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 * (bug 6660) Fix behaviour of EditPage::blockedPage() when the article does
  66   not exist; now doesn't show the source box if the user hasn't provided it
  67   (blocked mid-edit) and the page doesn't exist
  68 * Improve default value of "blockedtext"
  69 * (bug 6680) Added localisation for Dutch bookstore list (nl)
  70 * Renamed maintainace script redundanttrans.php to unusedMessages.php - clearer usage
  71 * Fix regression which allowed some blocked users to create additional accounts
  72 * (bug 6657) Fix Hungarian linktrail
  73 * (bug 6751) Fix preview of blanked section with edit on first preview option
  74 * (bug 5456) Separate MediaWiki:Search into messages for both noun and verb,
  75   introduced 'MediaWiki:Searchbutton'
  76
  77
  78 == Languages updated ==
  79
  80 * Albanian (sq)
  81 * Belarusian (be)
  82 * Bishnupriya (bpy) stub file
  83 * Brazilian Portuguese (pt-br)
  84 * Catalan (ca)
  85 * Dutch (nl)
  86 * English (en)
  87 * French (fr)
  88 * German (de)
  89 * Hebrew (he)
  90 * Hungarian (hu)
  91 * Indonesian (id)
  92 * Korean (ko)
  93 * Polish (pl)
  94 * Russian (ru)
  95 * Telugu (te)
  96
  97 == Compatibility ==
  98
  99 MediaWiki 1.8 requires PHP 5 (5.1 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer supported.
 100
 101 MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
 102 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
 103
 104
 105 == Upgrading ==
 106
 107 Several changes to the database have been made from 1.6:
 108
 109 * A new "langlinks" table tracks interlanguage links
 110 * A new "filearchive" table stores information on deleted files
 111 * A new "querycache_info" table stores information on query page updates
 112
 113 To ensure that these tables are filled with data, run refreshLinks.php after
 114 the upgrade.
 115
 116 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
 117 changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
 118 break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
 119
 120 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
 121
 122
 123
 124 === Caveats ===
 125
 126 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
 127 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
 128 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
 129 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
 130 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
 131
 132
 133 For notes on 1.5.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
 134
 135
 136 === Online documentation ===
 137
 138 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
 139 built up on Meta-Wikipedia, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
 140 License:
 141
 142   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 143
 144
 145 === Mailing list ===
 146
 147 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 148 wikitech-l list:
 149
 150   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 151
 152 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 153
 154   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 155
 156 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 157 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 158
 159
 160 === IRC help ===
 161
 162 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net