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 1.9 ==
   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
  24 == Major new features ==
  25
  26
  27 == Changes since 1.8 ==
  28
  29 * (bug 6835) Removing the includes/Parser.php::getTemplateArgs() function,
  30   because it seems to be unused.
  31 * (bug 7139) Increasing the visual width of the edit summary field on larger
  32   screen sizes, for the default monobook skin.
  33 * Fix PHP notice and estimates for dumpBackup.php and friends
  34 * Improved register_globals paranoia checks
  35 * (bug 7545) Fix PHP version check on install
  36 * Disable PHP exception backtrace printing unless $wgShowExceptionDetails
  37   is set. Backtraces may contain sensitive information in function call
  38   parameters.
  39 * (bug 6164) Avoid smashing Cite state if message transformation triggers
  40   during bad image list check, by skipping message transformation.
  41   This isn't a good permanent fix.
  42 * (bug 6918) Stopped borders and backgrounds from showing through floated
  43   tables in Monobook
  44 * (bug 6868) Un-hardcode section edit link style
  45 * (bug 3205) Stop right floats from stacking horizontally in non-Monobook skins
  46 * Added global $wgStyleVersion to centralize bumping CSS and JS file versions
  47   for cache-friendly style and script updating
  48 * (bug 7562) Fix non-ASCII namespaces on Windows/XAMPP servers
  49 * Friendlier check for PHP 5 in command-line scripts; it's common for parallel
  50   PHP 4 and 5 installations to interfere on the command-line.
  51 * Fix regression in autoconfirm permission check
  52 * (bug 3015) Add CSS ids to subcategory and page sections on category pages
  53 * (bug 7587) Fix erroneous id for specialpage tab, enabling informative popup
  54 * (bug 7599) Fix thumbnail purging, PHP notices on HTCP image page purge
  55 * (bug 7581) Update language name for cbk-zam
  56 * (bug 7444) Update namespace translations for Telugu (te), kept old values as
  57   alias for compatibility
  58 * (bug 4525) Move section links down visually to same level as headings
  59   editsection links are now inside the heading elements)
  60 * Workaround for http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=31892 , PATH_INFO and hence
  61   URLs of the style /index.php/Main_Page were broken on some CGI installations.
  62 * (bug 7623) Validate custom HTML id's correctly in Monobook interface
  63 * (bug 2241) Fix collision of 'w' and 'd' accesskeys
  64 * (bug 5795) CSS class added to body based on page name for page-specific
  65   styling
  66 * (bug 6276) Stopped search field from getting too large in Cologne Blue
  67 * Fixed duplicate name/id value of "search" in Cologne Blue
  68 * (bug 7644) User creations that are aborted by hooks shouldn't be counted
  69   against account creations per day limit
  70 * (bug 7636) Show Firefox 2 users "shift-alt" as accesskey prefix
  71 * (bug 6427) Block blocked IPs from using the mail password function
  72   to allow blocking of flooders
  73 * Include common.css from classic-style skins in main HTML with the bump URL
  74   FIXME: this may leave doubled rules which won't stand up to certain changes.
  75   Will want to adjust these more to eliminate the dupe @includes.
  76
  77
  78 == Languages updated ==
  79
  80 * German (de)
  81 * Hebrew (he)
  82 * Indonesian (id)
  83 * Lithuanian (lt)
  84 * Occitan (oc)
  85 * Polish (pl)
  86 * Portuguese (pt)
  87 * Upper Sorbian (hsb)
  88
  89 == Compatibility ==
  90
  91 MediaWiki 1.9 requires PHP 5 (5.1 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer supported.
  92
  93 MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
  94 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
  95
  96
  97 == Upgrading ==
  98
  99 Some minor database changes have been made since 1.7:
 100 * new fields and indexes on ipblocks
 101 * index change on recentchanges
 102
 103 Several changes from 1.5 and 1.6 do require updates to be run on upgrade.
 104 To ensure that these tables are filled with data, run refreshLinks.php after
 105 the upgrade.
 106
 107 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
 108 changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
 109 break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
 110
 111 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
 112
 113
 114
 115 === Caveats ===
 116
 117 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
 118 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
 119 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
 120 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
 121 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
 122
 123
 124 For notes on 1.5.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
 125
 126
 127 === Online documentation ===
 128
 129 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
 130 built up on Meta-Wikipedia, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
 131 License:
 132
 133   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 134
 135
 136 === Mailing list ===
 137
 138 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 139 wikitech-l list:
 140
 141   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 142
 143 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 144
 145   http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 146
 147 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 148 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 149
 150
 151 === IRC help ===
 152
 153 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net