Mediawiki v1.8 Release Notes

  • 🔧 Several configuration options have changed since 1.8:

    === $wgEnableAPI ===

    0️⃣ The experimental machine API interface is now enabled by default, read-only. You can disable it by setting $wgEnableAPI = false; in LocalSettings.php.

    === $wgPathInfo ===

    The use of PATH_INFO (the text after the script name in 'index.php/Blah') is controlled by the $wgUsePathInfo setting. This is now explicitly disabled 🔧 for CGI, apache2filter, and ISAPI configurations of PHP, for more consistency with the autodetection from the installer.

    🔧 In some rarer configurations you may have to switch $wgUsePathInfo from false to true or, perhaps, from true to false to make things work properly if bad PATH_INFO data comes through the server.

    The wiki now tries to detect this condition and should show you an error 💻 message describing what to change instead of sending the browser into an infinite redirect loop.

    === $wgScript and other path settings ===

    🔧 The following configuration variables are now automatically set in Setup.php if they are not overridden in LocalSettings.php:

    from $wgScriptPath:

    • $wgScript | - $wgArticlePath
    • $wgRedirectScript
    • $wgStylePath
    • $wgUploadPath - $wgLogo
      • $wgMathPath

    from $IP:

    • $wgStyleDirectory
    • $wgUploadDirectory - $wgMathDirectory
      • $wgTmpDirectory

    🆕 Newly generated configuration files will by default include only $wgScriptPath (hardcoded from the installer) and $IP (detected at runtime).

    🔧 Old configuration files which specify all these values explicitly should 🚚 continue to work just fine, but if you use the defaults you can remove them to reduce clutter.

    === $wgGroupPermissions ===

    The sysop group now holds the "autopatrol" and "ipblock-exempt" rights by 0️⃣ default.

    "autopatrol" replaces the preference for marking ones own edits patrolled 0️⃣ by default; users holding this permission will automatically have their edits patrolled, while others cannot mark their own edits as patrolled even if they have patrolling rights.

    "ipblock-exempt" excludes the user from IP blocks; accounts which are blocked explicitly by name will still be blocked, however. This is given to sysops to minimize annoyance from accidental "collateral damage"; remember that a sysop will be able to lift the block if they desire.

    The bot group now holds the "nominornewtalk" right. A user with this right will not trigger new message notifications when making minor edits to user 🚧 talk pages. This is meant to minimize annoyance from maintenance bot 🖨 processes.

    === $wgUseWatchlistCache ===

    🚚 Watchlist caching has been removed. The feature was not maintained, and has been unnecessary since switching to the 'recentchanges' database table ⬇️ reduced server pressure for Wikipedia's watchlists.

    === $wgBreakFrames ===

    MediaWiki in the past attempted to detect when it was embedded in a frameset and "break out" of it, assuming it to be hostile.

    0️⃣ This behavior is now disabled by default, but can be reenabled by setting $wgBreakFrames to true in LocalSettings.php.