Release notes/1.2

Not to be confused with MediaWiki 1.20

MediaWiki 1.2 was the second stable release of MediaWiki to be available for public use after MediaWiki 1.1. This version of MediaWiki is and therefore should not be used on a new site. Wikis running MediaWiki 1.2 should upgrade as soon as possible.

This documentation page contains the version history and release notes for each subversion of MediaWiki 1.2, from newest to earliest.

Version 1.2.6, 2004-05-24

 * Spam blocker ( - refuses to save edits that match)
 * Updated documentation about
 * Ensure that searchindex table is created as MyISAM
 * Interwiki cache timeout (memcached)
 * Fix uploads on Windows with magic_quotes_gpc
 * Some config fixes for Windows (slashes etc)
 * Local interwiki URL redirects
 * Fixed obscure deletion problem in squid mode on corrupt entries
 * Language files updated to remove more hard-coded "Wikipedia" strings

Version 1.2.5, 2004-05-03

 * Fixed install problem with blank root password
 * Fixed Special:Emailuser/Username links
 * Fixed main-page edit links on fuzzy search results
 * Fixed wikipedia-interwiki.sql
 * Fixed install with apache2filter (ugly URLs)
 * IP in 'go' search brings up contributions
 * Switch from broken & to ? on top-level wiki URL hack
 * Fix for moved pages in enhanced Recentchanges
 * Initial main page on new installs links to the online documentation

Version 1.2.4, 2004-04-13

 * Fixed edit toolbar in Mozilla
 * Diff links in Contributions for 'top' edits
 * Fixed Nostalgia skin drop-down for register_globals off
 * Backported optional open proxy blocker
 * Backported
 * option to force full case sensitivity in titles
 * Cleaned up error handling when can't talk to database
 * Disabled unsafe command-line installer (remove the  call to use)

Version 1.2.3, 2004-04-02

 * Fixed an in-place install bug with non-root MySQL user
 * Fixed history diff checkboxes bug on titles with ampersands
 * Fixed printable link bug on special pages with parameters
 * Fixed bug that broke IP blocking w/o memcached
 * Turns off E_NOTICE warnings if PHP settings have them on (you can grope in and turn this off if you like to debug)

Version 1.2.2, 2004-03-28

 * Fixed an upgrade bug introduced in 1.2.1.
 * Disabled, which feature is incomplete broken

Version 1.2.1, 2004-03-27
Installation, compatibility, security fixlets:
 * Detect use of PHP as CGI and disable  URLs
 * Try to auto-create math tmp & output directories if not present
 * Disable Asksql in default install
 * Better handling of  (apostrophe problems)
 * French localisation no longer hard-codes "Wikipedia" name

Version 1.2.0, 2004-03-24
This is the new production release; it is more or less in sync with what is running on Wikipedia right now. However this software is provided with NO WARRANTY of fitness for any purpose; there may be some interesting bugs, it may eat all your data, and documentation may not be up to date. New features in 1.2:
 * In-place web-based installation [experimental!] Note that maintenance functions are not yet available through the web install script.
 * Image resizing/thumbnail generation
 * Stricter upload file extension blacklist and whitelist options
 * More flexible blocking system; time period may be set
 * Handier sysop account management. An account marked "bureaucrat" may assign sysop access to other accounts via Special:Makesysop. (The exact details of this may change in the future)
 * Support for a squid cache with explicit purging of cached anon pages
 * Optional compression of old revision text (requires zlib support)
 * Fuzzy title search (experimental, requires memcached)
 * Page rendering cache (experimental)
 * Editing toolbar to demonstrate wiki syntax to newbies (off by default in user preferences)
 * Support for authenticated SMTP outgoing e-mail (experimental)
 * It's now possible to assign sysop accounts from within the wiki. An account with this ability must be labeled with the "bureaucrat" privilege, such as the 'Developer' account created by the install. Fixes and tweaks:
 * Now works with register_globals off!
 * Should work out of the box on MySQL 3.2.x again. On 4.x set  to turn on the link cache table for a slight rendering speed boost.
 * Should work on PHP 5.0 beta (not thoroughly tested)
 * Works with short tags disabled.
 * rebuildMessages.php can now selectively update new messages, or overwrite everything.
 * Some layout fixes for RTL languages.
 * Now includes arrow icons for enhanced recent changes.
 * Various bug fixes.

Behavior changes

 * wiki.phtml and redirect.phtml are now renamed to index.php and redirect.php The old names are provided too for compatibility, but make sure they don't conflict if you've been putting other files in your wiki.
 * Uploaded filenames are more strictly checked than before. See bits in DefaultSettings.php to tweak this behavior to your needs.
 * Database messages are now enabled by default, so the interface messages can be tweaked through the wiki with a sysop account. Disable this if you don't want the performance hit.

Database changes
An index was added to recentchanges table to speed up Newpages (patch-rc-newindex.sql for manual updaters). Expiration date field has been added to ipblocks table ( for manual updaters). The links tables have slightly stricter indexes. ('links' and 'brokenlinks' are not changed on existing installations.)

Known problems
The version 1.1.0 LocalSettings.sample file included the setting  this setting is for an experimental feature that _does not work correctly_. If you have it left over, turn it off or you'll see mysterious problems with vanishing links. There may be problems with session handling on some systems. Checking the "remember my password" box may help as a temporary workaround. If you receive "Cannot load input file" errors when trying to get at the wiki after installation, make the following changes: in LocalSettings.php change the line something like this: = "/wiki/index.php/$1"; to: = "/wiki/index.php?title=$1"; in index.php, remove these lines: if( isset( $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] ) ) { $title = substr( $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], 1 ); } else { $title = $_REQUEST['title']; }