Hi,

The latest technical newsletter is now available at < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2017/18%3E. Below is the English version.

You can help write the next newsletter: whenever you see information about Wikimedia technology that you think should be distributed more broadly, you can add it to the next newsletter at < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/Next%3E.

More information on how to contribute is available at < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News#contribute%3E. You can also contact me directly.

As always, feedback (on- or off-list) is appreciated and encouraged.

———————————————————————————

Other languages: العربية https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/ar • ‎bosanski https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/bs • ‎čeština https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/cs • ‎Deutsch https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/de • ‎English • ‎ español https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/es • ‎فارسی https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/fa • ‎suomi https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/fi • ‎français https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/fr • ‎עברית https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/he • ‎italiano https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/it • ‎日本語 https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/ja • ‎polski https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/pl • ‎português do Brasil https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/pt-br • ‎ русский https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/ru • ‎svenska https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/sv • ‎українська https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/uk • ‎中文 https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/2017/18/zh

Latest *tech news https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News* from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2017/18 are available.

*Recent changes*

- The content translation tool https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Content_translation works again. It was turned off because of a database problem. [1] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T163344 - [image: Octicons-tools.svg] Scripts using very old deprecated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Deprecation#Software_deprecation wikibits functions show errors. These functions have not worked since 2013. You should fix or disable broken scripts. You can see examples of how to upgrade scripts https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/ResourceLoader/Legacy_JavaScript#wikibits.js. This is the same thing as Tech News wrote about in issue 2017/16 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2017/16. You need to add https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/ResourceLoader/Developing_with_ResourceLoader#Client-side_.28dynamically.29 mw.loader.using( 'mediawiki.util' ) block for your scripts also, or add mediawiki.util dependency in gadget ResourceLoader section in MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition. [2] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2017-April/087965.html [3] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T122755

*Problems*

- Because of a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for 20 to 30 minutes on 3 May. This will start at 14:00 (UTC) http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=14&min=00&sec=0&day=03&month=05&year=2017. You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. You can read more about this https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/Server_switch_2017 .

*Changes this week*

- There is no new MediaWiki version this week. This is because of the data centre test.

*Meetings*

- [image: Octicons-sync.svg] You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 2 May at 19:00 (UTC) http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=19&min=00&sec=0&day=02&month=05&year=2017. See how to join https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor/Weekly_triage_meetings.

*Future changes*

- All Wikimedia wikis will have cookie blocks from May 8. This is an extension to the autoblock system so when a user is blocked, the next time they visit the wiki a cookie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:HTTP_cookie will be set. This means that even if the user switches accounts and to a new IP address https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:IP_address the cookie will block them again. [4] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T5233 - The Publish changes, Show preview and Show changes buttons will look slightly different. This is to fit with the OOUI https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/OOjs_UI look. Users can test scripts, gadgets and so on to see if they work with the new interface by adding &ooui=1 to the URL. [5] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T162849

*Tech news https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News prepared by Tech News writers https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers and posted by bot https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_delivery • Contribute https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News#contribute • Translate https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2017/18 • Get help https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech • Give feedback https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/News • Subscribe or unsubscribe https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tech_ambassadors.*