RELEASE-NOTES-1.23

   1 Security reminder: MediaWiki does not require PHP's register_globals. If you
   2 have it on, turn it '''off''' if you can.
   3
   4 == MediaWiki 1.23 ==
   5
   6 THIS IS NOT A RELEASE YET
   7
   8 MediaWiki 1.23 is an alpha-quality branch and is not recommended for use in
   9 production.
  10
  11 === Configuration changes in 1.23 ===
  12 * $wgDebugLogGroups values may be set to an associative array with a
  13   'destination' key specifying the log destination. The array may also contain
  14   a 'sample' key with a positive integer value N indicating that the log group
  15   should be sampled by dispatching one in every N messages on average. The
  16   sampling is random.
  17 * In addition to the current exception log format, MediaWiki now serializes
  18   exception metadata to JSON and logs it to the 'exception-json' log group.
  19   This makes MediaWiki easier to integrate with log aggregation and analysis
  20   tools.
  21 * $wgSquidServersNoPurge now supports the use of Classless Inter-Domain
  22   Routing (CIDR) notation to specify contiguous blocks of IPv4 and/or IPv6
  23   addresses that should be trusted to provide X-Forwarded-For headers.
  24 * Preferences 'watchcreations', 'watchdefault', 'enotifwatchlistpages' ("Add
  25   pages I create and files I upload to my watchlist", "Add pages and files I
  26   edit to my watchlist", "Email me when a page or file on my watchlist is
  27   changed") are now enabled by default. In addition new user accounts' personal
  28   and talk pages are now watched by them by default.
  29 * $wgLBFactoryConf: Class names have had underscores removed. The configuration
  30   should be updated if LBFactory_Simple or LBFactory_Multi is configured.
  31 * $wgPasswordSenderName has been removed and is no longer functional. To set a
  32   custom mailer name, the system message 'emailsender' should be modified
  33   (default: "{{SITENAME}}").
  34 * $wgDBAhandler was removed as the only class using it was also removed
  35 * The 'max threads' setting was removed from $wgDBservers.
  36 * Support for AdminSettings.php has been completely removed. All configuration
  37   belongs in LocalSettings.php.
  38 * $wgSkipSkin, which has been replaceable by $wgSkipSkins since 2005 (r9249), is
  39   now formally deprecated.
  40 * Removed deprecated $wgDisabledActions as it is hardly used anywhere.
  41
  42 === New features in 1.23 ===
  43 * ResourceLoader can utilize the Web Storage API to cache modules client-side.
  44   Compared to the browser cache, caching in Web Storage allows ResourceLoader
  45   to be more granular about evicting stale modules from the cache while
  46   retaining the ability to retrieve multiple modules in a single HTTP request.
  47   This capability can be enabled by setting $wgResourceLoaderStorageEnabled to
  48   true. This feature is currently considered experimental and should only be
  49   enabled with care.
  50 * (bug 6092) Add expensive parser functions {{REVISIONID:}}, {{REVISIONUSER:}}
  51   and {{REVISIONTIMESTAMP:}} (with friends).
  52 * Add "wgRelevantUserName" to mw.config containing the current
  53   Skin::getRelevantUser value.
  54 * (bug 56033) Add content model to the page information.
  55 * Added Article::MissingArticleConditions hook to give extensions a chance to
  56   hide their (unrelated) log entries.
  57 * Added LonelyPagesQuery hook to let extensions modify the query used to
  58   generate Special:LonelyPages.
  59 * Added $wgOpenSearchDefaultLimit defining the default number of entries to show
  60   on action=opensearch API call.
  61 * For namespaces with $wgNamespaceProtection (including the MediaWiki
  62   namespace), the "protect" tab will be shown only if there are restriction
  63   levels available that would restrict editing beyond what
  64   $wgNamespaceProtection already applies. The protection form will offer only
  65   those protection levels.
  66 * Added $wgAPIFormatModules, allowing extensions to add additional output
  67   formatting modules for the API.
  68 * (bug 47812) The MediaWiki:Group-user.{css,js} pages can now be used to add
  69   custom CSS or JavaScript enabled only for registered users.
  70 * (bug 52005) Special pages RecentChanges, RecentChangesLinked and Watchlist
  71   now include a legend describing the symbols used in lists of changes.
  72 * Improved the accessibility of the tabs in Special:Preferences.
  73 * Added ApiBeforeMain hook, roughly equivalent to the BeforeInitialize hook:
  74   it's called after everything is set up but before any major processing
  75   happens.
  76 * The jquery.client module now performs a component-wise version comparison in
  77   its #test method when strings are used in the browser map: version '1.10' is
  78   now correctly considered larger than '1.2'. Using numbers in the version map
  79   is not affected.
  80 * All API modules now support an assert parameter, which can either be
  81   'user' or 'bot'. The API will throw an error if the user is not logged
  82   in (user) or does not have the 'bot' userright (bot). Based off of the
  83   AssertEdit extension by Steve Sanbeg.
  84 * WikitextContent will now render redirects with the expected "redirect"
  85   header, rather than as an ordered list. Code calling Article::viewRedirect
  86   can probably be changed to no longer special-case redirects.
  87 * [[Special:Diff]] was added, allowing users to create internal links to
  88   revision comparison pages using syntax such as [[Special:Diff/12345]],
  89   [[Special:Diff/12345/prev]] or [[Special:Diff/12345/98765]].
  90 * New user accounts' personal and talk pages are now watched by them by default.
  91 * Added SkinTemplateGetLanguageLink hook to allow changing the html of language
  92   links.
  93 * Added MessageCache::get hook as a new way to customize messages across
  94   multiple sites.
  95 * Added jquery.throttle-debounce ResourceLoader module to limit the number of
  96   callbacks for frequently occurring events.
  97 * Special:ProtectedPages shows now a table. The timestamp, the reason and
  98   the protecting user is also shown.
  99 * Added experimental support for using Microsoft SQL Server as the database
 100   backend.
 101 ** Added new Microsoft SQL Server-specific configuration variable
 102    $wgDBWindowsAuthentication, which makes the web server authenticate against
 103    the database server using Integrated Windows Authentication instead of
 104    $wgDBuser/$wgDBpassword.
 105 * HTMLForm 'select', 'selectandother', 'selectorother', 'multiselect', and
 106   'radio' fields can now use message keys as labels via the 'options-messages'
 107   parameter, which overrides the 'options' parameter.
 108 * Admins can expire users users passwords manually, or on a schedule using the
 109   $wgPasswordExpirationDays configuration setting.
 110
 111 === Bug fixes in 1.23 ===
 112 * (bug 41759) The "updated since last visit" markers (on history pages, recent
 113   changes and watchlist) and the talk page message indicator are now correctly
 114   updated when the user is viewing old revisions of pages, instead of always
 115   acting as if the latest revision was being viewed.
 116 * (bug 56443) Special:ConfirmEmail no longer shows a "Mail a confirmation code"
 117   when the email address is already confirmed. Also, consistently use
 118   "confirmed", rather than "authenticated", when messaging whether or not the
 119   user has confirmed an email address.
 120 * (bug 56912) Show correct link color on cached result of Special:DeadendPages.
 121 * Classes TitleListDependency and TitleDependency have been removed, as they
 122   have been found unused in core and extensions for a long time.
 123 * (bug 57098) SpecialPasswordReset now obeys returnto parameter
 124 * (bug 37812) ResourceLoader will notice when a module's definition changes and
 125   recompile it accordingly.
 126 * (bug 57201) SpecialRecentChangesFilters hook is now executed for feeds.
 127 * (bug 58640) Fixed a compatibility issue with PCRE 8.34 that caused pages
 128   to appear blank or with missing text.
 129 * (bug 56931) Updated the plural rules to CLDR 24. They are in new format
 130   which is detailed in UTS 35 Rev 33. The PHP parser and evaluator as well as
 131   the JavaScript evaluator were updated to support the new format. Plural rules
 132   for some languages have changed, most notably Russian. Affected software
 133   messages have been updated and marked for review at translatewiki.net.
 134 * (bug 14323) Redirect pages, when viewed with redirect=no, no longer hide the
 135   remaining page content.
 136 * (bug 23542) imagelinks now stores both the redirect and target (as
 137   templatelinks does).
 138 * (bug 58167) The web installer no longer throws an exception when PHP is
 139   compiled without support for MySQL yet with support for another DBMS.
 140 * (bug 56199) Raw option of parser functions must now match complete word,
 141   to take effect.
 142 * (bug 60543) Special:PrefixIndex forgot stripprefix=1 for "Next page" link
 143 * (bug 29762) Undoing an already-undone edit will now display an appropriate
 144   message instead of leading the user to make a null edit.
 145 * (bug 52659) mediawiki.notification: Notification area remained visible when
 146   empty and thus was stealing pointer events from links on the page.
 147
 148 === Web API changes in 1.23 ===
 149 * (bug 54884) action=parse&prop=categories now indicates hidden and missing
 150   categories.
 151 * action=query&meta=filerepoinfo now returns additional information for each
 152   repo.
 153 * action=parse&prop=languageshtml was deprecated in 1.18 and will be removed in
 154   MediaWiki 1.24.
 155 * action=parse now has disabletoc flag to disable table of contents in output.
 156 * (bug 25702) list=allcategories, list=allimages, list=alllinks, list=allpages,
 157   list=deletedrevs and list=filearchive did not handle case-sensitivity
 158   properly for all parameters.
 159 * ApiQueryBase::titlePartToKey allows an extra parameter that indicates the
 160   namespace in order to properly capitalize the title part.
 161 * (bug 57874) action=feedcontributions no longer has one item more than limit.
 162 * All API modules now support an assert parameter. See the new features section
 163   for more details.
 164 * Added prop=contributors to fetch the list of contributors to the page.
 165 * The following API modules will now return entries where fields have been
 166   revision-deleted: list=deletedrevs, list=filearchive, list=recentchanges,
 167   list=watchlist. "hidden" indicators will be included, in the same style as is
 168   already done for prop=revisions.
 169 * The following API modules will now return the content of revision-deleted
 170   fields, in addition to the "hidden" indicators, if the querying user has the
 171   necessary rights: list=logevents, list=usercontribs, prop=imageinfo,
 172   prop=revisions.
 173 * The above modules, where applicable, will now return entries filtered by
 174   revision-deleted fields if the querying user has the necessary rights. For
 175   example, prop=revisions with rvuser or rvexcludeuser will no longer skip
 176   revisions where the user was revision-deleted if the current user has the
 177   deletedhistory right.
 178 * The 'hideuser' right, used when blocking, is no longer necessary or
 179   sufficient for seeing contributions with revision-deleted in
 180   list=usercontribs.
 181 * list=watchlist now uses the querying user's rights rather than the wlowner's
 182   rights when checking whether wlprop=patrol is allowed.
 183 * (bug 32151) ApiWatch now has pageset capabilities (titles/pageids/generators).
 184   Title parameter is now deprecated.
 185 * (bug 23005) Added action=revisiondelete.
 186 * Added siprop=restrictions to API action=query&meta=siteinfo for querying
 187   possible page restriction (protection) levels and types.
 188 * Added prop 'limitreportdata' and 'limitreporthtml' to action=parse.
 189 * (bug 58627) Provide language names on action=parse&prop=langlinks.
 190 * Deprecated llurl= in favour of llprop=url for action=query&prop=langlinks.
 191 * Added llprop=langname and llprop=autonym for action=query&prop=langlinks.
 192 * prop=redirects is added, to return redirects to the pages in the query.
 193 * list=allredirects is added, to list all redirects pointing to a namespace.
 194
 195 === Languages updated in 1.23 ===
 196
 197 MediaWiki supports over 350 languages. Many localisations are updated
 198 regularly. Below only new and removed languages are listed, as well as
 199 changes to languages because of Bugzilla reports.
 200
 201 * Support was added for Northern Luri (lrc).
 202
 203 === Other changes in 1.23 ===
 204 * The rc_type field in the recentchanges table has been superseded by a new
 205   rc_source field.  The rc_source field is a string representation of the
 206   change type where rc_type was a numeric constant.  This field is not yet
 207   queried but will be in a future point release of 1.22.
 208 ** Utilize update.php to create and populate this new field.  On larger wiki's
 209    which do not wish to update recentchanges table in one large update please
 210    review the sql and comments in maintenance/archives/patch-rc_source.sql.
 211 ** The rc_type field of recentchanges will be deprecated in a future point
 212    release.
 213 * The global variable $wgArticle has been removed after a lengthy deprecation.
 214 * The global functions addButton and insertTags (for mw.toolbar.addButton and
 215   mw.toolbar.insertTags) now emits mw.log.warn when accessed.
 216 * The ExpandTemplates extension has been moved into MediaWiki core.
 217 * (bug 52812) Removed "Disable search suggestions" from Preference.
 218 * (bug 52809) Removed "Disable browser page caching" from Preference.
 219 * Three new modules intended for use by custom skins were added:
 220   'skins.common.elements', 'skins.common.content', and 'skins.common.interface',
 221   representing three levels of standard MediaWiki styling. Previously skin
 222   creators wishing to use them had to refer to the file names of appropriate
 223   files directly, which is now discouraged.
 224 * The modules 'skins.vector' and 'skins.monobook' have been renamed to
 225   'skins.vector.styles' and 'skins.monobook.styles', respectively,
 226   and their definition was changed not to include the common*.css files;
 227   the two skins now load the 'skins.common.interface' module instead.
 228 * A page_links_updated field has been added to the page table.
 229 * SpecialPage::getTitle has been deprecated in favor of
 230   SpecialPage::getPageTitle.
 231 * BREAKING CHANGE: Two potentially backwards-incompatible changes have been made
 232   to the 'SpecialWatchlistQuery' hook's last parameter (array $values) to make
 233   the hook more consistent with the 'SpecialRecentChangesQuery' one:
 234 ** Several array keys have been renamed: hideMinor → hideminor,
 235    hideBots → hidebots, hideAnons → hideanons, hideLiu → hideliu,
 236    hidePatrolled → hidepatrolled, hideOwn → hidemyself.
 237 ** The parameter value is now a FormOptions object, not a plain array (array
 238    access operators should continue to work, as it implements the ArrayAccess
 239    interface).
 240 * Option to mark hooks as deprecated has been added.
 241 * (bug 52811) Preference "Enable section editing via [edit] links" was removed.
 242 * (bug 52813) Preference "Show table of contents (for pages with more than
 243   3 headings)" was removed.
 244 * (bug 52810) Preference "Justify paragraphs" was removed.
 245 * OutputPage::showErrorPage raises a notice if arguments are incoherent.
 246 * Thumbnails that keep failing to render in thumb.php will be rate-limited
 247   againt further render attempts for 1 hour. $wgAttemptFailureEpoch can be
 248   altered to reset all rate-limited thumbnails at once.
 249 * (bug 56572) Builds of the OOjs and OOjs UI libraries are now available.
 250 * mw.loader.go and mw.loader.version have been removed.
 251 * (bug 52815) Preference "Enable simplified search bar (Vector skin only)"
 252   was removed.
 253 * A user_password_expires column has been added to the user table. The User
 254   object expects this column to exist. Use update.php to create this new field.
 255 * The jquery.delayedBind ResourceLoader module was deprecated in favor of the
 256   jquery.throttle-debounce module. It will be removed in MediaWiki 1.24.
 257
 258 ==== Removed classes ====
 259 * FakeMemCachedClient (deprecated in 1.18)
 260 * RdfMetaData (unused)
 261 * TitleDependency (unused)
 262 * TitleListDependency (unused)
 263 * WikiError (deprecated in 1.17)
 264 * WikiXmlError (deprecated in 1.17)
 265 * WikiErrorMsg (deprecated in 1.17)
 266
 267 ==== Renamed classes ====
 268 * CdbReader_DBA to CdbReaderDBA
 269 * CdbReader_PHP to CdbReaderPHP
 270 * CdbWriter_DBA to CdbWriterDBA
 271 * CdbWriter_PHP to CdbWriterPHP
 272 * DiffOp_Add to DiffOpAdd
 273 * DiffOp_Change to DiffOpChange
 274 * DiffOp_Copy to DiffOpCopy
 275 * DiffOp_Delete to DiffOpDelete
 276 * HWLDF_WordAccumulator to HWLDFWordAccumulator
 277 * LBFactory_Fake to LBFactoryFake
 278 * LBFactory_Multi to LBFactoryMulti
 279 * LBFactory_Simple to LBFactorySimple
 280 * LBFactory_Single to LBFactorySingle
 281 * LCStore_Accel to LCStoreAccel
 282 * LCStore_CDB to LCStoreCDB
 283 * LCStore_DB to LCStoreDB
 284 * LCStore_Null to LCStoreNull
 285 * LoadBalancer_Single to LoadBalancerSingle
 286 * LoadMonitor_MySQL to LoadMonitorMySQL
 287 * LoadMonitor_Null to LoadMonitorNull
 288 * LocalisationCache_BulkLoad to LocalisationCacheBulkLoad
 289 * csvStatsOutput to CsvStatsOutput
 290 * extensionLanguages to ExtensionLanguages
 291 * languages to Languages
 292 * statsOutput to StatsOutput
 293 * textStatsOutput to TextStatsOutput
 294 * wikiStatsOutput to WikiStatsOutput
 295
 296 ==== Removed methods ====
 297 * ApiBase::getValidNamespaces() (deprecated in 1.17)
 298 * ApiMain::setCachePrivate() (deprecated in 1.17)
 299 * ApiMain::setVaryCookie (deprecated in 1.17)
 300 * Article::doRedirect() (deprecated in 1.18)
 301 * Article::doUnwatch() (deprecated in 1.18)
 302 * Article::doWatch() (deprecated in 1.18)
 303 * Article::forUpdate() (deprecated in 1.18)
 304 * Article::markpatrolled() (deprecated in 1.18)
 305 * Article::unwatch() (deprecated in 1.18)
 306 * Article::watch() (deprecated in 1.18)
 307 * Block::clear() (deprecated in 1.18)
 308 * Block::decodeExpiry() (deprecated in 1.18)
 309 * Block::encodeExpiry() (deprecated in 1.18)
 310 * Block::forUpdate() (deprecated in 1.18)
 311 * Block::infinity() (deprecated in 1.18)
 312 * Block::load() (deprecated in 1.18)
 313 * Block::newFromDB() (deprecated in 1.18)
 314 * Block::normaliseRange() (deprecated in 1.18)
 315 * Block::parseExpiryInput() (deprecated in 1.18)
 316 * CategoryViewer::addSubcategory() (deprecated in 1.17)
 317 * EditPage::spamPage() (deprecated since 1.17)
 318 * Exif::getFormattedData() (deprecated in 1.18)
 319 * Exif::makeFormattedData() (deprecated in 1.18)
 320 * in_string (deprecated in 1.21)
 321 * Language::convertLinkToAllVariants() (deprecated in 1.17)
 322 * LanguageConverter::convertLinkToAllVariants() (deprecated in 1.17)
 323 * Linker::makeBrokenLink() (deprecated in 1.16)
 324 * Linker::makeBrokenLinkObj() (deprecated in 1.16)
 325 * Linker::makeColouredLinkObj() (deprecated in 1.16)
 326 * Linker::makeSizeLinkObj() (deprecated in 1.17)
 327 * MediaWiki::articleFromTitle() (deprecated in 1.18)
 328 * ParserOptions::getkin() (deprecated 1.18)
 329 * ProfilerSimple::getCpuTime (deprecated in 1.20)
 330 * Revision::revText() (deprecated in 1.17)
 331 * SkinTemplate::jstext() (deprecated in 1.21)
 332 * SpecialPage::__call() (deprecated in 1.17)
 333 * SpecialPage::executePath() (deprecated in 1.18)
 334 * SpecialPage::exists() (deprecated in 1.18)
 335 * SpecialPage::file() (deprecated in 1.18)
 336 * SpecialPage::func() (deprecated in 1.18)
 337 * SpecialPage::getGroup() (deprecated in 1.18)
 338 * SpecialPage::getPage() (deprecated in 1.18)
 339 * SpecialPage::getPageByAlias() (deprecated in 1.18)
 340 * SpecialPage::getLocalNameFor() (deprecated in 1.18)
 341 * SpecialPage::getRegularPages() (deprecated in 1.18)
 342 * SpecialPage::getRestrictedPages() (deprecated in 1.18)
 343 * SpecialPage::getTitleForAlias() (deprecated in 1.18)
 344 * SpecialPage::getUsablePages() (deprecated in 1.18)
 345 * SpecialPage::includable() (deprecated in 1.18)
 346 * SpecialPage::init()
 347 * SpecialPage::initAliasList() (deprecated in 1.18)
 348 * SpecialPage::initList() (deprecated in 1.18)
 349 * SpecialPage::name() (deprecated in 1.18)
 350 * SpecialPage::removePage() (deprecated in 1.18)
 351 * SpecialPage::resolveAlias() (deprecated in 1.18)
 352 * SpecialPage::resolveAliasWithSubpage() (deprecated in 1.18)
 353 * SpecialPage::restriction() (deprecated in 1.18)
 354 * SpecialPage::setGroup() (deprecated in 1.18)
 355 * SpecialRecentChanges::feedSetup()
 356 * SpecialRevisionDelete::extractBitField() (deprecated in 1.22)
 357 * User::getPageRenderingHash() (deprecated in 1.17)
 358 * WebRequest::getFileSize() (deprecated in 1.17)
 359 * WebRequest::isPathInfoBad() (deprecated in 1.17)
 360 * wfGenerateToken (deprecated in 1.20)
 361 * wfStreamFile (deprecated in 1.19)
 362 * wfUILang (deprecated in 1.18)
 363 * WikiPage::createUpdates() (deprecated in 1.18)
 364 * WikiPage::quickEdit() (deprecated in 1.18)
 365 * WikiPage::useParserCache() (deprecated in 1.18)
 366 * WikiPage::viewUpdates() (deprecated in 1.18)
 367
 368 ==== Removed globals ====
 369 * $wgBetterDirectionality (deprecated in 1.18)
 370
 371 == Compatibility ==
 372
 373 MediaWiki 1.23 requires PHP 5.3.2 or later.
 374
 375 MySQL is the recommended DBMS. PostgreSQL or SQLite can also be used, but
 376 support for them is somewhat less mature. There is experimental support for
 377 Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.
 378
 379 The supported versions are:
 380
 381 * MySQL 5.0.2 or later
 382 * PostgreSQL 8.3 or later
 383 * SQLite 3.3.7 or later
 384 * Oracle 9.0.1 or later
 385 * Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (9.00.1399)
 386
 387 == Upgrading ==
 388
 389 1.23 has several database changes since 1.22, and will not work without schema
 390 updates. Note that due to changes to some very large tables like the revision
 391 table, the schema update may take quite long (minutes on a medium sized site,
 392 many hours on a large site).
 393
 394 If upgrading from before 1.11, and you are using a wiki as a commons
 395 repository, make sure that it is updated as well. Otherwise, errors may arise
 396 due to database schema changes.
 397
 398 If upgrading from before 1.7, you may want to run refreshLinks.php to ensure
 399 new database fields are filled with data.
 400
 401 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, you should upgrade to
 402 1.5 first. The upgrade script maintenance/upgrade1_5.php has been removed
 403 with MediaWiki 1.21.
 404
 405 Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
 406
 407 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
 408
 409 For notes on 1.21.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
 410
 411 == Online documentation ==
 412
 413 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is available on
 414 MediaWiki.org, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation License (except
 415 for pages that explicitly state that their contents are in the public domain):
 416
 417         https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 418
 419 == Mailing list ==
 420
 421 A mailing list is available for MediaWiki user support and discussion:
 422
 423         https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 424
 425 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 426
 427         https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 428
 429 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 430 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 431
 432 == IRC help ==
 433
 434 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net.