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 1.18 ==
   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 === Configuration changes in 1.18 ===
  22 * The WantedPages::getSQL hook has been removed and replaced with
  23   WantedPages::getQueryInfo . This may break older extensions.
  24 * $wgUseCombinedLoginLink controls whether to output a combined login / create account
  25   link in the personal bar, or to output separate login and create account links
  26 * Skin names are no longer created based on a ucfirst version of the key in $wgValidSkinNames but now
  27   the value. This means for $wgValidSkinNames["monobook"] = "MonoBook"; the skin
  28   loader will no longer try loading SkinMonobook and will instead load SkinMonoBook.
  29 * The parser now attempts to output markers for editsection tokens and defer the rendering
  30   of them so skin and language specific markup does not need to be saved inside the parser cache
  31   note that this changes the cache key making all old entries in the parser cache invalid you
  32   can set $wgUseEditSectionTokens to false to disable this and keep your old parser cache entries.
  33   Note that this feature should reduce parser cache fragmentation when enabled.
  34
  35 === New features in 1.18 ===
  36 * Added a special page, disabled by default, that allows users with the
  37   'disableaccount' privilege to permanently deactivate user accounts.
  38 * (bug 8130) Query pages should limit to content namespaces, not just main namespace
  39 * Search suggestions (other than in the Vector skin) will now use the HTML5
  40   datalist feature where supported, currently only Firefox 4.
  41
  42 === Bug fixes in 1.18 ===
  43 * (bug 23119) WikiError class and subclasses are now marked as deprecated
  44 * (bug 10871) Javascript and CSS pages in MediaWiki namespace are no longer
  45   treated as wikitext on preview.
  46 * (bug 22753) Output from update.php is more clear when things changed, entries
  47   indicating nothing changed are now all prefixed by "..."
  48 * Page existence is now not revealed (in the colour of the tabs) to users who
  49   cannot read the page in question.
  50 * (bug 19006) {{REVISIONUSER}} no longer acts like {{CURRENTUSER}} in some cases
  51 * (bug 16019) $wgArticlePath = "/$1" no longer breaks API edit/watch actions
  52 * (bug 18372) File types blacklisted by $wgFileBlacklist will no longer be shown as
  53   "Permitted file types" on the upload form
  54 * (bug 26379) importImages.php gives more descriptive error message on failure.
  55 * (bug 26410) + signs are no longer treated as spaces in internal links if
  56   link has a % sign in it.
  57 * (bug 26412) Search results headers no longer show a bogus edit link.
  58 * (bug 26540) Fixed wrong call to applyPatch in MysqlUpdater
  59
  60 === API changes in 1.18 ===
  61 * (bug 26339) Throw warning when truncating an overlarge API result
  62 * (bug 14869) Add API module for accessing QueryPage-based special pages
  63 * (bug 14020) API for Special:Unwatchedpages
  64 * (bug 24287) Wrap API Help output at 100 characters
  65 * Add a realname uiprop option to query=userinfo so a user's realname can be extracted
  66 * Add a &watchuser option to ApiBlock
  67 * (bug 26541) Generator-ise ApiQueryRecentChanges
  68 * action=parse now correctly returns an error for nonexistent pages
  69 * (bug 25767) Add userrights properties to allusers and users query lists
  70 * (bug 26558) list=allusers auprop=groups does not list groups a user is automatically a member of
  71 * (bug 26559) list=allusers auprop=rights does not match list=users usprop=rights
  72
  73 === Languages updated in 1.18 ===
  74
  75 MediaWiki supports over 330 languages. Many localisations are updated
  76 regularly. Below only new and removed languages are listed, as well as
  77 changes to languages because of Bugzilla reports.
  78
  79 == Compatibility ==
  80
  81 MediaWiki 1.18 requires PHP 5.1 (5.2 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer
  82 supported.
  83
  84 MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
  85 At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.
  86
  87
  88 == Upgrading ==
  89
  90 1.18 has several database changes since 1.17, and will not work without schema
  91 updates.
  92
  93 If upgrading from before 1.11, and you are using a wiki as a commons reposito-
  94 ry, make sure that it is updated as well. Otherwise, errors may arise due to
  95 database schema changes.
  96
  97 If upgrading from before 1.7, you may want to run refreshLinks.php to ensure
  98 new database fields are filled with data.
  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 === Caveats ===
 108
 109 Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
 110 produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
 111 set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
 112 cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
 113 MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)
 114
 115 For notes on 1.17.x and older releases, see HISTORY.
 116
 117
 118 === Online documentation ===
 119
 120 Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
 121 built up on MediaWiki.org, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
 122 License (except for pages that explicitly state that their contents are in
 123 the public domain) :
 124
 125         http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
 126
 127
 128 === Mailing list ===
 129
 130 A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
 131 wikitech-l list:
 132
 133         http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
 134
 135 A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:
 136
 137         http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
 138
 139 It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
 140 going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.
 141
 142
 143 === IRC help ===
 144
 145 There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net