MediaWiki 1.17

MediaWiki 1.17 is a very large release that contains many new features and bug fixes. This is a summary of the major changes of interest to users. You can consult the RELEASE-NOTES file for the full list of changes in this version.

PHP 5.2.3
We now require PHP version 5.2.3 or later. Why? Well, it brings with it some tools for your beloved developers. It was released on June 1, 2007, so we believe this requirement will not be a hassle for administrators. Be sure to check your PHP installation and contact your host if it runs an outdated PHP version.

New installer
MediaWiki 1.17 is shipping with a completely redesigned installer to fix a lot of outstanding bugs, clean up the code quality, and make it easier to use. Notably, you can now run upgrades from the web without having to move LocalSettings.php. A couple of other notable changes:
 * The installer can now be fully localized like the rest of the software and contains numerous help dialogs.
 * The installer script directory has been renamed from config/ to mw-config/.
 * You now download your generated LocalSettings.php at install completion, rather than writing it straight to the configuration directory. The previous behavior was a security risk.
 * IBM DB2 and MSSQL support were dropped from the installer.

ResourceLoader
As web browsers have become more capable, the software that MediaWiki runs on them has become more complex. This trend has resulted in developers needing an efficient way to package and deliver code to web browsers. To address this, MediaWiki 1.17 ships with ResourceLoader: a framework which combines and minifies CSS and JavaScript before delivering them to the web browser. ResourceLoader improves performance, while also making it easier to write client-side features. ResourceLoader allows developers to organize scripts, styles, and messages into named modules. Any number of modules can be loaded through a single request, improving page load times. Code is minified automatically and loaded when needed, reducing unnecessary downloads. Other advanced features include the ability to embed images in style sheets using data URIs, or automatically flipping horizontal information in style sheets for right-to-left user interfaces.

Category sorting
Category sorting has been drastically improved.
 * Sorting is now case insensitive.
 * Sub-categories, pages and files can now be paged separately.
 * When several pages are given the same sort key, they sort by their names instead of randomly.

Language support
As with every release, MediaWiki 1.17 brings improved support for languages in MediaWiki, with improved translation and features for the many supported languages.

New languages:
 * Moroccan Spoken Arabic (ary)
 * Banjar (bjn)
 * Kabardian (Cyrillic) (kbd-cyrl)
 * Latgalian (ltg)
 * Minangkabau (min)
 * Dutch (informal) (nl-informal)
 * Rusyn (rue)

API
API bug fixes and new features have been added to 1.17, providing more options for input and output.
 * API output can now be formatted by PHP's var_export (format type is dbg/dbgfm).
 * An API module was added to list page properties.
 * PARAM_REQUIRED can now be used on parameters, to have the API enforce existence before code even reaches the module.
 * The API now has a Really Simple Discovery module, useful for publishing service information by the API.

API breaking changes
The API contains 3 breaking changes against previous releases:
 * action=patrol now requires POST.
 * The patrol token is no longer the same as edit token.
 * Session keys returned by ApiUpload are now strings instead of integers.

Other

 * Interwiki links in articles are now recorded in a separate table.
 * Users can now add CSS and JS to all skins by using User: /common.css and User: /common.js.
 * Oracle Database support has been improved, and is now ready for beta testing. If you work in an environment where Oracle is readily available, and you can't get access to MySQL, this may be a useful alternative for you. Please try it out and let us know if it works for you. Oracle support is not yet recommended for use in production.

Release notes
Complete release notes at Release notes/1.17.