Hi,
The latest technical newsletter is now available at <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2018/51>gt;.
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>gt;.
More information on how to contribute is available at <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News#contribute>gt;. You can also contact
Johan or I directly.
As always, feedback (on- or off-list) is appreciated and encouraged.
———————————————————————————
Other languages: Deutsch
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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/2018/51> are
available.
*Tech News*
- Because of the holidays
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Christmas_and_holiday_season> the next
issue of Tech News will be sent out on 7 January 2019.
*Recent changes*
- Some templates that show notices about the content of the page will
now be shown on the mobile website. In many cases they were hidden before.
[1]
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/Projects/Mobile_Page_Issues>
[2] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T210553>
- Admins can no longer unblock themselves, except for self-blocks. A
blocked admin can block the user who blocked them but no one else. This is
so no one can block all admins on a wiki without being stopped. [3]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T150826>
- [image: Advanced item] The ParserMigration extension
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:ParserMigration>
has been removed. It compared the result of two versions of the MediaWiki
wikitext parsing pipeline. It was used when we moved to the Remex
parsing library
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/RemexHtml> instead of
Tidy <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsing/Replacing_Tidy>.
*Problems*
- <ref> tags can use parameters such as "name" or "group".
For example <ref
name="adams" group="books">. If a <ref> tag has more than
two parameters
all parameters are ignored. You don't get a warning that they don't work.
This will soon be fixed. [4] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T211576>
*Changes later this week*
- [image: Recurrent item] The new version
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.33/wmf.9> of MediaWiki will
be on test wikis and
MediaWiki.org from 18 December. It will be on
non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 19 December. It will be on all
wikis from 20 December (calendar
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.33/Roadmap>).
*Meetings*
- [image: Recurrent item] [image: Advanced item] You can join the
technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers
can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 19 December at 16:00 (UTC)
<https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20181219T16>.
See how to join
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_Advice_IRC_Meeting>.
*Future changes*
- The Wikimedia Foundation Android app team
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Apps> are
working on making it easier to edit on mobile phones. You can read more
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Android_editing_features> about these
plans. If you have an Android phone and speak at least two languages you
can help testing in English. Tell Dchen (WMF)
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Dchen_(WMF)> you want to be part
of the testing by writing on her talk page or email her.
- [image: Advanced item]
tiles.wmflabs.org and
wma.wmflabs.org will stop
working. They have no maintainers and run an old operating system. Tools
which use it could stop working. This includes the mapnik gadget
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Mapnik>, hill shading, and hike and
bike layers. New maintainers could help out and keep it going. [5]
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2018-December/091216.html>
*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>
•
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--
Nick Wilson (Quiddity)
Wikimedia Foundation