User:Iritscen/WikiFuture

Below are any notable changes that we should look forward to, or watch out for, if upgrading MediaWiki (besides various security fixes). Source: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Release_notes

Oldest LTS version of MediaWiki: 1.31 (supported through June 2021). Source: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle

Current version on OniGalore: 1.39.6

You can browse each version of the MW code here: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/source/mediawiki/branches/master/

1.29

These are the changes for future versions of 1.29 after 1.29.0. I have checked the release notes through 1.29.3.

• (1.29.1) Vector (the extension) was accidentally included in the 1.29.0 release, but is not bundled from 1.29.1 onward. Since the extension is supposed to have been folded into the skin, I don't think this will affect us, but I'm leaving a note here as a reminder just in case something breaks when we update past 1.29.0.
• (1.29.2) The CLI installer (maintenance/install.php) learned to detect and include extensions. Pass --with-extensions to enable that feature.
• (1.29.2) Add default edit rate limit of 90 edits/minute for all users.
• (1.29.2) Add 'logid' parameter to Special:Log.

1.30

I have checked the release notes through 1.30.2.

• Browsers that don't support Unicode will have their edits rejected.
• Removed 'jquery.mwExtension' module.
• mw.user.bucket (deprecated in 1.23) was removed.
• Added ability for users to prohibit other users from sending them emails with Special:Emailuser. Can be enabled by setting $wgEnableUserEmailBlacklist to true.
• Edit summaries, block reasons, and other "comments" are now stored in a separate database table.
• Added JS config values wgDiffOldId/wgDiffNewId to the output of diff pages.
• Added ability to search for contributions within an IP range at Special:Contributions.
• $wgOOUIEditPage was removed, as it is now the default. This was an opt-out variable for the new, "pretty" buttons and checkboxes at the bottom of the edit form, not anything to do with the toolbar.

1.31

I have checked the release notes through 1.31.7.

• Note: If you're using MySQL, SQLite, or MSSQL, are not using update.php to apply schema changes, and cannot have downtime to run migrateArchiveText.php and apply patch-drop-ar_text.sql manually, you'll have to apply a default value to the ar_text and ar_flags columns of the archive table or make those columns nullable before upgrading to MediaWiki 1.31. maintenance/archives/patch-nullable-ar_text.sql shows how to do this for MySQL.
• Update required PHP version to 7.0.13.
• Automatic trimming of unnecessary whitespace from wikitext.
• Methods that alter ParserOutput directly are deprecated. Callers should use the new stateless $options parameter to ParserOutput::getText() instead.
• The global function wfOutputHandler() was removed; use its replacement MediaWiki\OutputHandler::handle() instead.
• The following variables and methods in EditPage, deprecated in MediaWiki 1.30, were removed: $isCssJsSubpage, $isCssSubpage, $isJsSubpage, $isWrongCaseCssJsPage.
• The mw.page JavaScript singleton, deprecated in 1.30, was removed.
• Added support for .json user subpages in addition to .css and .js, intended for saving configuration options.
• The 'comma' value for $wgArticleCountMethod is no longer supported for performance reasons, and installations with this setting will now work as if it was configured with 'any'. Note that we are currently using the 'comma' option, but it appears that 'any' will return the same result, as it counts all pages that are not redirects.
• Added default edit rate limit of 90 edits/minute for all users.
• Make $wgEmailConfirmToEdit only affect edit actions.
• Various PHP 7.2 and 7.3 compatibility fixes.
• Completion search no longer changes the search query.
• Rate-limit and prevent blocked users from changing email.
• Cache redirects from Special:Redirect.
• Add the MW_VERSION constant; global $wgVersion is soft deprecated.

Upcoming

• Warning: MW developers are currently planning to remove support for the 2006 editing toolbar soon. This is the one we're currently using! This change will break XEB, and the editing UX doesn't get any better with the 2010 toolbar (it gets even worse with the 2017 wikitext beta...), so we need to think carefully before upgrading. The classic 2006 toolbar may become available as a third-party gadget, but will it be customizable or would we have to rewrite our own toolbar from scratch?