Multiple whitespace in TOC anchors is now stripped, for consistency with the link...

[mediawiki.git] / RELEASE-NOTES

= MediaWiki release notes =

Security reminder: MediaWiki does not require PHP's register_globals
setting since version 1.2.0. If you have it on, turn it *off* if you can.

== MediaWiki 1.16 ==

THIS IS NOT A RELEASE YET

MediaWiki is now using a "continuous integration" development model with
quarterly snapshot releases. The latest development code is always kept
"ready to run", and in fact runs our own sites on Wikipedia.

Release branches will continue to receive security updates for about a year
from first release, but nonessential bugfixes and feature developments
will be made on the development trunk and appear in the next quarterly release.

Those wishing to use the latest code instead of a branch release can obtain
it from source control: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Download_from_SVN

=== Configuration changes in 1.16 ===

* (bug 18222) $wgMinimalPasswordLength default is now 1
* $wgSessionHandler can be used to configure session.save_handler
* $wgLocalFileRepo/$wgForeignFileRepos now have a 'fileMode' parameter to
  be used when uploading/moving files
* (bug 18761) $wgHiddenPrefs is a new array for specifying preferences not
  to be shown to users
* $wgAllowRealName and $wgAllowUserSkin were deprecated in favor of
  $wgHiddenPrefs[] = 'realname', but the former are still retained
  for backwards-compatibility
* (bug 9257) $wgRCMaxAge now defaults to three months
* $wgDevelopmentWarnings can be set to true to show warnings about deprecated
  functions and other potential errors when developing.
* (bug 18958) $wgEnableVariants is a new boolean value to turn on or off the
  entire variant conversion engine, and the default is set to true. Former
  variable $wgDisableLangConversion was superseded by this variable.
* Subpages are now enabled in the MediaWiki namespace by default.  This is
  mainly a cosmetic change, and does not in any way affect the MessageCache,
  which was already effectively treating the namespace as if it had subpages.
* (bug 10837) $wgVariant is a user variant selected in the user's preferences
  if the $wgContLang does not have variant, then the $wgLang is used instead.

=== New features in 1.16 ===

* Add CSS defintion of the 'wikitable' class to shared.css
* (bug 17163) Added MediaWiki:Talkpageheader which will be displayed when
  viewing talk pages
* Add group convertsion support for LanguageConverter. New magic word
  "{{GROUPCONVERT:xxx}}" enabled for this new feature. You can set related
  conversion rules in [[MediaWiki:Groupconversiontable-xxx/language_code]].
* Superfluous border="0" removed from images
* Added new hook 'MessageCacheReplace' into MessageCache.php. For instance
  to allow extensions to update caches in similar way as MediaWiki invalidates
  a cached MonoBook sidebar
* Special:AllPages: Move hardcoded styles from code to CSS
* (bug 6092) Add parser function equivalents of {{REVISIONID}},
  {{REVISIONTIMESTAMP}}  (and friends) and {{REVISIONUSER}} magic words
* (bug 18529) New hook: SoftwareInfo for adding information about the software
  to Special:Version
* Added $wgExtPGAlteredFields to allow extensions to easily alter the data
  type of columns when using the Postgres backend.
* (bug 16950) Show move log when viewing/creating a deleted page
* (bug 18242) Show the Subversion revision number per extensions in
  Special:Version
* (bug 18420) Missing file revisions are handled gracefully now
* (bug 9219) Auth plugins can control editing RealName/Email/Nick preferences
* New hook: MessageNotInMwNs to handle localised messages that aren't in the
  Mediawiki Namespace, before checking the message files
* (bug 18466) Add note or warning when overruling a move (semi-)protection
* (bug 18342) insertTags works in edit summary box
* (bug 18411) The upload form also checks post_max_size
* Watchlist now has a specialized <div> tag that contains a unique class for
  each page
* Added Minguo calendar support for the Taiwan Chinese language
* Database: unionQueries function to be used for UNION sql construction, so
  it can be overloaded on DB abstraction level for DB specific functionality
* (bug 18849) Implement Japanese and North Korean calendars
* (bug 5755) Introduce {{CURRENTMONTH1}} and {{LOCALMONTH1}} to display the
  month number without the leading zero
* (bug 13456) categoriespagetext supports PLURAL
* (bug 18860) Blocks of IPs affecting registered users can now block email
* (bug 17093) Date and time are separate parameters in Special:BlockList
* (bug 11484) Added ISO speed rating to default collapsed EXIF metadata view
* (bug 18958) Added ability to disable entire variant conversion engine
  per user preferences
* (bug 19012) Introduce {{NUMBEROFCONTRIBS}} variable to display the number
  of contributions a user has.

=== Bug fixes in 1.16 ===

* (bug 18031) Make namespace selector on Special:Export remember the previous
  selection
* The svn-version version numbers on Special:Version have been removed
* (bug 17374) Special:Export no longer exports two copies of the same page
* (bug 18190) Proper parsing in MediaWiki:Sharedupload message
* (bug 17617) HTML cleanup for ImagePage
* (bug 17964) namespaceDupes.php no longer fails on an empty interwiki table
* Improved error handling for image moving
* (bug 17974) On Special:SpecialPages, restricted special pages are now marked
  with <strong> tags, helps with text-based browsers
* (bug 18259) Special:DeletedContributions now also uses
  MediaWiki:Sp-contributions-logs for the link to Special:Log
* Don't add empty title="" attributes to links to anchors on the current page
* (bug 18291) rebuildrecentchanges.php failed to add deletion log entries
* (bug 18304) rebuildrecentchanges.php got size changes wrong
* (bug 18170) Fixed a PHP warning in Parser::preSaveTransform() in PHP 5.3
* (bug 18289) Database connection error page now returns correct HTML
* "successbox", "errorbox" and related CSS classes are now available in all
  skins
* Fixed a PHP notice when $wgEnableSerializedMessages was set to false
* (bug 18316) Removed superfluous name="fulltext" from Special:Search
* (bug 18331) MediaWiki:Undelete-revision can now have wikitext
* The "noautoblock" flag is no longer displayed in the block log when blocking
  an IP address
* (bug 18009) $wgHooks and $wgExtensionFunctions now support closures
* (bug 17948) Maintenance scripts now exit(0) or exit(1) as appropriate
* (bug 18377) Time in Enhanced ChangesList lacking localisation
* (bug 12998) Allow <sup>, <sub>, etc. in DISPLAYTITLE
* (bug 1553) Lowercase navigation headings in German
* (bug 7830) Pending transactions failed to commit on loginToUse() error
* (bug 11613) session.save_handler being over-ridden
* (bug 11381) session.save_handler being set twice (causes error)
* (bug 17835) ForeignAPIRepo throwing error on first page load for file
* (bug 18115) ForeignAPIRepo cache isn't working
* Fixed a bug caused by LanguageConverter.php, which brings an abnormal '}-'
  after some parsed math syntax.
* (bug 18441) rebuildrecentchanges.inc no longer ignores $wgLogRestrictions
* (bug 18317) Bolded selections in 1 | 3 | etc days on RecentChanges now use
  <strong> instead of hardcoded styles
* (bug 18449) Fixed items number per column on category pages when the total is
  divisible by 3
* (bug 18121) maintenance/deleteArchivedRevisions.php no longer deletes
  revisions when --delete is not passed
* (bug 13172) GPS coordinates in image Exif data are now actually displayed
* Overhaul of preferences system, includes the following bug fixes:
* (bug 5363) Changes to default preferences now impact registered users.
* (bug 14806) Hook to enable putting preferences in existing tabs.
* (bug 17191) Registration date now listed on preferences page.
* Note that this change will break some extensions which have not been adapted
  for it.
* (bug 17020) Adding fallback encodings for Traditional and Simplified Chinese
  languages while the the text is typed as URLs.
* (bug 18535) Search tab tool-tops are corrupted
* (bug 17614) Prev / Next links not need on ImagePage file history if less than
  limit
* (bug 18207) Strange spacing before [[irc:...]] links
* Removed float from the user login form in RTL interface - caused display
  problems in FF2
* (bug 15008) Redirect images are now subject to Bad image list rules
* (bug 6802) profileinfo.php now also work on other database servers than MySQL
* (bug 16925) Diffs no longer fail when $wgExternalDiffEngine is set to
  'wikidiff' or 'wikidiff2' but extension is not installed
* (bug 18326) Chmod errors in file repos have been hidden
* (bug 18718) Comma after a } create a error in IE
* (bug 18716) Removed redundant class in Modern skin CSS for category links and
  tweaked spacing.
* (bug 18656) Use proper directory separators in wfMkdirParents()
* (bug 18549) Make Special:Blockip respect $wgEnableUserEmail and
  $wgSysopEmailBans
* (bug 16912) Tooltips on images with link= disappear
* (bug 18389) Localise numbers in EXIF data
* (bug 18522) Wrap MediaWiki:Protect-cascadeon in a div for identification
* (bug 18438) Tweak HTML for preview bar for consistency and accessibility
* (bug 18432) Updated documentation for dumpBackup.php
* Fix array logic in Sanitizer::removeHTMLtags so that it doesn't strip good
  tags that were redundantly defined.
* (bug 14118) SpecialPage::getTitleFor does not return a localised name
* (bug 18698) Renaming non entry point maintenance scripts from .inc.php to
  .inc
* Deprecated methods Title::getInterwikiLink, Title::userCanCreate(),
  Title::userCanEdit() and Title::userCanMove() have been removed
* Only show upload links on file description if $wgEnableUploads = true
  and user can upload
* Don't say "You need to log in to upload/move", because it's possible that
  uploading/moving is disabled for registered users as well (e.g. only sysops)
* (bug 18943) Handle invalid titles gracefully at Special:Mostlinked
* (bug 8873) Enable variant conversion in text on 'alt' and 'title' attributes
* (bug 10837) Introducing the StubUserVariant class to determine the variant
  variable instead of using this to overrules the user language preference.
* (bug 19014) If user had deletedhistory right, but not undeleted right, then
  show "view" instead of "view/restore" on logs.
* (bug 19017) TOC level calculation error in an odd case
* (bug 18999) CSS update for RTL interwiki links
* (bug 18925) history.js removes class names of list elements on initialization
* Multiple whitespace in TOC anchors is now stripped, for consistency with the
  link from the edit comment

== API changes in 1.16 ==

* Added uiprop=changeablegroups to meta=userinfo
* Added usprop=gender to list=users
* (bug 18311) action=purge now works for images too
* Add parentid to prop=revisions output
* (bug 17832) action=delete returns 'unknownerror' instead of 'permissiondenied'
  when the user is blocked
* (bug 18546) Added timestamp of new revision to action=edit output
* (bug 18554) Also list hidden revisions in list=usercontribs for privileged
  users
* (bug 13049) "API must be accessed from the primary script entry point" error
* (bug 16422) Don't display help for format=jsonfm unless specifically requested
* Added PHP and database version to meta=siteinfo output
* (bug 18533) Add readonly message to meta=siteinfo output
* (bug 18518) Add clprop=hidden to prop=categories
* (bug 18710) Fixed internal error with empty parameter in action=paraminfo
* (bug 18709) Missing descriptions for some parameters in action=paraminfo
  output
* (bug 18731) Show correct SVN links for extension modules in api.php?version
* (bug 18730) Add version information to action=paraminfo output
* (bug 18743) Add ucprop=size to list=usercontribs
* (bug 18749) Add generator flag to action=paraminfo output
* Make action=block respect $wgEnableUserEmail and $wgSysopEmailBans

=== Languages updated in 1.16 ===

MediaWiki supports over 300 languages. Many localisations are updated
regularly. Below only new and removed languages are listed, as well as
changes to languages because of MediaZilla reports.

* Lower Silesian (sli) (new)
* Uyghur (Arabic script) (ug-arab) (new)

* (bug 18474) Sorani (ckb - Central Kurdish) (renamed from ku-arab)
* Add PLURAL function for Scots Gaelic (gd)
* Add Estonian letters äöõšüž to linktrail (et)
* (bug 18776) Native name of Burmese language (my)
* (bug 18806) Use correct unicode characters in spelling of native Chuvash
  (Чӑвашла)
* (bug 18864) Updated autonym for Zhuang language
* (bug 18957) Updated number formatting for German
* (bug 18308) Updated date formatting in Occitan

== Compatibility ==

MediaWiki 1.16 requires PHP 5 (5.2 recommended). PHP 4 is no longer supported.

PHP 5.0.x fails on 64-bit systems due to serious bugs with array processing:
http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=34879
Upgrade affected systems to PHP 5.1 or higher.

MySQL 3.23.x is no longer supported; some older hosts may need to upgrade.
At this time we still recommend 4.0, but 4.1/5.0 will work fine in most cases.


== Upgrading ==

1.16 has several database changes since 1.15, and will not work without schema
updates.

If upgrading from before 1.11, and you are using a wiki as a commons reposito-
ry, make sure that it is updated as well. Otherwise, errors may arise due to
database schema changes.

If upgrading from before 1.7, you may want to run refreshLinks.php to ensure
new database fields are filled with data.

If you are upgrading from MediaWiki 1.4.x or earlier, some major database
changes are made, and there is a slightly higher chance that things could
break. Don't forget to always back up your database before upgrading!

See the file UPGRADE for more detailed upgrade instructions.


=== Caveats ===

Some output, particularly involving user-supplied inline HTML, may not
produce 100% valid or well-formed XHTML output. Testers are welcome to
set $wgMimeType = "application/xhtml+xml"; to test for remaining problem
cases, but this is not recommended on live sites. (This must be set for
MathML to display properly in Mozilla.)

For notes on 1.15.x and older releases, see HISTORY.


=== Online documentation ===

Documentation for both end-users and site administrators is currently being
built up on MediaWiki.org, and is covered under the GNU Free Documentation
License (except for pages that explicitly state that their contents are in
the public domain) :

  http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation


=== Mailing list ===

A MediaWiki-l mailing list has been set up distinct from the Wikipedia
wikitech-l list:

  http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l

A low-traffic announcements-only list is also available:

  http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce

It's highly recommended that you sign up for one of these lists if you're
going to run a public MediaWiki, so you can be notified of security fixes.


=== IRC help ===

There's usually someone online in #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net