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 1.17 ==
   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 developments
  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 === New installer in 1.17 ===
  22 MediaWiki 1.17 is shipping with a completely redesigned installer to fix
  23 a lot of outstanding bugs, cleanup the code quality, and make it easier to
  24 use. Notably, you can now run upgrades from the web without having to move
  25 LocalSettings.php. The specific bugs are listed below in the general notes.
  26
  27 === Configuration changes in 1.17 ===
  28 * DatabaseFunctions.php that was needed for compatibility with pre-1.3
  29   extensions has been removed.
  30 * $wgLogAutocreatedAccounts controls whether autocreation of accounts is logged
  31   to new users log.
  32 * $wgAllowImageTag can be set to true to whitelist the <img> tag in wikitext.
  33 * (bug 12797) Add $wgGalleryOptions for adjusting of default gallery display
  34   options.
  35 * $wgAllowUserCssPrefs option allows disabling CSS-based preferences; which can
  36   improve page loading speed.
  37 * (bug 22858) $wgLocalStylePath is by default set to the same value as
  38   $wgStylePath but should never point to a different domain than the site is
  39   on, allowing skins to use .htc files which are not cross-domain friendly.
  40 * (bug 20193) Added $wgVectorShowVariantName global configuration variable
  41   which causes Vector to render the variants drop-down menu with a label
  42   showing the current variant name. This is off by default, pending further
  43   research into its user experience implications.
  44 * XmlFunctions.php has been removed. Use the Xml or Html classes as appropriate.
  45 * Added $wgSQLMode for setting database SQL modes - either performance (null)
  46   or other reasons (such as enabling stricter checks)
  47 * $wgFileStore has been deprecated. The only usage $wgFileStore['deleted'] has
  48   been turned into $wgDeletedDirectory.
  49 * $wgDeletedDirectory has been added to specify what directory to place deleted
  50   uploads in.
  51 * IBM DB2 database no longer uses the db specific $wgDBport_db2 variable but the
  52   normal $wgDBport.
  53 * The upload link for missing files can now be set separately from the
  54   navigation link with $wgUploadMissingFileUrl.
  55 * $wgCategoryPrefixedDefaultSortkey was removed and is now always false.  This
  56   provides more sensible sorting behavior for categories.
  57 * Removed unused globals: $wgEnableSerializedMessages, $wgCheckSerialized,
  58   $wgUseMemCached, $wgDisableSearchContext, $wgColorErrors,
  59   $wgUseZhdaemon, $wgZhdaemonHost and $wgZhdaemonPort.
  60 * (bug 24408) The include_path is not modified in the default LocalSettings.php
  61 * $wgVectorExtraStyles was removed, and is no longer in use.
  62 * $wgLoadScript was added to specify alternative locations for ResourceLoader
  63   requests.
  64 * $wgResourceLoaderMaxage was added to specify maxage and smaxage times for
  65   responses from ResourceLoader based on whether the request's URL contained a
  66   version parameter or not.
  67 * $wgResourceLoaderDebug was added to specify the default state of debug mode;
  68   this will still be overridden with the debug URL parameter a la
  69   $wgLanguageCode.
  70 * $wgResourceLoaderInlinePrivateModules was added to specify whether private
  71   modules such as user.options should be embedded in the HTML output or
  72   delivered through a resource loader request, which bypasses server cache (like
  73   squid) and checks the user parameter against $wgUser. The former adds more
  74   data to all pages, while the latter adds a request which cannot be cached
  75   server side.
  76 * Removed $wgUpdates for database updates; extension should use
  77   DatabaseUpdater::addExtensionUpdate().
  78 * Removed $wgServerName. It doesn't need to be set anymore and is no longer
  79   available as input for other configuration items, either.
  80 * Remove $wgRemoteUploads. It was not well supported and superseded by
  81   $wgUploadNavigationUrl.
  82 * (bug 198) $wgUpgradeKey allows unlocking the web installer for upgrades
  83   without having to move LocalSettings.php
  84 * The FailFunction "error handling" method has now been removed
  85 * $wgAdditionalMailParams added to allow setting extra options to mail() calls.
  86 * $wgSecureLogin & $wgSecureLoginStickHTTPS to optionaly login using HTTPS
  87 * (bug 25728) Added $wgPasswordSenderName to allow customise the name associed
  88   with $wgPasswordSender
  89 * Sysops now have the "suppressredirect" right by default
  90 * (bug 22463) $wgFooterIcons added to allow configuration of the icons shown in
  91   the footers of skins.
  92
  93 === New features in 1.17 ===
  94 * (bug 10183) Users can now add personal styles and scripts to all skins via
  95   User:<name>/common.css and /common.js (if user css/js is enabled).
  96 * (bug 22748) Add anchors on Special:ListGroupRights.
  97 * (bug 21981) Add parameter 'showfilename' to <gallery> to automatically
  98   apply the names of the individual files within the gallery.
  99 * Future-proof redirection to fragments in Gecko, so things work a little nicer
 100   if they fix <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=516293>.
 101 * Support git:// and mms:// protocols by default for external links.
 102 * (bug 15810) Blocked admins can no longer unblock themselves without the
 103   'unblockself' permission (which they have by default).
 104 * (bug 18499) Added "enhanced" URL parameter to switch between old and enhanced
 105   changes list.
 106 * (bug 22925) "sp-contributions-blocked-notice-anon" message now displayed when
 107   viewing contributions of a blocked IP address.
 108 * (bug 22474) {{urlencode:}} now takes an optional second paramter for type of
 109   escaping.
 110 * Special:Listfiles now supports a username parameter.
 111 * Special:Random carries over query string parameters.
 112 * (bug 23206) Add Special::Search hook for detecting successful "Go".
 113 * When visiting a "red link" of a deleted file, a deletion and move log excerpt
 114   is provided on the Upload form.
 115 * (bug 22647) Add category details in search results.
 116 * (bug 23276) Add hook to Special:NewPages to modify query.
 117 * Add accesskey 's' and tooltip to 'Save' button at Special:Preferences.
 118 * Add accesskey 'b' and tooltip to the summary field of edit mode.
 119 * (bug 20186) Allow filtering Special:Contributions for RevisionDeleted edits.
 120 * ajaxwatch now uses the API and JQuery, and can be used to animate arbitrary
 121   watch links, not just to watch the page the link is on.
 122 * (bug 20976) "searchmenu-new-nocreate" message now displayed when when there
 123   is no title match in search and the user has no rights to create pages.
 124 * (bug 23429) Added new hook WatchlistEditorBuildRemoveLine.
 125 * (bug 22844) Added support for WinCache object caching.
 126 * (bug 23580) Add two new events to LivePreview so that scripts can be
 127   notified about the beginning and finishing of LivePreview actions.
 128 * (bug 21278) Now the sidebar allows inclusion of wiki markup.
 129 * (bug 23733) Add IDs to messages used on CSS/JS pages
 130 * (bug 21312) RevisionMove allows moving individual revisions of a page to
 131   another page. Introducing 'revisionmove' user right; disabled by default;
 132   experimental feature.
 133 * Show validity period of the login cookie in Special:UserLogin and
 134   Special:Preferences
 135 * Interlanguage links display the page title in their tooltip.
 136 * (bug 23621) New Special:ComparePages to compare (diff) two articles.
 137 * (bug 4597) Provide support in Special:Contributions to show only "current"
 138   contributions
 139 * (bug 17857) {{anchorencode}} acts more like how the parser creates section ids
 140 * (bug 21477) \& can now be used in <math>
 141 * (bug 11641) \dotsc \dotsm \dotsi \dotso can now be used in <math>
 142 * (bug 21475) \mathtt and \textsf can now be used in <math>
 143 * texvc is now run via ulimit4.sh, to limit execution time.
 144 * SQLite now supports $wgSharedDB.
 145 * (bug 8507) Group file links by namespace:title on image pages
 146 * Stop emitting named entities, so we can use <!DOCTYPE html> while still being
 147   well-formed XML
 148 * texvc now supports \bcancel and \xcancel in addition to \cancel and \cancelto
 149 * Added scriptExtension setting to $wgForeignFileRepos
 150 * ForeignApiRepo uses scriptDirUrl if apiBase not set
 151 * (bug 24212) Added MediaWiki:Filepage.css which is also included on foreign
 152   client wikis.
 153 * (bug 14685) Double underscore magic word usage is now tracked in the
 154   page_props table, as well as the behavioral magic words {{DEFAULTSORT}} and
 155   {{DISPLAYTITLE}}
 156 * (bug 24045) MediaWiki:Ipb-needreblock is now wrapped in a div with class
 157   "mw-ipb-needreblock"
 158 * Non-file pages can no longer be moved to the file namespace, nor vice versa.
 159 * (bug 671) The <dfn>, <kbd> and <samp> elements have been whitelisted in user
 160   input
 161 * (bug 24563) Entries on Special:WhatLinksHere now have a link to their history
 162 * (bug 21503) There's now a "reason" field when creating account for other users
 163 * (bug 24418) action=markpatrolled now requires a token
 164 * A variety of category sort-related fixes, including:
 165 ** (bug 164) In English, lowercase and uppercase letters now sort the same.
 166    (This should be expanded to proper sorting for other languages before the
 167    1.17 release.)
 168 ** (bug 1211) Subcategories, ordinary pages, and files now page separately.
 169 ** When several pages are given the same sort key, they sort by their names
 170    instead of randomly.
 171 * (bug 23848) Add {{ARTICLEPATH}} Magic Word.
 172 * JavaScript-based password complexity checker on account creation and
 173   password change.
 174 * The HTML ID's generated for sections are now much prettier when they contain
 175   punctuation or non-English letters, so a section named "Hello?" will now
 176   result in a URL ending in "#Hello?" rather than "#Hello.3F".
 177 * (bug 8140) Add dedicated CSS classes to Special:Newpages elements
 178 * (bug 11005) Add CSS class to empty pages in Special:Newpages
 179 * The parser cache is now shared amongst users whose different settings aren't
 180   used in the page.
 181 * Any attribute beginning with "data-" can now be used in wikitext, per HTML5.
 182 * (bug 24007) Diff pages now mention the number of users having edited
 183   intermediate revisions
 184 * Added new hook GetIP
 185 * Special:Version now displays whether a SQLite database supports full-text
 186   search.
 187 * TS_ISO_8691_BASIC was added as a time format, which is used by ResourceLoader
 188   for versioning
 189 * Maintenance scripts get a --memory-limit option to override defaults (which
 190   is usually to set it to -1 to disable the limit)
 191 * (bug 25397) Allow uploading (not displaying) of WebP images, disabled
 192   by default
 193 * (bug 23194) Special:ListFiles now has thumbnails
 194 * Use hreflang to specify canonical and alternate links, search engine friendly
 195   when a wiki has multiple variant languages.
 196 * (bug 19593) Specifying --server in now works for all maintenance scripts
 197 * Now rebuildtextindex.php warns if SQLite doesn't support full-text search.
 198 * (bug 10541) Front/backend separation of installation/upgrade code
 199 * (bug 10596) Allow installer to enable extensions already in extensions folder
 200 * (bug 17394) Make installer check for latest version against MediaWiki.org
 201 * (bug 20627) Installer should be in languages other than English
 202 * Support for metadata in SVG files (title, description).
 203 * Special:Search: Add CSS classes to 'none found' and 'create link' messages
 204 * Add CSS classes (including namespace and pagename) to the enhanced recent
 205   changes/watchlist entries
 206 * (bug 22463) Add hook 'SkinGetPoweredBy' to make 'powered by' icon/text
 207   customizable
 208 * Added CSS print pagination to the print stylesheets
 209 * (bug 25960) Add <link rel=canonical"> for File pages of shared/foreign
 210   file repositories.
 211 * When viewing a redirect, the redirect arrow and redirection target are both
 212   wrapped in a div that has the class "redirectMsg" so that the redirection
 213   arrow can be customized with CSS
 214 * (bug 21911) Hard coded limit for long page warning removed. New message
 215   [[MediaWiki:Longpage-hint]] (empty per default) can be used instead.
 216   Parameters: $1 shows the formatted textsize in Byte/KB/MB, $2 is the raw
 217   number of the textsize in Byte
 218 * (bug 3276) Give image <gallery>s fluid width
 219 * Added uploads link to page subtitle in Special:Contributions
 220 * Added Special:Myuploads special page that redirects to Special:Listfiles
 221 * The footerlinks used in Monobook/Vector/Modern are now part of common skin
 222   code, SkinTemplateOutputPageBeforeExec can be used to customize the list.
 223 * Special wrapping setups can now define MW_CONFIG_FILE to load a config file
 224   other than LocalSettings.php. This is like MW_CONFIG_CALLBACK but works in
 225   some cases where MW_CONFIG_CALLBACK will not work.
 226
 227 === Bug fixes in 1.17 ===
 228 * (bug 17560) Half-broken deletion moved image files to deletion archive
 229   without updating database.
 230 * (bug 22666) Submitting user block form with an invalid user name no longer
 231   throws an error.
 232 * (bug 22665, bug 22667) User '0' can now be unblocked and have its block
 233   settings changed.
 234 * (bug 22606) The body of e-mail address confirmation message is now different
 235   when the address changed.
 236 * (bug 22664) Special:Userrights now accepts '0' as a valid user name.
 237 * (bug 5210)  Preload parser now parses <noinclude>, <includeonly> and
 238   redirects.
 239 * (bug 22709) IIS7 mishandles redirects generated by OutputPage::output() when
 240   the URL contains a colon.
 241 * (bug 22353) Categorised recent changes now works again.
 242 * (bug 22747) "Reveal my e-mail address in notification e-mails" preference is
 243   now only displayed when relevant.
 244 * (bug 22772) {{#special:}} parser function now works with subpages.
 245 * (bug 18664) Relative URIs in interwiki links cause failed redirects.
 246 * (bug 19270) Relative URIs in interwiki links break interwiki transclusion.
 247 * (bug 22903) Revdelete log entries now show in the user preferred language.
 248 * (bug 22905) Correctly handle <abbr> followed by ISBN.
 249 * (bug 22940) Namespace aliases pointing to main namespace don't work.
 250 * (bug 15810) Blocked admins can no longer block/unblock other users.
 251 * (bug 22876) Avoid possible PHP Notice if $wgDefaultUserOptions is not
 252   correctly set.
 253 * (bug 14952) Page titles are renormalized after html entities are removed so
 254   that links with non-NFC character references work correctly.
 255 * (bug 22991) wgUserGroups JavaScript variable now reports * group for
 256   anonymous users instead of null.
 257 * (bug 22627) Remove PHP notice when deleting a page only hidden users edited.
 258 * (bug 21520) Anonymous previews now also gives a warning about not being
 259   logged in (anonpreviewwarning).
 260 * (bug 22935) image/x-ms-bmp mime type added for BMP files.
 261 * (bug 23024) Special:ListFiles now escapes file names correctly.
 262 * (bug 22867) "View source" tab is now only displayed if there's source text.
 263 * (bug 19393) Feeds now format dates in user language rather than content
 264   language.
 265 * (bug 22852) "Served in" comment is now the time used to cache a single page
 266   when using rebuildFileCache.php
 267 * (bug 22496) Viewing diff of a redirect page without specifying "oldid".
 268   parameter no longer makes the page displayed as being the redirect target.
 269 * (bug 22918) Feed cache keys now use $wgRenderHashAppend.
 270 * (bug 21916) Last-Modified header is now correct when outputting cached feed.
 271 * (bug 20049) Fixed PHP notice in search highlighter that occurs in some cases.
 272 * (bug 23017) Special:Disambiguations now list pages in content namespaces
 273   rather than only main namespace.
 274 * (bug 23063) $wgMaxAnimatedGifArea is checked against the total size of all
 275   frames, and $wgMaxImageArea against the size of the first frame, rather than
 276   the other way around.  Both now default to 12.5 megapixels.  Also, images
 277   exceeding $wgMaxImageArea can still be embedded at original size.
 278 * (bug 23078) "All public logs" option on Special:Log is now always the first
 279   item.
 280 * (bug 16817) Group names in user rights log are now singular and in lowercase.
 281 * Special:Preferences no longer crashes if the wiki default date formatting
 282   style is not valid for the user's interface language.
 283 * (bug 23167) Check the watch checkbox by default if the watchcreations
 284   preference is set.
 285 * Maintenance script cleanupTitles is now able to fix titles stored
 286   in a negative namespace (which is invalid).
 287 * (bug 19858) Removed obsolete <big> in interface messages.
 288 * (bug 21456) "Bad title" error when showing non-local interwiki pages no longer
 289   displays incorrect tabs.
 290 * (bug 23190) Improved math representation for text browsers.
 291 * (bug 22015) Improved upload-by-url error handling and error display.
 292 * (bug 17941) $wgMaxUploadSize is now honored by all upload sources.
 293 * (bug 23080) New usernames now limited to 235 bytes so that custom skin files
 294   work.
 295 * (bug 23075) Correct MediaTransformError default width in gallery.
 296 * (bug 16487) The Anonymous user account used on Postgres is no longer
 297   displayed on Special:Listusers.
 298 * (bug 23313) Move watchlisthidepatrolled above token in watchlist preferences
 299   to enhance preference grouping.
 300 * (bug 23298) Interwiki links with prefix only in log summaries now link to the
 301   correct link.
 302 * (bug 23284) Times are now rounded correctly.
 303 * (bug 23375) Added ogv, oga, spx as extensions for ogg files.
 304 * (bug 18408) All required permissions for uploading (upload, edit, create)
 305   are now checked when loading Special:Upload. Toolbar link for Special:Upload
 306   is no longer shown if the user does not have the required permissions.
 307 * (Bug 23397) texvc in html mode renders \sim as &tilde; not &sim;
 308 * (Bug 23241) Remove License selector, because it is not used when uploading a
 309   new version.
 310 * (bug 23240) Add ID to namespace selector form on Special:Watchlist.
 311 * The pipe | character in urls is now escaped.
 312 * (bug 23422) mp3 files can now be moved.
 313 * (bug 23448) MediaWiki:Summary-preview is now displayed instead of
 314   MediaWiki:Subject-preview when previewing summary.
 315 * (bug 23426) The {{REVISIONMONTH}} variable is now zero-padded and added
 316   new variable {{REVISIONMONTH1}} when unpadded version is needed.
 317 * Special:Userrights didn't recognize user as changing his/her own rights if
 318   user did not capitalize first letter of username.
 319 * (bug 23507) Add styles for printing wikitables.
 320 * (bug 19586) Avoid JS errors in mwsuggest when using old browsers such
 321   as Opera 8.
 322 * (bug 23563) Old skins now support $wgUploadNavigationUrl and take into
 323   account upload rights.
 324 * (bug 1347) Render \phi in math using images, in order to create consistent
 325   and correct render results.
 326 * (bug 16573) Render \epsilon in math using images, in order to create
 327   consistent and correct render results.
 328 * (bug 22541) Support image redirects when using ForeignAPIRepo.
 329 * (bug 22967) Make edit summary length cut-off behave correctly for
 330   multibyte characters.
 331 * (bug 8689) Long numeric lines no longer  kill the parser.
 332 * (bug 23740) Article::doRedirect() now use $extraQuery parameter correctly if
 333   the $noRedir parameter is set to true
 334 * (bug 23688) Correct mime types for Office 2007 OpenXML documents.
 335 * (bug 23787) Corrected $wgDefaultSkin's comment in DefaultSettings.php
 336 * (bug 23797) Xml::input() now allows '0' for the value parameter
 337 * (bug 23747) Make sure that on History pages, the RevDel button is not
 338   accidently activated when hitting enter.
 339 * (bug 23845) Special:ListFiles now uses correct file names without underscores
 340 * Ask for permanent login in Special:Preferences only if $wgCookieExpiration > 0
 341 * (bug 16356) Repair dumpInterwiki.inc to use proper normalization.
 342 * (bug 24006) deleteArchivedRevisions.php maintenance script now longer throws
 343   a fatal error
 344 * (bug 23465) Don't ignore the predefined destination filename on
 345   Special:Upload after following a red link
 346 * (bug 23642) Recognize mime types of MS OpenXML documents.
 347 * (bug 22784) Normalise underscores and spaces in autocomments.
 348 * (bug 19910) Headings of the form ===+\s+ are now displayed as valid headings
 349 * (bug 24022) Only check file extensions on the uploadpage when needed.
 350 * (bug 24076) Recognize Office 2003 files with OpenXML trailers
 351 * (bug 24244) Updated comments in DefaultSettings.php to reflect
 352   Image: --> File: namespace rename.
 353 * Make wfTimestamp recognize negative unix timestamp values.
 354 * (bug 24401) SimpleSearch: No button/text indicating 'Search' if image is
 355   disabled
 356 * (bug 23293) Do not show change tags when special:recentchanges(linked)
 357   or special:newpages is transcluded into another page as it messes up the
 358   page.
 359 * (bug 24517) LocalFile::newFromKey() and OldLocalFile::newFromKey() no longer
 360   throw fatal errors
 361 * (bug 23380) Uploaded files that are larger than allowed by PHP now show a
 362   useful error message.
 363 * Uploading to a protected title will allow the user to choose a new name
 364   instead of showing an error page
 365 * (bug 24425) Use Database::replace instead of delete/insert in
 366   SqlBagOStuff::set to avoid query errors about duplicate keynames.
 367 * (bug 15470) First letters of filenames are always capitalized by upload JS.
 368 * (bug 21215) NoLocalSettings.php doesn't tolerate rewrite rules
 369 * (bug 21052) Fix link color for stubs in NewPages
 370 * (bug 24714) Usage of {{#dateformat: }} in wikis without $wgUseDynamicDates no
 371   longer pollutes the parser cache.
 372 * (bug 17031) Correct which characters the parser allows in tag attributes (a
 373   letter, colon or underscore followed by 0 or more letters, numbers, colons,
 374   underscores, hyphens, and/or periods).
 375 * Save 200 useless queries on each category page view
 376 * Shell commands will now work on Linux in filesystems mounted noexec
 377 * (bug 24804) Corrected commafying in Polish and Ukrainian
 378 * "Difference between pages" is now displayed instead of "Difference between
 379    revisions" on diffs when appropriate.
 380 * (bug 23703) ForeignAPIRepo fails on findBySha1() when using a 1.14 install as
 381   a repository due to missing 'name' attribute from the API list=allimages
 382 * (bug 24898) MediaWiki uses /tmp even if a vHost-specific tempdir is set, also
 383   make wfTempDir() return a sane value for Windows on worst-case
 384 * (bug 24824) Support ImageMagick 6.5.6-2+ JPEG decoder size hint, to reduce
 385   memory usage when such an ImageMagick is used for scaling.
 386 * Disable multithreaded behaviour in recent ImageMagick, to avoid a deadlock
 387   when a resource limit such as $wgMaxShellMemory is hit.
 388 * (bug 24981) Allow extensions to access SpecialUpload variables again
 389 * (bug 20744) Wiki forgets about an uploaded file
 390 * (bug 17913) Don't show "older edit" when no older edit available
 391 * (bug 6204) TOC not properly rendered when using $wgMaxTocLevel
 392 * (bug 24977) The accesskey in history page now lead directly to the diff
 393   instead of alterning focus between the two buttons.
 394 * (bug 24987) Special:ListUsers does not take external groups into account
 395 * (bug 20633) update.php has mixed language output
 396 * SQLite system table names are now never prefixed.
 397 * (bug 25292) SkinSubPageSubtitle hook now passes the Skin object as second
 398   parameter
 399 * (bug 25167) Correctly load JS fixes for IE6 (fixing a regression in 1.16)
 400 * (bug 25367) wfShellExec() is more explicit when failing due to disabled
 401   passthru()
 402 * (bug 25462) Fix double-escaping for section edit link tooltips
 403 * action=raw was removed for Special:Statistics. This information is still
 404   available via the API
 405 * (bug 23934) Groups defined in $wgRevokePermissions but not in
 406   $wgGroupPermissions now appear on Special:ListGroupRights
 407 * (bug 23923) Special:Prefixindex no longer shows results if nothing was
 408   requested.
 409 * (bug 22308) Search now finds text in default main page immediately after setup
 410 * (bug 25697) Make sure empty lines render in diff view.
 411 * Use an actual minus sign in diff views, instead of a hyphen.
 412 * (bug 23732) Clarified "n links" message on Special:MostLinkedFiles
 413 * (bug 23731) Clarified "n links" message on Special:MostLinkedTemplates
 414 * (bug 25642) A exception is now thrown instead of a fatal error when using
 415   $wgSMTP without PEAR mail package
 416 * (bug 19633) When possible, Upscale small SVGs when creating thumbnails.
 417 * (bug 25725) Unwanted linebreaks in diffs.
 418 * (bug 11013) Database driver detection needs rewriting for robustness
 419 * (bug 13409) Installer prompts could use clarification--now has help boxes
 420 * (bug 16902) Installer spews warnings when exec() and dl() are not available
 421 * (bug 19129) Only show MyISAM/InnoDB when supported
 422 * (bug 17762) Only show other e-mail options when e-mail is globally enabled
 423 * Cache multiple sizes of InstantCommons thumbnails
 424 * (bug 25488) Disallowing anonymous users to read pages no longer throws error
 425   on discussion pages with vector as default skin
 426 * (bug 24833) Files name in includes/diff/ are now less confusing
 427 * (bug 25713) SpecialPage::resolveAlias() now normalise spaces to underscores
 428 * (bug 25829) Special:Mypage and Special:Mytalk now forward oldid, diff and dir
 429   parameters
 430 * (bug 25175) HTML file cache now honor $wgCacheDirectory if
 431   $wgFileCacheDirectory is not set
 432 * (bug 13353) Diff3 version checks were too strict, did not detect working diff3
 433 * (bug 25843) Links to special pages using link= attribute on images are now
 434   normalised like normal links to special pages
 435 * (bug 21364) External links using link= attribute on images now respect
 436   $wgExternalLinkTarget
 437 * (bug 17789) Added a note to the total views on Special:Statistics saying that
 438   is doesn't count non-existing pages and special pages
 439 * (bug 17996) HTTP redirects are now combined when requesting a special page
 440 * (bug 19944) Link on image thumbnails no longer link to "Media:" namespace in
 441   some cases
 442 * (bug 25670) wfFindFile() now checks the namespace of the given title, only
 443   "File" and "Media" are allowed now
 444 * (bug 25872) Rename the HttpRequest class to MWHttpRequest to avoid conflict
 445   with php extension that defines same class.
 446 * (bug 20591) There's now a different message on Special:MovePage when
 447   $wgFixDoubleRedirects is set to false.
 448 * Fixed PHP warnings when updating a broken MySQL database.
 449 * (bug 26023) Corrected deleteBacth.php's documentation
 450 * (bug 25451) Improved datetime representation in 32 bit php >= 5.2.
 451 * Show "skin does not exist error" only when the skin is inputted in the wrong
 452   case.
 453 * (bug 26164) Potential html injection when the database server isn't available
 454 * (bug 26160) Upload description set by extensions are not propagated
 455 * (bug 9675) generateSitemap.php now takes an --urlpath parameter to allow
 456   absolute URLs in the sitemap index (as required e.g. by Google)
 457 * Partial workaround for bug 6220: at least make files on shared repositories
 458   show up as (struck-out) bluelinks instead of redlinks on Special:WantedFiles
 459
 460 === API changes in 1.17 ===
 461 * (bug 22738) Allow filtering by action type on query=logevent.
 462 * (bug 22764) uselang parameter for action=parse.
 463 * (bug 22944) API: watchlist options are inconsistent.
 464 * (bug 22868) don't list infinite block expiry date as "now" in API logevents.
 465 * (bug 22290) prop=revisions now outputs "comment" field even when comment.
 466   is empty, for consistency with list=recentchanges.
 467 * (bug 19721) API action=help should have a way to just list for a specific
 468   module.
 469 * (bug 23458) Add support for pageid parameter to action=parse requests.
 470 * (bug 23460) Parse action should have a section option.
 471 * (bug 21346) Make deleted images searchable by hash.
 472 * (bug 23461) Normalise usage of parameter names in parameter descriptions.
 473 * (bug 23548) Allow access of another users watchlist through watchlistraw
 474   using token and username.
 475 * (bug 23524) Api Modules as followup to bug 14473 (Add iwlinks table to
 476   track inline interwiki link usage).
 477 * Add pltitles and tltemplates to prop=links and prop=templates respectively,
 478   similar to prop=categories's clcategorie
 479 * (bug 23834) Invalid "thumbwidth" and "thumbheight" in "imageinfo" query when
 480   thumbnailing larger than original image
 481 * (bug 23835) Need "thumbmime" result in "imageinfo" query
 482 * (bug 23851) Repair diff for file redirect pages
 483 * (bug 24009) Include implicit groups in action=query&list=users&usprop=groups
 484 * (bug 24016) API: Handle parameters specified in simple string syntax
 485   ( 'paramname' => 'defaultval' ) correctly when outputting help
 486 * (bug 24089) Logevents causes PHP Notice if leprop=title isn't supplied
 487 * (bug 23473) Give description of properties on all modules
 488 * (bug 24136) unknownerror when adding new section without summary, but
 489   forceditsummary
 490 * (bug 16886) Sister projects box moves down the extract of the first result
 491   in IE 7.
 492 * (bug 22339) Added srwhat=nearmatch to list=search to get a "go" result
 493 * (bug 24303) Added new &servedby parameter to all actions which adds the
 494   hostname that served the request to the result. It is also added
 495   unconditionally on error
 496 * (bug 24185) Titles in the Media and Special namespace are now supported for
 497   title normalization in action=query. Special pages have their name resolved
 498   to the local alias.
 499 * (bug 24296) Added converttitles parameter to convert titles to their
 500   canonical language variant.
 501 * (bug 17398) Fixed "link" parameter in image links with "thumb" or "frame"
 502   parameter.
 503 * (bug 23936) Add "displaytitle" to query/info API
 504 * (bug 24485) Make iwbacklinks a generator, optionally display iwprefix and
 505   iwtitle
 506 * (bug 24564) Fix fatal errors when using list=deletedrevs, prop=revisions or
 507   one of the backlinks generators with limit=max.
 508 * (bug 24656) API's parse module needs option to disable PP report
 509 * PARAM_REQUIRED parameter flag added. If this flag is set, and the end user
 510   does not set the parameter, the API will automatically throw an error.
 511 * (bug 24665) When starttimestamp is not specified, fake it by setting it to
 512   NOW, not to the timestamp of the last edit
 513 * (bug 24677) axto= parameters added to allcategories, allimages, alllinks,
 514   allmessages, allpages, and allusers
 515 * (bug 24236) Add add, remove, add-self, remove-self tags to
 516   meta=siteinfo&siprop=usergroups
 517 * (bug 24484) Add prop=pageprops module
 518 * (bug 24330) Add &redirect parameter to ?action=edit
 519 * (bug 24722) For list=allusers&auprop=blockinfo, only show blockedby and
 520   blockreason if the user is actually blocked.
 521 * Add format=dump and format=dumpfm, outputs results in PHP's var_dump() format
 522 * For required string parameters, if '' is provided, this is now classed as
 523   missing
 524 * (bug 24724) list=allusers is out by 1 (shows total users - 1)
 525 * (bug 24166) API error when using rvprop=tags
 526 * Introduced "asynchronous download" mode for upload-by-url. Requires
 527   $wgAllowAsyncCopyUploads to be true.
 528 * sinumberingroup correctly gives size of 'user' group, and omits size of
 529   implicit groups rather than showing 0.
 530 * (bug 25248) API: paraminfo errors with certain modules
 531 * (bug 25303) Fix API parameter integer validation to actually enforce
 532   validation on the input values in addition to giving a warning. Also add flag
 533   to enforce (die) if integer out of range (breaking change!)
 534 * (bug 24792) API help for action=purge sometimes wrongly stated whether a
 535   POST request was needed due to cache pollution
 536 * Added iiprop=parsedcomment to prop=imageinfo, similar to prop=revisions
 537 * Added rvparse to parse revisions. For performance reasons if this option is
 538   used, rvlimit is enforced to 1.
 539 * (bug 25748) If a action=parse request provides an oldid that is actually the
 540   current revision id, try the parser cache, and save it to it if necessary
 541 * (bug 25463) Export header should not be shown if no pages were requested, to
 542   reduce confusion
 543 * (bug 25648) API discovery information has been added as RSD link in page
 544   <head> and by providing an API module action=rsd. Added hook
 545   ApiRsdServiceApis for extensions to add their own service to the services
 546   list.
 547 * The HTML of diff output markers has changed. Hyphens are now minus signs,
 548   empty markers are now filled with non-breaking-space characters
 549 * (bug 25741) Add more data to list=search's srprop
 550 * (bug 25760) counter property still reported by the API when
 551   $wgDisableCounters enabled
 552 * (bug 25987) prop=info&inprop=watched now also works for missing pages
 553 * (bug 26006) prop=langlinks now allows obtaining full URL
 554 * (bug 26075) ApiDelete.php now calls correctly ArticleDelete hook
 555 * (bug 26089) add block expiration to blockinfo
 556 * (bug 26125) prop=imageinfo&iiprop=size now returns the page count if the
 557   file is a multi-page file
 558 * (bug 10268) Added linktodiffs parameter on action=feedwatchlist
 559 * (bug 26219) Show API limits for multi values in description
 560
 561 === Languages updated in 1.17 ===
 562
 563 MediaWiki supports over 330 languages. Many localisations are updated
 564 regularly. Below only new and removed languages are listed, as well as
 565 changes to languages because of Bugzilla reports.
 566
 567 * Moroccan Spoken Arabic (ary) (new)
 568 * Banjar (bjn) (new)
 569 * Danish (dk) (removed deprecated language code)
 570 * Fiji Hindi (Devangari script) (removed)
 571 * Kabardian (kdb) (new, dummy)
 572 * Kabardian (Cyrillic) (kbd-cyrl) (new)
 573 * Latgalian (ltg) (new)
 574 * Minangkabau (min) (new)
 575 * Dutch (informal) (nl-informal) (new)
 576 * Rusyn (rue) (new)
 577
 578 * (bug 23156) Commafy and search normalization updated for Belarusian
 579   (Taraškievica).
 580 * (bug 23283) Native name for Old English -> Ænglisc.
 581 * (bug 23364) Native name for Azerbaijani -> Azərbaycanca.
 582 * (bug 24593) Native name for Sorani now uses only Arabic script.
 583 * (bug 24628) Generic translations for NS_USER/NS_USER_TALK for Esperanto.
 584 * (bug 24917) Polish as fallback for Kashubia.
 585 * (bug 24794) Tatar link trail updated.
 586 * Esperanto date format corrected.
 587
 588 == Compatibility ==
 589
 590 MediaWiki 1.17 requires PHP 5.1 (5.2 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer
 591 supported.
 592
 593 MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
 594 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
 595
 596
 597 == Upgrading ==
 598
 599 1.17 has several database changes since 1.16, and will not work without schema
 600 updates.
 601
 602 If upgrading from before 1.11, and you are using a wiki as a commons reposito-
 603 ry, make sure that it is updated as well. Otherwise, errors may arise due to
 604 database schema changes.
 605
 606 If upgrading from before 1.7, you may want to run refreshLinks.php to ensure
 607 new database fields are filled with data.
 608
 609 If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
 610 changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
 611 break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!
 612
 613 See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.
 614
 615
 616 === Caveats ===
 617
 618 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
 619 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
 620 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
 621 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
 622 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
 623
 624 For notes on 1.16.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
 625
 626
 627 === Online documentation ===
 628
 629 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
 630 built up on MediaWiki.org, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
 631 License (except for pages that explicitly state that their contents are in
 632 the public domain) :
 633
 634   http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 635
 636
 637 === Mailing list ===
 638
 639 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 640 wikitech-l list:
 641
 642   http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 643
 644 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 645
 646   http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 647
 648 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 649 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 650
 651
 652 === IRC help ===
 653
 654 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net