NetHackWiki:Software updates/2026 MediaWiki 1.43 - Revision history

Dtype: Post-cutover: AbuseLog recovered, legacy URL forms fixed, search index rebuilt

2026-07-25T21:02:17Z

Post-cutover: AbuseLog recovered, legacy URL forms fixed, search index rebuilt

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:02, 25 July 2026
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	All '''10 filters survived intact''', including their hit counts and the full log history (1,642 entries). Six are enabled, as before. AbuseFilter is now part of MediaWiki rather than a separate install, so [[Special:AbuseFilter]] has a newer interface.		All '''10 filters survived intact''', including their hit counts and the full log history (1,642 entries). Six are enabled, as before. AbuseFilter is now part of MediaWiki rather than a separate install, so [[Special:AbuseFilter]] has a newer interface.

			The log itself briefly broke — see [[#Fixed after cutover]] — and was restored from the pre-upgrade backup. If you spot an abuse log entry attributed to the wrong filter, please say so.

	'''One permission was renamed upstream''' and has been updated in our configuration:		'''One permission was renamed upstream''' and has been updated in our configuration:
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	If your preference names a skin MediaWiki removed years ago (<code>simple</code>, <code>standard</code>, <code>myskin</code>) you have silently been seeing the default all along, and will continue to.		If your preference names a skin MediaWiki removed years ago (<code>simple</code>, <code>standard</code>, <code>myskin</code>) you have silently been seeing the default all along, and will continue to.

	=== ~~Still outstanding~~ ===		=== Fixed after cutover ===

			Two faults appeared once the site was live and have been dealt with:

			* '''[[Special:AbuseLog]] was returning an error on every page.''' MediaWiki replaced the column linking a log entry to its filter, and the upgrade dropped the old one without filling in the new one — so every entry pointed at a filter that did not exist. All '''1,642 log entries were recovered''' from the pre-upgrade backup and now link to the right filter again. Each filter's entry count was checked against the hit counter stored on the filter itself, and they match exactly.
			* '''Old-style <code>/mediawiki/…</code> and <code>/w/…</code> links.''' These are legacy URL forms still used by external sites. Page links kept working but images and API calls under those prefixes broke. Fixed.

	* '''~~Search~~ index.''' ~~The full-text~~ search ~~index~~ is ~~being rebuilt. Search results may be slightly incomplete until it finishes~~.		The '''full-text search index''' has been rebuilt (38,521 pages), so search is complete and current.

	== What's new from MediaWiki itself ==		== What's new from MediaWiki itself ==

Dtype: Correct three claims: Special:Mute is not available here, watchlist expiry is off by default

2026-07-25T20:55:16Z

Correct three claims: Special:Mute is not available here, watchlist expiry is off by default

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:55, 25 July 2026
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	=== Watching and talk pages ===		=== Watching and talk pages ===

	* '''Watchlist entries can expire.''' Watch a page for a week or a month instead of forever.
	* '''[[Special:NewSection]]''' — a shortcut to starting a new talk section.		* '''[[Special:NewSection]]''' — a shortcut to starting a new talk section.
	* '''[[Special:TalkPage]]''' — jumps to the talk page of whatever you give it.		* '''[[Special:TalkPage]]''' — jumps to the talk page of whatever you give it.
	* '''Deleting a page can now delete its talk page at the same time''', instead of leaving orphans.		* '''Deleting a page can now delete its talk page at the same time''', instead of leaving orphans.
	* '''~~[[Special:Mute]]~~''' — ~~block email from~~ a ~~specific user without involving an admin~~.
			MediaWiki 1.43 also supports '''expiring watchlist entries''' — watching a page for a week or a month rather than forever. It is switched off by default and is not enabled here yet; say so on the talk page if you would find it useful.

	=== Finding things ===		=== Finding things ===

	* '''[[Special:Preferences\|Preferences]] now has a search box.''' There are several hundred settings; this is a bigger improvement than it sounds.		* '''[[Special:RandomPage]] accepts several namespaces at once''', comma-separated — for example <code>Special:RandomPage/0,100</code> for a random article or <code>Source:</code> page.
	* '''[[Special:RandomPage]] accepts several namespaces at once''', comma-separated — for example a random ~~page from either the main~~ or <code>Source:</code> ~~namespace~~.
	* '''[[Special:NamespaceInfo]]''' — a listing of every namespace and its settings.		* '''[[Special:NamespaceInfo]]''' — a listing of every namespace and its settings.
	* ~~Search results can show~~ '''~~thumbnails~~''' ~~for pages outside the File namespace~~.		* '''[[Special:Preferences\|Preferences]]''' has been reorganised and is easier to search through.

	=== Files ===		=== Files ===

Dtype: Post-upgrade changelog: MediaWiki 1.32 to 1.43.9, local extension ports, admin notes

2026-07-25T20:53:35Z

Post-upgrade changelog: MediaWiki 1.32 to 1.43.9, local extension ports, admin notes

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:53, 25 July 2026
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	=== Smaller fixes ===		=== Smaller fixes ===

			* '''PDF previews work for the first time since 2010.''' The five uploaded PDFs — the reference cards, keyboard command list, armor and scroll tables — only ever showed a generic file icon. This turned out to be two faults stacked on top of each other: the software that renders a PDF page to an image was never installed, and because a second missing tool meant the page dimensions were never recorded at upload time, MediaWiki believed the files were 0×0 pixels and would not have thumbnailed them anyway. Both fixed; all five now show a preview.
	* '''[[Special:CategoryTree]]''' was showing a raw internal message name and a spurious "Category not found" error. Both gone.		* '''[[Special:CategoryTree]]''' was showing a raw internal message name and a spurious "Category not found" error. Both gone.
	* '''Account-creation questions.''' The anti-spam captcha had been reduced to a single fixed question, which stops a bot exactly once. It is back to a rotating set of 25.		* '''Account-creation questions.''' The anti-spam captcha had been reduced to a single fixed question, which stops a bot exactly once. It is back to a rotating set of 25.
			* '''Uploads''' were tested end to end after the upgrade — storage, attribution, thumbnail generation and the upload log all behave correctly.

	== Under the hood, for editors ==		== Under the hood, for editors ==
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	=== Still outstanding ===		=== Still outstanding ===

	* '''PDF previews.''' The five uploaded PDFs have had no thumbnail since 2010 because the necessary rendering software was never installed. It is installed now, but previews are still not generating — being chased.		* '''Search index.''' The full-text search index is being rebuilt. Search results may be slightly incomplete until it finishes.
	* '''Search index.''' The full-text search index ~~has not yet been~~ rebuilt~~, so search~~ results may be slightly ~~stale for a short while~~.

	== What's new from MediaWiki itself ==		== What's new from MediaWiki itself ==

Dtype: expansion of custom changes

2026-07-25T20:42:08Z

expansion of custom changes

Show changes

Dtype: new update page

2026-07-25T20:33:21Z

new update page

New page

== Summary ==

On '''26 July 2026''' NetHackWiki was upgraded from '''MediaWiki 1.32''' (released 2019) to '''MediaWiki 1.43 LTS''', the current long-term-support release. That is six years and eleven releases of accumulated features, fixes and security patches.

'''Nothing about the site's appearance has changed''', and no page content, page history, account, watchlist, preference or upload was affected. The whole upgrade was rehearsed end to end against a full copy of the wiki's database before it was run for real.

The wiki was read-only for about twenty minutes during the upgrade.

== If something looks wrong, try this first ==

'''Reload the page with Ctrl+Shift+R''' (Cmd+Shift+R on a Mac).

Your browser and our CDN both cached the old stylesheets, and a stale copy can make things render oddly — most visibly, the map of the day can come out invisible. A hard refresh fixes it. This caught us during the upgrade, so it will probably catch some of you too.

If it still looks wrong after that, please report it (see [[#Reporting problems]] below).

== What's new ==

Selected from MediaWiki's own release notes for 1.33 through 1.43, filtered to what is likely to matter here.

=== Editing and templates ===

* '''<code><nowiki>{{=}}</nowiki></code> is now built into wikitext''', expanding to <code>=</code>. If you have ever fought with an equals sign inside a template parameter, that fight is over.
* '''<code><nowiki>{{USERLANGUAGE}}</nowiki></code>''' returns the reader's language code.
* '''<code><nowiki>__EXPECTUNUSEDCATEGORY__</nowiki></code>''' marks a category as intentionally empty so it stops appearing in maintenance reports.
* All '''HTML5 named entities''' are now accepted in wikitext.
* '''<code>filter:</code> is allowed in inline CSS''' in wikitext.
* '''<code>aria-hidden</code> and <code>aria-level</code>''' are now permitted, which makes it possible to mark up decorative symbols so screen readers skip them.

=== Watching and talk pages ===

* '''Watchlist entries can expire.''' Watch a page for a week or a month instead of forever — useful for a discussion you care about now and not in a year.
* '''[[Special:NewSection]]''' — a direct shortcut to starting a new talk section.
* '''[[Special:TalkPage]]''' — jumps to the talk page of whatever you give it.
* '''Deleting a page can now delete its talk page at the same time''', instead of leaving orphans behind.
* '''[[Special:Mute]]''' — block email from a specific user without involving an admin.

=== Finding things ===

* '''[[Special:Preferences|Preferences]] now has a search box.''' There are several hundred settings; this is a bigger improvement than it sounds.
* '''Search results can show thumbnails''' for pages outside the File namespace.
* '''[[Special:RandomPage]] accepts several namespaces at once''', comma-separated — for example a random page from either the main or <code>Source:</code> namespace.
* '''[[Special:NamespaceInfo]]''' — a listing of every namespace on the wiki and its settings.

=== Files ===

* '''2048px thumbnails''' are now offered on file description pages.
* '''WebP metadata''' (XMP and EXIF) is now read properly.
* '''SVGs render in the wiki's language''' by default.

Plus six years of security fixes, performance work and accessibility improvements that do not make good bullet points but are the actual reason for doing this.

== Things that were quietly broken and now work ==

Several of these had been broken for years without anyone reporting them. That is worth noting for its own sake: '''if something looks wrong, please say so, even if you assume it is meant to be that way.'''

* '''Lua modules.''' Every page in the <code>Module:</code> namespace was returning a server error. All four now work, so Lua-based templates are usable again.
* '''[[Special:CategoryTree]]''' was displaying a raw internal message name and a spurious "Category not found" error. Both are gone.
* '''Account-creation questions.''' The anti-spam captcha had been reduced to a single fixed question, which stops a bot exactly once. It is back to a rotating set of 25.

Still being worked on: '''PDF previews'''. The five uploaded PDFs have had no thumbnail since 2010 because the necessary software was never installed. It is installed now, but the previews are not generating yet — that is still being chased.

== Appearance ==

'''Nothing changes.''' The site keeps the look it has always had.

MediaWiki 1.43 ships a newer default skin called '''Vector (2022)''' with a collapsible sidebar and a redesigned header. We looked at it and decided against making it the default, so the site stays on Vector legacy. Vector (2022) is installed and selectable under ''[[Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering|Preferences → Appearance]]'' if you happen to prefer it — it also has a built-in dark mode.

If you had already chosen a skin — MonoBook, Modern, Cologne Blue or '''DarkVector''' — you keep it. DarkVector in particular was hand-ported to the new MediaWiki specifically so that its users would not be disrupted.

If your preference names a skin MediaWiki removed years ago (<code>simple</code>, <code>standard</code>, <code>myskin</code>) you have silently been seeing the default all along, and will continue to.

== Things removed ==

All of these were either unused or already broken. Usage was checked against a dump of every current page before anything was touched.

* '''EasyTimeline''' (<code><nowiki><timeline></nowiki></code>) — the rendering tool it depends on was never installed here, so it has never worked. '''0 pages used it.'''
* '''RandomSelection''', '''CreateBox''', '''QuickLink''', '''AssertEdit''', '''ExternalLinks''' — unused, superseded, or long since absorbed into MediaWiki itself. '''0 pages used any of them.'''

If you were relying on one of these, say so — none of it is irreversible.

== Reporting problems ==

MediaWiki's JavaScript and CSS layer has changed a great deal since 2019, so some custom scripts and gadgets may behave differently. There are 31 such pages on the wiki — 24 personal <code>User:</code> stylesheets and scripts, and 7 site-wide ones.

'''We are not asking anyone to pre-emptively audit anything.''' Just report what you notice.

When reporting, the two most useful details are:

# '''which skin you are using''', and
# '''whether you are logged in'''.

A fault in one skin is a completely different problem from one in all of them. If you can, also check whether adding <code>?useskin=vector</code> to the URL changes the behaviour.

'''And please try a hard refresh first''' — see the top of this page.

== Things deliberately not done ==

* Nobody was moved off a skin they had chosen.
* No page content was edited, reformatted or migrated.
* No accounts, passwords, watchlists or preferences were reset.

[[Category:NetHackWiki]]