January patch release - 1.8.12

IanM

Happy New Year everyone 🎆

Today we have released a new minor update to the Flarum 1.8.x line, which is our current stable release. Before we dive into what’s changed, I’d also like to give a small update on Flarum development and releases.

Development update

As most of you are no doubt aware, the bulk of development effort is going into the long-awaited Flarum 2.0, which is currently in its 5th beta. We do recognise, however, that we need to continue maintaining Flarum 1 — especially to support our fantastic community of developers.

The last few patch releases have focused on exactly this: providing quality-of-life and extensibility improvements to make customising Flarum that little bit easier.

Until a firm decision is made regarding long-term support for Flarum 1, we will continue to release patches and improvements under the 1.8.x line, with a target release cadence of every 4–6 weeks.

v1.8.12

Fixed

[Tags] Defer policy when minimum primary & secondary tags are set to 0
flarum/framework4277
Developer tokens no longer disappear when outside the first 20 results
flarum/framework4264
Restore xdebug.max_nesting_level after LESS compilation
flarum/framework4262
[Suspend] Build missing JS typings
flarum/framework4337

Changed

Update scheduler link
flarum/framework4278
Allow disabling sliding on DiscussionListItem
flarum/framework4302

Added

Highlight abandoned packages and expose php flarum info output within the admin UI
flarum/framework4322

Releases

With this release, we’ve bumped the following packages:

flarum/core → v1.8.12
flarum/suspend → v1.8.5
flarum/tags → v1.8.6

KBExit

Great job! Keep up the great work!

Gatsu

You are fantastic, thank you for your valuable work.

huseyinfiliz

IanM Abandoned package highlighting and adding Flarum info to the admin panel are very appropriate improvements for shared hosting users. I think that targeting shared hosting users more and increasing development in this area is important for Flarum to stay competitive against rival software.

I also believe that adding core-level support to the admin panel for downloading log files would be beneficial in this regard.

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

KBExit

Here's a breakdown of changes:

1. Better Admin Tools (The "Smart" Dashboard)

One of the biggest additions in this version is for the site administrators.

Abandoned Plugin Alerts: If the forum is using a plugin (extension) that has been abandoned by its creator, the admin panel will now highlight it. This is a "safety first" feature so the owner knows if a part of their site is no longer being maintained.
Easier Troubleshooting: The Admin UI now shows more technical info about the server (PHP info). This makes it much easier to fix things if something goes wrong.

2. Tagging Logic Fix

Flarum uses "Tags" to organize discussions. Previously, if an admin set a rule that said "you don't need to use any tags," the system sometimes got confused and applied the wrong rules. This update fixes that logic so the forum behaves correctly when tagging is optional.

3. Mobile/Swipe Customization

On mobile devices, you can usually "swipe" a discussion to see options. This update gives developers a way to turn that off if it interferes with a custom design. It's a small change that gives site designers more control over how the forum feels on a phone.

4. Security & "Behind the Scenes" Stability

Developer Tokens: There was a bug where if an admin had a lot of "Developer Tokens" (secret keys for apps), some of them wouldn't show up in the list. This has been fixed so admins can see and manage all their keys.
Installation Safety: The developers "locked" a specific version of a tool called Composer. This prevents the forum from breaking during an update if the installation tool itself has a bug.
Support for Shared Hosting: Some web hosts are very "strict" and throw warning messages for minor things. This update cleans up those warnings so the forum runs more quietly on those types of servers.

5. Technical Maintenance

A few items in the list (like "xdebug nesting levels" and "build typings") are purely for the developers. They ensure that the code is clean, the "Suspending Users" feature works correctly for programmers, and the site doesn't crash when it’s trying to load its visual theme.

The Bottom Line:

If you are a member of the forum: You won't notice much difference, other than the site potentially feeling a bit more stable.
If you are the Admin: This is a great update. It gives you better security warnings about old plugins and makes your dashboard more informative. It’s a "housekeeping" update that keeps everything running smoothly.

vimo

I use the extension manager for updates. When can i see this update?

Thx

huseyinfiliz

vimo When you click the Run Global Update button, or when you install or update any extension, the Flarum core will be updated automatically. Keep in mind that you will be asked for the database password, and you won’t be able to access your forum until you enter it.

Wlork

Thank you for new update 🙂

huseyinfiliz When you click the Run Global Update button, or when you install or update any extension, the Flarum core will be updated automatically. Keep in mind that you will be asked for the database password, and you won’t be able to access your forum until you enter it.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask a question. It will be possible to update to final version 2.0 with this extension manager ?

huseyinfiliz

Wlork Yes, you will only need to manually remove the extensions that are not compatible with 2.x beforehand. You can do this without using SSH.

One more thing: if you set now Minimum Stability to Dev in the Extension Manager, you can update to 2.x. (not recommend) Of course, you will still need to remove extensions one by one if they don’t have a 2.x release yet.

So, you either need to wait until all the extensions you’re using are updated for 2.x, or find suitable alternatives. To speed up the update process for extensions that are critical to you, you can contact the developer and consider making a donation, or ask another developer to take on the update.

I believe the transition to version 2.x will be quite straightforward.

Silvestrus

My forum is not working anymore. I tried to update one extension but I didn't get prompt to enter database password? Any suggestions?

Silvestrus

Can I revert somehow to 1.8.11 or update via terminal to 1.8.12 properly?

KBExit

Silvestrus as always, please check your logs first.We cannot troubleshoot blindly.

Silvestrus you cannot downgrade unless you have a backup I believe.

Silvestrus

Silvestrus ok, managed to make it work by installing symfony/http-foundation.

Silvestrus

KBExit is it safe to upgrade by using usual way of upgrade?

composer update --prefer-dist --no-plugins --no-dev -a --with-all-dependencies
php flarum migrate
php flarum cache:clear

Silvestrus

Silvestrus no go.

KBExit

Silvestrus something is blocking you from being able to update. Most likely an extension that's abandoned and locked to older dependencies. Again, what's in your logs? Additionally, what's your php Flarum info?

I have successfully updated several Flarum sites, some with 60+ extensions without issues so it's odd you're having conflicts right now. I guarantee it's an extension.

IanM

Silvestrus looks like you have symfony/http-foundation and/or symfony/http-client as direct deps in your composer.json. Try setting the versions of those to '*' and try the update again..

Additionally, you can also use composer why-not flarum/core 1.8.12 for deeper information on the cause

Wlork

huseyinfiliz Yes, you will only need to manually remove the extensions that are not compatible with 2.x beforehand. You can do this without using SSH.

Oh! Excellent news, that's very reassuring !

huseyinfiliz One more thing: if you set now Minimum Stability to Dev in the Extension Manager, you can update to 2.x. (not recommend)

Don't worry. I won't install a beta version. I'll wait until the final version and, above all, until the vast majority of extensions I use, are compatible (I made a little list and 16 are not in version 2.0, yet 😁).

huseyinfiliz So, you either need to wait until all the extensions you’re using are updated for 2.x, or find suitable alternatives. To speed up the update process for extensions that are critical to you, you can contact the developer and consider making a donation, or ask another developer to take on the update.

That's my fear.

I hope there will be volunteers to update if the original developer can't. But I'm waiting for the green light from @GreXXL before making any requests 🙂

Silvestrus

IanM I managed to install update it by updating all dependecies but forum is not working again.

Package "flarum/core" v1.8.12 is already installed! To find out why, run composer why flarum/core

I get 500 internal server error.