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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 |
vBulletin Connect 5.5.0 is now available to customers. |
vBulletin 5.5.0 Changes and Updates
We're proud to begin the new year with a new version of vBulletin. These changes will apply to both vBulletin Connect and vBulletin Cloud unless otherwise noted.
Typography Changes
We have made several changes to how Typography or Fonts work within vBulletin to resolve several different issues that continually occur over time. These issues include display issues with scaling, the ability to support relative font sizes, and inheritance of font sizes. In order to resolve these issues, we've added two new style variables, changed the body_font style variable and reconfigured how fonts work in our default styles.
As part of this change, we have converted the CSS in vBulletin to use REM units instead of pixel units. REM stands for Root EM. It is a relative unit of measurement and relies on the end-user's browser to make the final determination of font size. REM is Relative to the size of the root element. The root element in vBulletin is the <body> tag. For backwards compatibility we have set this to a value of 10 pixels (62.5% of a browser's default 16 pixel font) so that it equals 10 pixels in most desktop browsers. This allows us to create different font sizes using modifiers to enlarge or shrink based on this starting point. Within the default vBulletin styles 1 REM equals 10 pixels, so 1.3 REM equals 13 pixels.
Why Use REM?
The primary reason is the ease of use when you don't know what type of device is being used to view vBulletin. The software has to work on everything from 4 inch mobile phones to 27 inch monitors. Someone may even use it on their 60 inch television. In addition to this, each browser and operating system can adjust the font size. Most Web Browsers use a 16 pixel font as their baseline. If we set vBulletin to use 1 REM as its baseline, then it will use the same 16 pixel font. If someone changes their baseline font to 24 pixels, vBulletin will automatically adjust when using REMs. It will not if we use pixels. To accommodate multiple display devices and baseline fonts, REM was the best choice.
Other Questions
How does this affect my current style?
It shouldn't change the values on your current style. However, as is the case with all customizations, we suggest you test the changes before going live.
What if I want to continue using pixels?
You still can. Style Variables still support this unit for fonts.
Style Variable Changes
A new style variable group was created for the base font variables. It is called "Global." You can find this at the top of the Style Variable Editor.
root_font_size: This new style variable allows you to set the base font size for the entire site. When using REM units, all other fonts are relative to this value. The default value of 62.5% sets the root font size to roughly 10 pixels when using the default font size set by your Browser.
global_text_font: This style variable is thenew name for the body_font style variable. All content text inherits from this style variable. The default value for this is 1.3 REM. This restores the 13 pixel font size used previously in our themes.
global_header_font: A new style variable used by headers throughout a vBulletin Site. This will allow you to easily use a different Header font in custom styles. The default size is 1.6 REM. This sets a base size of 16 pixels for headers.
For more information:
VBV-18879
VBV-18844
VBV-18867
Style Variable Editor
The Style Variable Editor has been improved with proper phrasing. Each Style Variable should have a proper title and description. The Style Variable Groups have also had their text converted to phrases. These changes will allow for translation and provide more inline help to Administrators.
For more information: VBV-18866 and VBV-7255
Memory Usage
We've refactored how large topics are retrieved from the database. This has allowed us to significantly reduce memory requirements to show large topics. In our testing a 650,000 post topic had its memory requirement reduced from 540 Megabytes to about 70 Megabytes. We will continue to look for further performance enhancements in the software.
For more information: VBV-17204
Other Issues
Resolved an issue with Search that would prevent the proper display of results. VBV-17272
Updated the order and grouping of the AdminCP Navigation. This is to improve the user experience. VBV-18921
Cleaned up the Template Editor in the AdminCP to improve the user experience. VBV-18968
The Database Repair/Optimize tools have been removed from the AdminCP. VBV-18460
You can view all issues here: 5.5.0 Roadmap
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: 7.2 or higher
MySQL Version: 8.0 or higher
MariaDB Version: 10.2+
For more information see vBulletin Connect System Requirements.
More Information
Installation Instructions
Upgrade Instructions
Current Version Support Schedule
Active Version - 5.4.5
Security Patch - 5.4.4
Security Patch - 5.4.3
No Patch Release - 5.4.2 or earlier.
Discussion
If you have any questions about these changes you may discuss them on the primary forums.
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, 15 Jan 2019 22:29:39 GMT |
Introducing PHAR |
PHP contains a feature called PHAR, which stands for **PH**p **AR**chive, that allows developers to package entire directories or applications into a single file. PHAR is similar to a ZIP or TAR file but includes executable PHP. This functionality has been added to the vBulletin Package Manager starting with 5.5.0 A2. In this version, we have added a download option to have the `/core/vb/` directory converted into a PHAR file. This saves three megabytes from the total space needed for files and reduces the file count by several hundred files. If you have problems with SFTP timeouts with uploading files to your hosting provider (i.e. GoDaddy) then choosing this option will allow easier uploads to your server during upgrades.
To choose the option, select "More Download Options" when downloading vBulletin 5.5.0 A2 (or higher). From there you can customize your download package and select Use PHAR as one of those options.
Read more (locally) ...
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 21:56:34 GMT |
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