Special:Lockdb
  62 * (bug 6642) Don't offer to unlock the database when it isn't locked
  63 * cleanupTitles.php changed from --dry-run option to --fix, so default
  64   behavior is now a non-invasive check as with namespaceDupes.php
  65
  66
  67 == Languages updated ==
  68
  69 * Albanian (sq)
  70 * Brazilian Portuguese (pt-br)
  71 * Catalan (ca)
  72 * English (en)
  73 * French (fr)
  74 * German (de)
  75 * Hebrew (he)
  76 * Hungarian (hu)
  77 * Indonesian (id)
  78 * Russian (ru)
  79 * Telugu (te)
  80
  81 == Compatibility ==
  82
  83 MediaWiki 1.8 requires PHP 5 (5.1 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer supported.
  84
  85 MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
  86 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
  87
  88
  89 == Upgrading ==
  90
  91 Several changes to the database have been made from 1.6:
  92
  93 * A new "langlinks" table tracks interlanguage links
  94 * A new "filearchive" table stores information on deleted files
  95 * A new "querycache_info" table stores information on query page updates
  96
  97 To ensure that these tables are filled with data, run refreshLinks.php after
  98 the upgrade.
  99
 100 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
 101 changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
 102 break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
 103
 104 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
 105
 106
 107
 108 === Caveats ===
 109
 110 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
 111 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
 112 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
 113 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
 114 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
 115
 116
 117 For notes on 1.5.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
 118
 119
 120 === Online documentation ===
 121
 122 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
 123 built up on Meta-Wikipedia, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
 124 License:
 125
 126   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 127
 128
 129 === Mailing list ===
 130
 131 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 132 wikitech-l list:
 133
 134   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 135
 136 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 137
 138   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 139
 140 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 141 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 142
 143
 144 === IRC help ===
 145
 146 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net