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vBulletin 5.5.2 Alpha 4 is now available for download. |
<h1>vBulletin 5.5.2 Changes and Updates</h1>
vBulletin 5.5.2 Alpha 4 is now available for testing by licensed download customers. We do not recommend using pre-release versions of the software in a production environment.
Front End Changes
Groups
We have made a number of changes to the functionality of Groups. Many of these changes are centered around the display of Groups in order to bring more attention to the functionality. The display of Groups has been updated to support a grid-based card layout in addition to the current List layout. The new layout should encourage users to create their own groups and augment the content on your site.
Additional functionality changes include:
My Groups shows all groups where you are a member. Not just groups that you own.
Group Descriptions can now contain BBCode.
Group Images that are smaller than 200 X 200 pixels will be enhanced with an automated background color.
Related Issues: VBV-12379, VBV-19209, VBV-8135, VBV-19298, VBV-19303, VBV-19297, VBV-19278, VBV-12951
Accessibility
We've restored functionality for using the outline property on links and have applied CSS so that it better matches your style. This property highlights the focus of the currently selected element, primarily links. Originally, this was removed from many elements due to aesthetic reasons. That decision created issues when navigating using the keyboard and has been reversed. Removing the outline of links causes problems for individuals with vision problems. When using tab key to move from element to element on a page they will be properly highlighted with a dotted outline.
You can override this with custom CSS using the outline property.
Related Issue: VBV-19119
Channel Performance
Changes have been made to how a list of topics is retrieved within a channel. These changes should provide performance benefits in channels with a large number of topics. In addition to this, the node count of channels should be more accurate overall.
If you experience any performance issues due to this change let us know as soon as possible.
Related Issues: VBV-19175, VBV-19195, VBV-19210
Permissions - Viewable on Member's List
This permission has been restored and is now functional. When setting this permission to No for a usergroup, those users will not be listed within the Member's List module. We have set the default values for this permission to Yes on various usergroups. This was done to provide functionality similar to vBulletin 4.2.5. Please review your permissions to make sure this value is set correctly for your site.
Related Issue: VBV-10641
Miscellaneous Changes
VBV-19197 - Do not parse smilies within the [attach] bbcode.
VBV-13796 - Photo gallery page is missing breadcrumbs.
Back End / AdminCP Changes
Authorize.net Hashing Updated
Due to changes in API processing from Authorize.net, the system will generate SHA256 hashes for communication. These new hashes will be required after you upgrade to vBulletin 5.5.2. If you use Authorize.net, you will need to generate a signature key for your Authorize.Net merchant account and update your Authorize.Net payment settings in the Admin CP.
Note: These changes require that the hash library is enabled in PHP. When enabled you can see this library listed in your View PHP Info output within the AdminCP under Maintenance.
Related Issue: VBV-19100
CSS File Output
When using "Store CSS and SVG as files" (recommended), the system will only write the files for Styles marked as active in the AdminCP. A style is considered active if it is assigned to a Channel within the Channel Manager or the Style is checked within the Style Manager. This provides a performance improvement when rebuilding styles during installs and upgrades or choosing to rebuild styles from the AdminCP or tools.php file. It will also provide a minor benefit in the space needed to store vBulletin's files.
This change also applies to the install and upgrade scripts. This should improve upgrade times and reduce server timeouts if you are using a provider such as GoDaddy.
If a non-active style is used by clicking on its title in the Style Manager, the system will revert to retrieving the information from the database for that style.
Related Issue: VBV-19274
Rebuilding the Search Index
In some cases, the Search Indexing tool would fail. This would prevent content created before upgrading to vBulletin 5 from being indexed. In order to resolve this issue, the tools to rebuild your search index after migrations or upgrades have been refactored. In addition to resolving this issue these tools are now able to index sites faster than before.
Related Issues: VBV-14529, VBV-13834
AdminCP Indexing Changes
While reindexing within the AdminCP, vBulletin will attempt to increase the PHP memory limit to 256M. Provided that is permitted by the server configuration.
The "start nodeid" now does what it says. If provided we start the index at that node id. Previously it was an offset into the node list. Mostly it's useful because you can restart the index by giving it the "last node updated" value that is now displayed when a batch finishes.
The Default batch size at 250. This can be increase to provide more efficient reindexing. However larger batches will require more memory and are more likely to time out. We recommend using Command Line Indexing and/or Sphinx Search on larger sites.
Command Line Indexing
Using the command line indexing tool (/do_not_upload/searchindex.php) can provide a more efficient reindexing experience due to removing the overhead of a web interface.
This tool now supports command line parameters.
Example:
$ php searchindex.php [--batch=5000] [--memory=700M] [--startnode=600]
batch: The number of nodes that are processed per batch.
memory: Will attempt to increase the memory allocated to PHP. This value follows the rules for PHP config either number of bytes or you can use K, M or G as a shorthand.
startnode: This tells the script which node to start the indexing process at. The startnode parameter is primarily used for restarting a process that failed at some point. The script's output will now give you the "last processed node" for reference.
Additional Changes
VBV-9482 - Paid Subscriptions - Hard coded currency needs to change
VBV-19206 - Create 32-bit API Key on generation.
VBV-19217 - Prevent ClickJacking.
Additional Information
Install / Upgrade
Installation Instructions
Upgrade Instructions
File Cleanup
After upgrading your vBulletin system, you should delete any possible obsolete files. You can obtain more information on why this is needed and instructions on how to do this in this topic in the vBulletin 5 Installs & Upgrades forum.
System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements
PHP Version: 7.1.0
MySQL Version: 5.6.10
MariaDB Version: 10.0.0
Recommended System Requirements
PHP Version: 7.3 or higher
MySQL Version: 8.0 or higher
MariaDB Version: 10.3+
For more information see vBulletin Connect System Requirements.
MySQL Deprecation
Versions of MySQL older than 5.6.10 and MariaDB older than 10.0.0 are now deprecated. Older versions of these database servers are no longer supported by their developers. While vBulletin will remain functional using these older versions for the time being, support for them may be dropped in the future without further notice. Please make plans to upgrade to a non-deprecated version. vBulletin System Requirements have been updated to reflect this.
Current Version Support Schedule
Active Version - 5.5.1
Security Patch - 5.5.0
Security Patch - 5.4.5
No Patch Release - 5.4.4 or earlier.
Discussion
If you have any questions about these changes you may discuss them here: https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/node/4413190
If you find an issue with the software or wish to place a feature request please visit our tracker.
In order to receive support for your vBulletin Product please visit our community forums.
Read more (locally) ...
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 21:11:22 GMT |
vBulletin 5.5.1 is now available for Download. |
vBulletin 5.5.1 Changes and Updates
vBulletin 5.5.1 is now available for testing by licensed download customers.
Front End Changes
Responsive Editor Toolbar
The editor tool bar will automatically collapse and show the most used functionality based on your screen size. This change will allow more space to create posts and topics on devices with smaller screens. The hidden tools are still available by tapping on the ellipsis (…) at the end of the menu.
Related Issues: VBV-18981, VBV-19101
Photo Gallery Layout
Photo Gallery content has been updated to use Flexbox CSS. This allows your device to format rows of images for a better presentation. This change allows your Photo Galleries to respond to your settings better. Instead of changing CSS to change the size of your thumbnails, you can simply change the thumbnail size and rebuild them. The benefit to your users is to be able to present Photo Gallery and Album content using larger images in the initial display.
Related Issue: VBV-17720
Font Handling
Building on changes to font handling in the previous release (vBulletin 5.5.0), we have made further changes to support better customization.
Line Height is now specified within Font style variables for easier maintenance.
More areas of the site now work better with larger fonts (20 pixels and higher).
When editing a font style variable, you can also specify the line height value for better layout and typography.
Related Issues: VBV-13877, VBV-19058, VBV-19060, VBV-19109, VBV-18953
Miscellaneous
VBV-18024: Add Template Hook for Categories in display_Forums_list
VBV-18874: Add unread class to unread topic
VBV-8965: Moderators lack the ability to view (frontend) user profiles under specific conditions
VBV-18899: List and indent editor button images not displayed when editing a post in RTL
Back End / AdminCP Changes
Performance
Node Table
An index has been added to the node table. This index will increase performance when retrieving content after a new post has been created. Due to changing the node table, this change can take a significant amount of time on larger sites during the upgrade process.
Related Issue: VBV-19073
Upgrading
The upgrade scripts have been optimized to improve the performance of upgrading from vBulletin 3 and vBulletin 4.
Relate Issues: VBV-19141, VBV-19140, VBV-19122, VBV-19097, VBV-19095
IP Address Search
The functionality to search IP Addresses by User Name or IP Address has been returned to the AdminCP. This includes finding users and posts by IP Address.
To access this functionality in the AdminCP go to Users -> Search IP Addresses
Related Issues: VBV-11918, VBV-19088, VBV-18689, VBV-1312, VBV-14221, VBV-13185
Search Indexing
When indexing posts, the system will index words containing hyphens now. Previously if a word contained a hyphen it was broken into two words and each indexed separately. If one word was below the minimum character threshold, it was discarded. This made searching more difficult on some sites. Now the system will index each word segment along with the original hyphenated word.
Examples:
Previous versions: alpha-beta was indexed as two words alpha and beta.
vBulletin 5.5.1: alpha-beta will be indexed as three words alpha, beta, and alpha-beta.
Previous versions: z-wave was indexed as wave. The z will be discarded because it is less than 4 characters.
vBulletin 5.5.1: z-wave will be indexed as wave, z-wave.
In order to take advantage of this change, you will need to reindex your search engine in the AdminCP, using the PHP commandline script provided or within Sphinx. This will depend on your configuration.
Related Issue: VBV-12167
Daily & Weekly Email Digests
This functionality has been refactored for better reliability. The Scheduled Task for this fuctionality will work automatically now. We've also added the display of Topic Prefixes to the outgoing emails.
Related Issues: VBV-9476, VBV-13074, VBV-19134
XML Site Map
Updated the generation routines of the XML Site Map Generator to better account for recent changes to the vBulletin Routing API. This includes properly routing sub-content from a new home page and supporting the route by node functionality. A number of pages that shouldn't be indexed or viewable by guests have been removed from the generated files.
Related Issuses: VBV-19154, VBV-19009, VBV-18319
Scheduled Tasks
Some minor changes have been made to the scheduled task system in order to aid in troubleshooting issues.
Allow vbcron.php to run specified crons
Log exceptions in the digest crons
All Resolved Issues can be found in Bug Genie's Roadmap.
Additional Information
Install / Upgrade
Installation Instructions
Upgrade Instructions
File Cleanup
After upgrading your vBulletin system, you should delete any possible obsolete files. You can obtain more information on why this is needed and instructions on how to do this in this topic in the vBulletin 5 Installs & Upgrades forum.
System Requirements
MySQL Deprecation
Versions of MySQL older than 5.6.10 and MariaDB older than 10.0.0 are now deprecated. Older versions of these database servers are no longer supported by their developers. While vBulletin will remain functional using these older versions for the time being, support for them may be dropped in the future without further notice. Please make plans to upgrade to a non-deprecated version. vBulletin System Requirements have been updated to reflect this.
Minimum System Requirements
PHP Version: 7.1.0
MySQL Version: 5.6.10MariaDB Version (alternative to MySQL): 10.0.0
Recommended System Requirements
PHP Version: 7.3.0 or higher
MySQL Version: 8.0 or higherMariaDB Version (alternative to MySQL): 10.3+
For more information see vBulletin Connect System Requirements.
Current Version Support Schedule
Active Version - 5.5.1
Security Patch - 5.5.0
Security Patch - 5.4.5
No Patch Release - 5.4.4 or earlier.
Discussion
If you have any questions about these changes you may discuss them here: https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/node/4409010
If you find an issue with the software or wish to place a feature request please visit our tracker.
In order to receive support for your vBulletin Product please visit our community forums.
Read more (locally) ...
Tue, 12 Mar 2019 23:10:35 GMT |
MySQL 5.5.X and MariaDB 5.X Deprecation. |
Versions of MySQL older than 5.6.10 and MariaDB older than 10.0.0 are now deprecated. Older versions of these database servers are no longer supported supported by their developers. While vBulletin will remain functional using these older versions for the time being, support for them may be dropped in the future without further notice. Please make plans to upgrade to a non-deprecated version. vBulletin System Requirements have been updated to reflect this.
Read more (locally) ...
Tue, 12 Mar 2019 17:28:06 GMT |
vBulletin 5.5.1 Alpha 4 is now available for Download. |
vBulletin 5.5.1 Changes and Updates
vBulletin 5.5.1 is now available for testing by licensed download customers. We do not recommend using pre-release versions of the software in a production environment.
Front End Changes
Responsive Editor Toolbar
The editor tool bar will automatically collapse and show the most used functionality based on your screen size. This change will allow more space to create posts and topics on devices with smaller screens. The hidden tools are still available by tapping on the ellipsis (…) at the end of the menu.
Related Issues: VBV-18981, VBV-19101
Photo Gallery Layout
Photo Gallery content has been updated to use Flexbox CSS. This allows your device to format rows of images for a better presentation. This change allows your Photo Galleries to respond to your settings better. Instead of changing CSS to change the size of your thumbnails, you can simply change the thumbnail size and rebuild them. The benefit to your users is to be able to present Photo Gallery and Album content using larger images in the initial display.
Related Issue: VBV-17720
Font Handling
Building on changes to font handling in the previous release (vBulletin 5.5.0), we have made further changes to support better customization.
Line Height is now specified within Font style variables for easier maintenance.
More areas of the site now work better with larger fonts (20 pixels and higher).
When editing a font style variable, you can also specify the line height value for better layout and typography.
Related Issues: VBV-13877, VBV-19058, VBV-19060, VBV-19109, VBV-18953
Miscellaneous
VBV-18024: Add Template Hook for Categories in display_Forums_list
VBV-18874: Add unread class to unread topic
VBV-8965: Moderators lack the ability to view (frontend) user profiles under specific conditions
VBV-18899: List and indent editor button images not displayed when editing a post in RTL
Back End / AdminCP Changes
Performance
Node Table
An index has been added to the node table. This index will increase performance when retrieving content after a new post has been created. Due to changing the node table, this change can take a significant amount of time on larger sites during the upgrade process.
Related Issue: VBV-19073
Upgrading
The upgrade scripts have been optimized to improve the performance of upgrading from vBulletin 3 and vBulletin 4.
Relate Issues: VBV-19141, VBV-19140, VBV-19122, VBV-19097, VBV-19095
IP Address Search
The functionality to search IP Addresses by User Name or IP Address has been returned to the AdminCP. This includes finding users and posts by IP Address.
To access this functionality in the AdminCP go to Users -> Search IP Addresses
Related Issues: VBV-11918, VBV-19088, VBV-18689, VBV-1312, VBV-14221, VBV-13185
Search Indexing
When indexing posts, the system will index words containing hyphens now. Previously if a word contained a hyphen it was broken into two words and each indexed separately. If one word was below the minimum character threshold, it was discarded. This made searching more difficult on some sites. Now the system will index each word segment along with the original hyphenated word.
Examples:
Previous versions: alpha-beta was indexed as two words alpha and beta.
vBulletin 5.5.1: alpha-beta will be indexed as three words alpha, beta, and alpha-beta.
Previous versions: z-wave was indexed as wave. The z will be discarded because it is less than 4 characters.
vBulletin 5.5.1: z-wave will be indexed as wave, z-wave.
In order to take advantage of this change, you will need to reindex your search engine in the AdminCP, using the PHP commandline script provided or within Sphinx. This will depend on your configuration.
Related Issue: VBV-12167
Daily & Weekly Email Digests
This functionality has been refactored for better reliability. The Scheduled Task for this fuctionality will work automatically now. We've also added the display of Topic Prefixes to the outgoing emails.
Related Issues: VBV-9476, VBV-13074, VBV-19134
XML Site Map
Updated the generation routines of the XML Site Map Generator to better account for recent changes to the vBulletin Routing API. This includes properly routing sub-content from a new home page and supporting the route by node functionality. A number of pages that shouldn't be indexed or viewable by guests have been removed from the generated files.
Related Issuses: VBV-19154, VBV-19009, VBV-18319
Scheduled Tasks
Some minor changes have been made to the scheduled task system in order to aid in troubleshooting issues.
Allow vbcron.php to run specified crons
Log exceptions in the digest crons
All Resolved Issues can be found in Bug Genie's Roadmap.
Additional Information
Install / Upgrade
Installation Instructions
Upgrade Instructions
File Cleanup
After upgrading your vBulletin system, you should delete any possible obsolete files. You can obtain more information on why this is needed and instructions on how to do this in this topic in the vBulletin 5 Installs & Upgrades forum.
System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements
PHP Version: 7.1.0
MySQL Version: 5.5.8
MariaDB Version: 5.5.8
Recommended System Requirements
PHP Version: 7.3 or higher
MySQL Version: 8.0 or higher
MariaDB Version: 10.3+
For more information see vBulletin Connect System Requirements.
Current Version Support Schedule
Active Version - 5.5.0
Security Patch - 5.4.5
Security Patch - 5.4.4
No Patch Release - 5.4.3 or earlier.
Discussion
If you have any questions about these changes you may discuss them here: 4409010
If you find an issue with the software or wish to place a feature request please visit our tracker.
In order to receive support for your vBulletin Product please visit our community forums.
Read more (locally) ...
Wed, 20 Feb 2019 19:55:29 GMT |
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