Latest News

Contents

2012

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.2 Beta 3

Posted by Ryan on 14-March-2012

The third (and hopefully final) beta version of JAMWiki 1.2 is now available for download:

Please see the draft JAMWiki 1.2 release notes for an overview of what is new in JAMWiki 1.2, as well as instructions for installing and upgrading.

Changes since the second beta include:

  • Updated Japanese translations (nattolover).
  • Decreased memory usage for namspaces in order to address an Ehcache warning.
  • Fix an import issue that was causing the initial topic version to be created twice.
  • Other minor fixes.

Individuals who want to help with the final JAMWiki 1.2 release should install and test this beta release and contribute feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) and bug reports. Help with translations would also be greatly appreciated and will earn all contributors the much coveted "credit in the CHANGELOG" for the final JAMWiki 1.2 release. For those with graphical abilities, the veritable JAMWiki logo is nearly five years old, so if you'd like to contribute an alternative then it might make it into the next release - see JAMWiki Proposed Logos for current submissions.

This beta release is already running on jamwiki.org. It has been tested extensively with Postgres on Tomcat, and to a lesser extent with MySQL, Oracle, HSQL, and Resin, so feedback from users of other databases and app servers is especially valuable. While the code has thus far proven to be stable, all of the normal caveats apply; in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.2 Beta 2

Posted by Ryan on 22-February-2012

The second beta version of JAMWiki 1.2 is now available for download:

Please see the draft JAMWiki 1.2 release notes for an overview of what is new in JAMWiki 1.2, as well as instructions for installing and upgrading.

Changes since the first beta include:

  • Numerous minor performance improvements, including dramatic improvements for topics containing deeply nested templates.
  • Fix upgrade script issues that could affect some Oracle installations (avhohlov2).
  • Fix database upload on MySQL.
  • Other minor fixes.

Individuals who want to help with the final JAMWiki 1.2 release should install and test this beta release and contribute feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) and bug reports. Help with translations would also be greatly appreciated and will earn all contributors the much coveted "credit in the CHANGELOG" for the final JAMWiki 1.2 release. For those with graphical abilities, the veritable JAMWiki logo is nearly five years old, so if you'd like to contribute an alternative then it might make it into the next release - see JAMWiki Proposed Logos for current submissions.

This beta release is already running on jamwiki.org. It has been tested extensively with Postgres on Tomcat, and to a lesser extent with MySQL, Oracle, HSQL, and Resin, so feedback from users of other databases and app servers is especially valuable. While the code has thus far proven to be stable, all of the normal caveats apply; in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.2 Beta 1

Posted by Ryan on 05-February-2012

Five months after the stunningly-wonderful JAMWiki 1.1 was released, the JAMWiki development team has conceived and delivered the first beta version of JAMWiki 1.2:

Please see the draft JAMWiki 1.2 release notes for an overview of what is new in JAMWiki 1.2, as well as instructions for installing and upgrading.

Individuals who want to help with the final JAMWiki 1.2 release should install and test this beta release and contribute feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) and bug reports. Help with translations would also be greatly appreciated and will earn all contributors the much coveted "credit in the CHANGELOG" for the final JAMWiki 1.2 release. For those with graphical abilities, the veritable JAMWiki logo is nearly five years old, so if you'd like to contribute an alternative then it might make it into the next release - see JAMWiki Proposed Logos for current submissions.

This beta release is already running on jamwiki.org. It has been tested extensively with Postgres on Tomcat, and to a lesser extent with MySQL, HSQL, and Resin, so feedback from users of other databases and app servers is especially valuable. While the code has thus far proven to be stable, all of the normal caveats apply; in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

2011

knewsticker.png

JIRA Upgrade

Posted by Ryan on 27-September-2011

The jamwiki.org JIRA bug tracker was upgraded from version 4.2 to version 4.4.1 this evening. Everything seems to be working as expected, but if any problems are encountered please report them in the bug tracker under the INFRA project, or on the Feedback page if JIRA is down or becomes unavailable.

knewsticker.png

jamwiki.org Upgrades

Posted by Ryan on 11-August-2011

The jamwiki.org server was upgraded to Debian Squeeze on July 24 and the application server was upgraded to Tomcat 6 this evening. There don't seem to be any surprises as a result of this upgrade, but if any oddities are encountered please report them using the JIRA bug tracker under the "Infrastructure" project.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.1 Beta 3

Posted by Ryan on 06-August-2011

The third, and hopefully final, beta version of JAMWiki 1.1 is now available for download:

Please see the draft JAMWiki 1.1 release notes for an overview of what is new in JAMWiki 1.1, as well as instructions for installing and upgrading. Changes since the second beta include:

  • Fixes for message display when using the Resin app server.
  • Merging of fixes from JAMWiki 1.0.6.
  • The parser should not generate edit links for invalid topic names such as "[[Invalid>Topic]]".
  • Support for the #language parser functions. Usage: "{{#language: code | optional return code}}".
  • A few other minor issues.

Individuals who want to help with the final JAMWiki 1.1 release should install and test this beta release and contribute feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) and bug reports. Help with translations would also be greatly appreciated and will earn all contributors the much coveted "credit in the CHANGELOG" for the final JAMWiki 1.1 release. For those with graphical abilities, the veritable JAMWiki logo is nearly five years old, so if you'd like to contribute an alternative then it might make it into the next release - see JAMWiki Proposed Logos for current submissions.

This beta release is already running on jamwiki.org. It has been tested with Postgres, MS SQL, My SQL, Oracle and HSQL databases, as well as on the Tomcat and Resin app servers. While the code has thus far proven to be stable, all of the normal caveats apply; in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.1 Beta 2

Posted by Ryan on 17-July-2011

Following testing and bugfixing of the first beta release on MS SQL, MySQL and Oracle, the second beta version of JAMWiki 1.1 is now available for download:

Please see the draft JAMWiki 1.1 release notes for an overview of what is new in JAMWiki 1.1, as well as instructions for installing and upgrading. Changes since the first beta include:

  • Various fixes for MS SQL and Oracle related to user blocking.
  • Fixes for an issue on MS SQL that broke topic history pages.
  • Fixes for the user page links in user block messages.
  • A new anti-spam honeypot field based on an approach used by Mediawiki that should hopefully thwart some spambots.
  • Translation updates for Danish, French and Japanese.
  • A few other minor issues.

Individuals who want to help with the final JAMWiki 1.1 release should install and test this beta release and contribute feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) and bug reports. Help with translations would also be greatly appreciated and will earn all contributors the much coveted "credit in the CHANGELOG" for the final JAMWiki 1.1 release. For those with graphical abilities, the veritable JAMWiki logo is nearly five years old, so if you'd like to contribute an alternative then it might make it into the next release - see JAMWiki Proposed Logos for current submissions.

This beta release is already running on jamwiki.org. It has been tested extensively with Postgres and to a lesser extent with Oracle, My SQL, MS SQL and HSQL, and all testing thus far has been done using Tomcat, so feedback from users of other databases and app servers is especially valuable. While the code has thus far proven to be stable, all of the normal caveats apply; in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.1 Beta 1

Posted by Ryan on 10-July-2011

After being locked in a dark room for six long months with nothing but pizza and coffee, the JAMWiki development team has finally emerged with the first beta version of JAMWiki 1.1:

Please see the draft JAMWiki 1.1 release notes for an overview of what is new in JAMWiki 1.1, as well as instructions for installing and upgrading.

Individuals who want to help with the final JAMWiki 1.1 release should install and test this beta release and contribute feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) and bug reports. Help with translations would also be greatly appreciated and will earn all contributors the much coveted "credit in the CHANGELOG" for the final JAMWiki 1.1 release. For those with graphical abilities, the veritable JAMWiki logo is nearly five years old, so if you'd like to contribute an alternative then it might make it into the next release - see JAMWiki Proposed Logos for current submissions.

This beta release is already running on jamwiki.org. It has been tested extensively with Postgres and to a lesser extent with My SQL and HSQL, and all testing thus far has been done using Tomcat, so feedback from users of other databases and app servers is especially valuable. While the code has thus far proven to be stable, all of the normal caveats apply; in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

Current Development Status

Posted by Ryan on 29-May-2011

The following developments are currently ongoing in the world of JAMWiki:

JAMWiki 1.1

Development of the next major JAMWiki release (version 1.1) has been moving along, and June should see significant new development work committed prior to a feature freeze some time in July. While the final release remains a few months away the latest code is already running on jamwiki.org, providing some visibility for the latest features, which include:

  • Support for image galleries. Support for the Mediawiki <gallery> tag has been implemented on trunk.
  • Search enhancements. Search now supports searching within namespaces, and the search indexing logic has been improved to reduce the index size while hopefully making search results more accurate.
  • View source. When a user does not have permission to edit a topic they will now see a "View Source" tab, similar to the behavior found in Mediawiki.
  • Much more.

JAMWiki 1.1 is tentatively scheduled for release in August or September, although release dates are always subject to change. Users who are willing to help test are encouraged to sign up for the jamwiki-announce mailing list to be notified of beta releases, and those who can contribute translations are encouraged to do so by following the steps on How to Help#Translations. Bug reports are always helpful and can be contributed using JIRA. Additionally, for those with graphical abilities, the veritable JAMWiki logo is nearly five years old, so if you'd like to contribute an alternative then it might make it into the next release - see JAMWiki Proposed Logos for current submissions.

JAMWiki 1.0.4

A handful of bug fixes and translation updates have been queued for release in the next bugfix release, which should be available in 1-2 weeks. Anyone with a translation update or bug report that they would like to see included in the next release should report it on the Feedback page or in JIRA as soon as possible.

jamwiki.org Upgrade

At some point in the coming weeks the jamwiki.org server will be upgraded to the latest Debian release. During this time the site may be unavailable, although downtime should not last more than a few hours.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.0.0 Beta 3

Posted by Ryan on 16-January-2011

The third, and hopefully final, beta release for JAMWiki 1.0.0 is now available for download and testing:

Please see the JAMWiki 1.0.0 release notes for an overview of what is new in JAMWiki 1.0.0 and instructions for installing and upgrading. The following changes have been made since JAMWiki 1.0.0 Beta 2:

  • Users of previous JAMWiki 1.0.0 beta releases will need to manually update the StyleSheet topic to get the latest styles for the Special:Diff page. The /WEB-INF/classes/pages/StyleSheet.txt file has the current CSS. Note that users of 0.9.x and 0.8.x releases will have CSS automatically upgraded.
  • Logging now defaults to stdout. The /WEB-INF/classes/logback.xml file allows configuration of all logging capabilities (Michael).
  • Issues during upgrade/installation with Oracle have been fixed.
  • Sorting on category pages has been fixed.
  • Special:Import will no longer throw an error if a topic with the same name exists but the imported topic differs by lowercase/uppercase or when importing a topic with an author name that is longer than 100 characters.
  • Non-link signatures ("my sig") will now work correctly.
  • Improve infinite loop detection for nested templates.
  • Russian (shar) and German (Axel) translation updates.

Individuals who want to help with the final JAMWiki 1.0.0 release are encouraged to install and test this beta release and contribute feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) and bug reports. Help with translations would also be greatly appreciated and will earn all contributors the much coveted "credit in the CHANGELOG" for the final JAMWiki 1.0.0 release.

This beta release has been tested with Postgres, MS SQL, My SQL, Oracle and HSQL databases, as well as on the Tomcat and Resin app servers. While the code has thus far proven to be stable, all of the normal caveats apply; in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.0.0 Beta 2

Posted by Ryan on 05-January-2011

The second beta release for JAMWiki 1.0.0 is now available for download and testing:

This release includes numerous enhancements since 0.9.x including:

  • Mediawiki syntax compatibility improvements. JAMWiki 1.0.0 is being tested against test data that includes thousands of topics from multiple language versions of existing Mediawiki sites to ensure that syntax parsing is as close to Mediawiki as possible.
  • Shared image repositories. Sites that make use of virtual wikis will now be able to specify one virtual wiki as a shared repository for images. Other virtual wikis can then reference those images as if they were on the same virtual wiki, eliminating the need to upload to two different places.
  • UI updates. The diff and history pages now more-closely match Mediawiki with links to the previous diff, author information, and other useful information displayed. Additionally, the UI of the admin screens has been updated to make it easier to manage an installation.
  • Virtual wiki enhancements. Several long-awaited capabilities are now in place for virtual wikis, including the ability to specify logos, titles, and meta descriptions that are specific to a virtual wiki.
  • Image processing enhancements. A new image resizing algorithm produces images of much higher quality while offering slightly better performance and less memory usage.
  • Interwiki enhancements. A new option allows interwiki links of the form [[wikipedia:Main Page]] to render in a toolbox in the left nav, matching the behavior found on Mediawiki sites. The old JAMWiki behavior can be re-enabled through a configuration option in the Special:Admin tool.
  • Performance improvements. Ongoing performance work is aimed at making this the fastest and most scalable JAMWiki release yet.
  • New syntax support. JAMWiki will now support HTML heading tags (<h1>, <h2>, etc) and the <onlyinclude> tag. New parser function support includes {{#switch}} and {{#ifexist}}.
  • Much more.

Individuals who want to help with the final JAMWiki 1.0.0 release are encouraged to install and test this beta release and contribute feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) and bug reports. Help with translations would also be greatly appreciated and will earn all contributors the much coveted "credit in the CHANGELOG" for the final JAMWiki 1.0.0 release.

This beta release has been tested with Postgres, MS SQL, My SQL and HSQL databases, as well as on the Tomcat and Resin app servers. While the code has thus far proven to be stable, all of the normal caveats apply; in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

2010

knewsticker.png

jamwiki-devel Mailing List

Posted by Ryan on 02-December-2010

Over the years the need for a JAMWiki development mailing list has become apparent, so there is now a new jamwiki-devel mailing list. To subscribe to this list visit https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jamwiki-devel. This mailing list is for developers only and emails on non-development topics will be ignored or deleted. Please also note that while the mailing list provides an alternative for developers who prefer such an arrangement, technical discussions, design, and planning will still primarily take place on jamwiki.org.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.0.0 Beta 1

Posted by Ryan on 02-December-2010

Just in time for the holidays, the first beta release for JAMWiki 1.0.0 is available for download and testing:

An overview of new features, status, and upcoming plans for this release can be found at Tech:JAMWiki 1.0.0. A high-level summary of new features can also be found in the earlier JAMWiki 1.0.0 Status Update.

Feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) is extremely valuable and can be left on the Feedback page or, if a problem is encountered, in the JIRA bug tracker. While the code has been running on jamwiki.org for many months and has been tested with Postgres and HSQL, all of the normal caveats apply; in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 1.0.0 Status Update

Posted by Ryan on 25-September-2010

Development of the next major JAMWiki release (version 1.0.0) has been progressing rapidly and looks likely to provide a number of compelling features for JAMWiki users. While the release remains a few months away the latest code is already running on jamwiki.org, providing some visibility for the latest features, which include:

  • Mediawiki syntax compatibility improvements. JAMWiki 1.0.0 is being tested against test data that includes thousands of topics from multiple language versions of existing Mediawiki sites to ensure that syntax parsing is as close to Mediawiki as possible.
  • Shared image repositories. Sites that make use of virtual wikis will now be able to specify one virtual wiki as a shared repository for images. Other virtual wikis can then reference those images as if they were on the same virtual wiki, eliminating the need to upload to two different places.
  • UI updates. The diff and history pages now more-closely match Mediawiki with links to the previous diff, author information, and other useful information displayed. Additionally, the UI of the admin screens has been updated to make it easier to manage an installation.
  • Virtual wiki enhancements. Several long-awaited capabilities are now in place for virtual wikis, including the ability to specify logos, titles, and meta descriptions that are specific to a virtual wiki.
  • Image processing enhancements. A new image resizing algorithm produces images of much higher quality while offering slightly better performance and less memory usage.
  • Interwiki enhancements. A new option allows interwiki links of the form [[wikipedia:Main Page]] to render in a toolbox in the left nav, matching the behavior found on Mediawiki sites. The old JAMWiki behavior can be re-enabled through a configuration option in the Special:Admin tool.
  • Performance improvements. Ongoing performance work is aimed at making this the fastest and most scalable JAMWiki release yet.
  • New syntax support. JAMWiki will now support HTML heading tags (<h1>, <h2>, etc). New parser function support includes {{#switch}} and {{#ifexist}}.
  • Much more.

JAMWiki 1.0.0 is tentatively scheduled for release at the end of the year, although release dates are always subject to change. Users who are willing to help test are encouraged to sign up for the jamwiki-announce mailing list to be notified of beta releases, and those who can contribute translations are encouraged to do so by following the steps on How to Help#Translations. Additionally, for those with graphical abilities, the veritable JAMWiki logo is nearly four years old, so if you'd like to contribute an alternative then it might make it into the next release - see JAMWiki Proposed Logos for current submissions.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.9.1 Beta 1

Posted by Ryan on 18-July-2010

A beta version of the first minor release in the JAMWiki 0.9.x series is now available for download and testing:

Draft release notes for this release can be found at JAMWiki 0.9.1 and include a list of features, bug fixes, and installation instructions. For those who experienced any issues with JAMWiki 0.9.0, feedback is extremely valuable and can be left on the Feedback page or in the JIRA bug tracker (if a problem is encountered). For existing users of JAMWiki 0.9.0 this release makes no database or stylesheet changes and thus can be considered a low-impact upgrade.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.9.0 Beta 3

Posted by Ryan on 14-June-2010

The third and almost certainly final beta release for the tremendously wonderful JAMWiki 0.9.0 is available for download and testing. Barring discovery of any additional issues this will become the final JAMWiki 0.9.0 in the next 1-2 weeks:

Changes since beta2 include a fix for a minor MS SQL issue, a handful of minor stylesheet fixes, some minor bugfixes, and two new features: the selected page tab is now more clearly indicated via bold font and style changes, and Image: pages will automatically resize very large images to fit in the available display area (clicking on the image will load the full size version). This release has been tested with Postgres, MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL and HSQL, and on Tomcat, JBoss and Resin.

Draft release notes for this release can be found at JAMWiki 0.9.0 and include a list of features, bug fixes, and installation instructions. Feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) is extremely valuable and can be left on the Feedback page or in the JIRA bug tracker (if a problem is encountered). While the code has been running on jamwiki.org for many months and has been tested on a variety of app server / database combinations, all of the normal caveats apply, in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

Note: Users who installed a previous JAMWiki 0.9.0 beta version should update their StyleSheet topic manually by copying the version found in the /WEB-INF/pages/StyleSheet.txt within the JAMWiki 0.9.0-beta3 installation.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.9.0 Beta 2

Posted by Ryan on 30-May-2010

The second and possibly final beta release for the gifted and talented JAMWiki 0.9.0 is available for download and testing:

Changes since beta1 include a fix for an Oracle install issue, a fix for a non-fatal upgrade bug with MySQL, translation updates, and a handful of minor bug fixes. This release has been tested with Postgres, MySQL, Oracle and HSQL, and on Tomcat, JBoss and Resin.

Draft release notes for this release can be found at JAMWiki 0.9.0 and include a list of features, bug fixes, and installation instructions. Feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) is extremely valuable and can be left on the Feedback page or in the JIRA bug tracker (if a problem is encountered). While the code has been running on jamwiki.org for many months and has been tested on a variety of app server / database combinations, all of the normal caveats apply, in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.9.0 Beta 1

Posted by Ryan on 09-May-2010

In preparation for the eventual release of the best JAMWiki version yet, the first beta release for JAMWiki 0.9.0 is available for download and testing:

Draft release notes for this release can be found at JAMWiki 0.9.0 and include a list of features, bug fixes, and installation instructions. Feedback (including "works for me" with a description of your app server, OS and database) is extremely valuable and can be left on the Feedback page or in the JIRA bug tracker (if a problem is encountered). While the code has been running on jamwiki.org for many months and has been tested with Postgres, HSQL and MySQL all of the normal caveats apply, in particular: be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.8.4 and 0.9.0 Status Updates

Posted by Ryan on 25-March-2010

The next bugfix release in the 0.8.x series is nearing completion, and JAMWiki 0.8.4 should be unleashed to the admiring masses in the next 1-2 weeks. If you've got a bug that you'd like to see fixed, or translations that you'd like to see added, report / contribute soon! The changes in this release include fixes for three parsing issues reported by Rudi Wiesmayr, most notably a long-standing bug with the <references /> tag.

Meanwhile, development of the next major JAMWiki release (version 0.9.0) is moving along at a brisk pace. Daniel Fisla has helped to spur a lot of performance-related work, and the next release will be significantly faster than any previous JAMWiki release. In addition, there has been a lot of Mediawiki-compatibility work done so this release will feature fixes for incompatibilities as well as support for Mediawiki syntax that was previously unsupported. A partial list of changes to look forward to include:

JAMWiki 0.9.0 is likely still a couple of months from final release, but feature development is winding down and the beta testing period will soon be starting. The jamwiki.org server is running an older snapshot the latest version of the 0.9.0 code, allowing users to preview some of the new functionality and aiding in testing for the final release.

Individuals willing to help test are encouraged to sign up for the jamwiki-announce mailing list to be notified of beta releases, and those who can contribute translations are encouraged to do so by following the steps on How to Help#Translations. Additionally, for those with graphical abilities, the veritable JAMWiki logo is nearly four years old, so if you'd like to contribute an alternative then it might make it into the next release - see JAMWiki Proposed Logos for current submissions.

knewsticker.png

Release Announcement Mailing List

Posted by Ryan on 17-January-2010

A new jamwiki-announce mailing list has been created to provide notice of new and upcoming JAMWiki releases. To subscribe to this list visit https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jamwiki-announce. This mailing list is expected to be low-traffic and will be used only to send out notices of new or upcoming releases (note: this may include beta releases).

2009

knewsticker.png

Status Update

Posted by Ryan on 22-December-2009

JAMWiki 0.8.0 has had surprisingly few bugs reported against it, but the handful of reports that have trickled in will be resolved with the release of JAMWiki 0.8.1 in the coming days/weeks. At present there is one known issue that is holding up release, but once that is resolved the first bug release of the 0.8.x series should follow.

Development on JAMWiki 0.9.0 is well underway, with the trunk branch already having been updated to the latest snapshots of Spring Framework 3.0 and Spring Security 3.0. Significant work has also gone into improving JAMWiki performance, and JAMWiki 0.9.0 will definitely be the fastest and most scalable version of JAMWiki ever released. In benchmarks topic updates are as much as ten times faster, and work is going into improving parse times and database accesses as well.

Other features are currently on the Roadmap for 0.9.0, and anyone interested in helping out is welcome to get involved - developers, testers, translators and those willing to provide Feedback are all very appreciated. In addition, for those who want to help spread the word about JAMWiki, blog posts, reviews, and other promotion will go a long way towards increasing adoption and generating a larger JAMWiki community.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.8.0 Beta 3

Posted by Ryan on 27-October-2009

The third beta for JAMWiki 0.8.0 is now available for testing:

There have been a few minor changes since beta2, so this third (and hopefully final) beta release is being made available to gather final comments from testers. Changes since the last beta:

  • The characters_changed column will not be populated for HSQL during upgrades from versions earlier than 0.7.0 due to reports of HSQL hanging on this step.
  • The CSS for list displays has been updated to use an image, as Mediawiki does.
  • Sybase and MS SQL are now marked as "experimental" since there has been no testing feedback for those databases during this release cycle.
  • A bug with non-ASCII characters has been fixed. When deleting, undeleting, or moving a page, if the "delete associated comments page" box was checked a NullPointerException would be generated for topics with non-ASCII topic names.

Feedback is very much appreciated, and of particular value would be any testing from those who can install and upgrade with MS SQL, DB2, or Sybase databases. Barring further issues the final release will probably be made in the next 1-2 weeeks.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.8.0 Beta 2

Posted by Ryan on 17-October-2009

The second beta for JAMWiki 0.8.0 is now available for testing:

Changes since 0.8.0-beta1 include:

  • Fix queries that caused failure when reloading recent changes on Oracle and HSQL.
  • Create a new topic version type for uploads to prevent reloading recent changes from creating two entries for file uploads.
  • Fix StringIndexOutOfBoundsException when accessing root URL that does not end with a "/" such as http://example.com/wiki.
  • Fix an issue that caused Resin application server to generate an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException when displaying log messages.
  • Fix typo that caused XML imports to improperly convert "Image:" namespaces to "Image comments:" namespaces.
  • Performance improvement for XML importing.
  • Move the XML migration code from the "jamwiki-web" project to the "jamwiki-core" project to make it possible to create standalone migration tools.
  • Convert JAMWiki namespaces to Mediawiki namespaces in XML exports.

The draft release notes for this release can be found at JAMWiki 0.8.0 and include a list of features, bug fixes, and installation instructions. Feedback is appreciated - I'm going to make this beta release a bit more visible than the first beta in the hope of getting wider testing. I'm not currently aware of any outstanding issues, so the final release will happen very soon unless issues are discovered.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.8.0 Beta 1

Posted by Ryan on 04-October-2009

Proving yet again that I should never predict release dates, the first beta release for JAMWiki 0.8.0 is finally available for download:

IMPORTANT: This release requires Java 5 or later and JDBC 3.0 or later. JDK 1.4 is no longer supported, and users may need to update their database drivers to a version that supports JDBC 3.0.

Draft release notes for this release can be found at JAMWiki 0.8.0 and include a list of features, bug fixes, and installation instructions. Feedback (including "works for me") is extremely valuable and can be left on the Feedback page or in the JIRA bug tracker (if a problem is encountered). While the code has been running on jamwiki.org for many months and has been tested with Postgres, HSQL and MySQL all of the normal caveats apply, be sure to back up your database and existing installation prior to installing!!!

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.8.0 Update

Posted by Ryan on 03-August-2009

Development of JAMWiki 0.8.0 has been fast and furious over the last several months, and the final feature set for this release is mostly set. Unfortunately it looks like integration with the FCKEditor GUI editor will not make this release, but features that will be in this release include:

  • Enhanced XML import / export. Earlier versions of JAMWiki offered basic import functionality for Mediawiki XML files, but JAMWiki 0.8.0 will offer support for importing Mediawiki XML exports with topic history, edit date, and author. Additionally, support for exporting topics to a Mediawiki-compatible XML format is now available.
  • Transition to Java 5. JAMWiki 0.8.0 will require Java 5 or later. Support for JDK 1.4 has been dropped as that version of Java has reached its end-of-life and Java 5 offers some compelling benefits.
  • Special:Logs. Support for Mediawiki-style logs including user creation logs, move logs, import logs, etc.
  • Performance improvements. Daniel Fisla has been doing investigation of JAMWiki performance with millions of records and has suggested some improvements.
  • Usability enhancements. Improvements include an enhanced diff that shows details of what portion of a line changed, a new "Show Changes" button during editing, linkable topic sections in edit summaries, and the ability to specify an alternate filename when uploading images via Special:Upload.
  • Additional Localization. Special:Specialpages and the upgrade process are now fully localized.
  • More. An array of translation updates, bug fixes, minor enhancements, and cleanups. See the CHANGELOG for the most up-to-date list of changes that have been implemented.

Due to an upcoming vacation in September the final release of JAMWiki 0.8.0 probably won't happen before October, but a beta release will be made available as soon as all database schema changes for this release are complete. Individuals interested in contributing, testing or getting involved in other ways are encouraged to contribute - see the How to Help page for details.

knewsticker.png

New jamwiki.org Server

Posted by Ryan on 16-June-2009

One of the disks on the jamwiki.org server died, and since the server was several years old I figured that was a good enough excuse to upgrade. jamwiki.org is now running on a lovely new machine that should be significantly faster than the old box. I think I've got everything configured properly, but should anyone notice any problems feedback is much appreciated. Also, for what it's worth I got bit by the Debian image library bug again, and can confirm that the same fix that was used for i386 also works for amd64.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.7.2 Beta 1

Posted by Ryan on 10-May-2009

JAMWiki 0.7.2 is nearly ready for release, but before that happens I'd like to get some additional testing so here's the first (and hopefully only) beta:

This is a bugfix-only. Fixes include:

  • Fix missing edit toolbar during preview. Reported by hanspeterklapf.
  • Fix MS SQL error when searching for user contributions (hanspeterklapf).
  • Fix "array index '1' is invalid" error during setup with Resin 3.2.1. Reported by James.
  • Fix TOC rendering issue when depth exceeds the configured max depth.
  • Fix double-escaping of non-existent topic names when using URLs such as http://jamwiki.org/wiki/en/TestÜmlaut. Reported by hanspeterklapf.
  • Fix breakage when moving topics containing special characters such as "TestÜmlaut". Reported by hanspeterklapf.
  • Display any editable category topic text above the list of category items. Reported by axcelclk.
  • Fix failures when upgrading from versions earlier than 0.6.0. Reported by Eric.
  • Groups were not being displayed on the Special:Roles page when no roles were assigned to the group. Reported by hanspeterklapf.

Testing and feedback is much appreciated, and with any luck the final release will be ready in the next week or two.

knewsticker.png

Yet Another Status Update

Posted by Ryan on 12-April-2009

The first bugfix release of the 0.7.x release series, JAMWiki 0.7.1 came out last weekend, and several more fixes are queued for JAMWiki 0.7.2. Meanwhile development on JAMWiki 0.8.0 is proceeding with several nice enhancement already committed and running on jamwiki.org, including:

  • JAMWiki will require Java 5 or later starting with the 0.8.0 release. Java 1.4 has reached its end-of-life, and there are compelling advantages for moving to Java 5.
  • Enhanced diff, so that the portion of a line that changed is now highlighted.
  • New "Show Changes" button during editing to match Mediawiki and provide a diff of the current edit.
  • An alternate filename can now be specified when uploading images via Special:Upload.
  • Edit summaries will now automatically include the name of the topic section being updated, and Special:RecentChanges and topic histories will include links directly to the section, just as Mediawiki does.
  • Numerous cleanups and enhancements.

Work is continuing, and other changes are in various states of readiness, including integration with the FCKEditor GUI editor (contributed by ronin), better integration with the Bliki parser (contributed by Axel) and a host of other changes. Individuals interested in contributing, testing or getting involved in other ways are encouraged to contribute - see the How to Help page for details.

knewsticker.png

Project Status

Posted by Ryan on 05-March-2009

A week after the release of JAMWiki 0.7.0 things have been relatively quiet, with only one new bug report (a problem while searching for users on the Special:Roles page). I expect that there will probably be a few bugfix releases for the 0.7.x branch, but in the mean time I've started development for JAMWiki 0.8.x on the trunk branch with the hope of completing that release much sooner than the time it took to prepare 0.7.x. Based on the Roadmap the first major task will be upgrading to Java 5, something that is well underway in recent commits. Anyone interested in helping out with the next release is encouraged to get involved. Suggestions for new features can be made on the Feature Requests page, although please be patient as there is much to be done in a limited amount of time.

I'll be leaving for two weeks of vacation starting tomorrow and will have limited internet access, so reponses to questions and bug reports might be a bit delayed. I'll be restricting edits on jamwiki.org to logged-in users only to prevent spam and other issues, but any help in cleaning up questionable edits would be much appreciated. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed code, translations, feedback, bug reports, and everything else to the project over the past months and years - it's gratifying to see this project gaining users and getting used in various corners of the internet.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.7.0 Beta 3

Posted by Ryan on 23-February-2009

What will hopefully be the final beta before the final release of JAMWiki 0.7.0 is now available for testing:

Unless any further major bugs are discovered the final version of JAMWiki 0.7.0 will be released by the end of this week, so PLEASE help out by testing this release and updating translations. The latest code is running on jamwiki.org, I've tested on multiple platforms and with several databases, and will be continuing to test through the week, but Feedback about whether this new code works or does not work would be very much appreciated.

The only changes since beta 2 have been bug fixes, most notably some updates to the Spring Security default configuration and some changes to JSTL configuration to fix problems on the Resin application server. The current CHANGELOG has additional details about recent changes. For information about upgrading using this new code see the UPGRADE.txt file that is in the root of the WAR file.

I'll be updating documentation, testing, and otherwise preparing for a final release throughout the rest of this week. Once the actual release goes live I'll be available until March 7, after which I'll be offline for two weeks enjoying my lone vacation of 2009. Those who test will most definitely be sent some positive energy from a Caribbean beach during my time away, so please install this new release and flog it mercilessly in the hope of having a smooth 0.7.0 release.

knewsticker.png

Server Upgrade

Posted by Ryan on 21-February-2009

In a fit of madness I decided to upgrade the jamwiki.org server to the latest Debian release, and four hours later I think I've got jamwiki.org back online. Image processing is broken at the moment but I'll look at that issue tomorrow - I'm deeply suspicious of SELinux, which is a dastardly and evil piece of software that I suspect is swallowing images whole before they can be resized and presented for display by the JVM.

If anyone notices any other issues please leave a note on the Feedback page.

UPDATE: The image issue is now fixed - the details of the issue are available for the morbidly curious. After many hours of investigation SELinux proved innocent (but it's still evil) and the problem turned out to be beyond my comprehension but solvable with a symlink.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.7.0 Beta 2

Posted by Ryan on 01-February-2009

With the final release of JAMWiki 0.7.0 getting closer, the second beta of this cycle is now available for download:

This is a BETA release, and while the code has been running successfully on jamwiki.org for some time please remember that the code might eat your children, steal your car, and set fire to your pets, so backups are highly recommended. See the notes for JAMWiki 0.7.0 Beta 1 for additional useful information.

For those who love magic words and parser functions then this release is for you. Other stupendous changes can be found in the CHANGELOG and include:

  • Initial implementation of Mediawiki parser functions including anchorencode, filepath, fullurl, localurl, lc, lcfirst, uc, ucfirst and urlencode.
  • Add support for the {{SITENAME}} and {{SERVER}} magic words.
  • Allow nesting of templates ("{{template1|content={{template2}}}}").
  • Update CSS / HTML to use semantic code when possible - no visible changes.
  • Support categories on #REDIRECT pages to match Mediawiki.
  • Add "H2" as a database configuration option.
  • Fix incorrect paragraph parsing when there is a blank line containing one or more whitespace characters between the paragraphs. Reported by James Teer.
  • Fix parsing of multiple newlines to match Mediawiki.
  • Fix parsing of links containing parantheses such as http://example.com/page_(page). Reported by Michael Habbert.
  • Fix parsing of nested tags of the form <tt><tt>test</tt></tt> which were producing an extra closing tag.

At this point I'm planning to move focus away from development and towards testing and documentation in order to (hopefully) get a final release out before the end of February. Given my stellar history of predicting release dates I'd highly recommend against planning your IT department's infrastructure plans around that schedule, but it's a goal to shoot for. Testing, translation updates, and any Feedback would be HUGELY appreciated at this point and will earn you both goodwill and karma in this life and the next.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.7.0 Beta 1

Posted by Ryan on 13-January-2009

After many great changes, some OK changes, and a few changes that might go unnoticed by all, the first beta release of JAMWiki 0.7.0 is ready for testing. WAR file and source downloads are available below:

This is a major release and the CHANGELOG thus far for 0.7.0 contains an overview of new features and bug fixes. The most significant change in this release is the conversion to Spring Security 2.0, although this release also contains new pages, UI changes, code cleanups, and many bug fixes. Some issues to be aware of when using this beta release include:

  • This code is BETA. Backup your existing installation and database before installing.
  • Existing JAMWiki installations that use LDAP or CAS configuration will need to be reconfigured. Documentation for configuring the /WEB-INF/applicationContext-security.xml file for JAMWiki is not yet available, but the Spring Security web site contains relevant information.
  • The database schema has undergone significant changes. These changes have been tested on Postgres and with the HSQL database, but feedback from users of other databases would be greatly appreciated.
  • The default StyleSheet for this release has changed slightly and will overwrite any custom changes. The old version can be restored by viewing the topic history.

While a final release of JAMWiki 0.7.0 is probably still at least a month away it would be tremendously helpful to hear both success and failure stories from testers, so please take this beta for a spin and provide your Feedback and bug reports. In particular, testing across a variety of databases is needed, and testing of the setup and upgrade code would be extremely helpful.

knewsticker.png

JAMWiki 0.7.0 Status Update

Posted by Ryan on 02-January-2009

After more than six months, development of JAMWiki 0.7.0 is hopefully beginning its final stages. The primary goal of the 0.7.x series is to fully integrate Spring Security 2.0, thus making it easier to use LDAP, OpenID, CAS, and other security frameworks with JAMWiki. Progress towards this goal can be tracked at Tech:Acegi Upgrade. After getting a holiday break from my day job I've finally regained a bit of motivation to sit in front of the computer and write JAMWiki code, so with luck the last major bits of the security upgrade should be completed this weekend or in the coming week, hopefully leading to the release of the first 0.7.0 beta release shortly thereafter.

Prior to the final 0.7.0 release I suspect there will probably be a relatively lengthy beta period to flush out bugs, and while I'm notoriously bad at predicting release schedules I'd suspect that a March release is most likely. Anyone wanting to help speed up that process can get involved by testing the latest code and reporting bugs, particularly with setup, upgrade, and LDAP integration. Instructions on working with the latest code can be found at Building from Source.

In addition to the Spring Security updates, there are a few other major features to expect in the 0.7.0 release:

For a full list of changes see the latest CHANGELOG. Other changes that may be developed for 0.7.0 include:

  • Integration of the FCKeditor tool.
  • Email support.

Following the release of JAMWiki 0.7.0 I'd like to modify the development process slightly so that bugfix releases can be made more frequently. Additionally, I'd like to make efforts to begin growing the JAMWiki community this year, so to help that effort I'll try to post more frequent JAMWiki news and updates, and would encourage those interested in the project to get involved. The How to Help page contains suggestions for getting involved, and the Feedback page is a great place to add comments and suggestions.