Forum:MediaWiki 1.13 upgrade

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On Wednesday, Septemebr 10th, we upgraded MediaWiki, the software that runs Wikia, to version 1.13.1. You can check out more information about what that upgrade means here. While we don't anticipate any major problems, some issues may appear. Please report any odd site behavior on this page, and we'll try to get those issues resolved as quickly as possible.

Thanks! --KyleH (talk) 17:45, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Sounds good. I like the double redirect feature.
 * WHLfan (talk to me!) 22:06, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

The upgrade has been delayed a day in order to ensure a smoother rollout - it is now planned for Wednesday. For those interested, the upgrade will be to 1.13.1, which was released a couple of days ago :) 14:03, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Summary so far
A quick compilation of user-oriented things and solutions/explanations:

Dark-skin wikis
The following in MediaWiki:Monaco.css will fix the specialpages heading, by making the background darker (change the colour if you want for your wiki): /* Special:Specialpages fix */ h4.mw-specialpagesgroup { background-color:#222; } There is a delay with updating CSS at the moment, so you may not see the change show up immediately. 13:41, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Categories with "0" next to them
"It appears that in the category list, the number only displays the number of subcategories rather than the number of articles in the category. So, this behavior is intentional.  For example, check out wikipedia:Category:Wikipedia_featured_articles." 13:41, 12 September 2008 (UTC)


 * The feature itself is intentional; however, "0" is being displayed even for categories which have subcategories (screen shot).   Ryan W 18:57, 14 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Addendum: hmm, seems to work now. Many thanks!    Ryan W 18:54, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

AJAX RC fix
For those of you who use User:Kirkburn/global.js or similar, you need to make a small tweak - see here for the change to make. CamelCase ftw! 13:41, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Problems from being on the old parser
MediaWiki has a new parser/preprocessor which was introduced in 1.12 - it seems some additions in 1.13 rely on it. It's a big improvement on the old parser, but it can require some small template updates so it has not been enabled Wikia-wide yet. There are plans to do so soon, and we'll try and make sure everyone knows what changes. In the meantime, you can view this which gives a rather more technical overview.

Special:ParserDiffTest is enabled on all wikis so that you can test the new parser before asking to have it enabled. If you don't have a compelling reason to ask for the new parser to be enabled, however, we would prefer that you wait until we roll it out Wikia-wide rather than asking for it now. 13:41, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Special: Categories is empty since Mediawiki 1.13 update
Special:Categories says "The following categories contain pages or media." But the list have no entries. You can select next 20, 50, 100 and all, but allways no category will see. — anonymous 09:29, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * For some reason only categories added since the update seem to show up: wowwiki:Special:Categories. 09:58, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Need we now Null edit all articles to have Categories right to see? — anonymous 12:09, 10 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Maybe for some reason, the software need to rebuild that information, it might take some time... — TulipVorlax 13:49, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * We're aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. --KyleH (talk) 23:32, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Read →Member counts are wrong, [x is shown instead of [+] ] "... populating that table with the current values does not always work when upgraring to 1.13. In that case, run the populateCategory.php maintenance script ..." —HenryNe 21:25, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * That script is actually running as we speak, and has been since the upgrade started. The problem is that, with over 9000 wikis, it takes a while to run.  I checked yesterday, and we were a little more than half-way through.  I anticipate that the categories on all wikis will be properly populated by this weekend. --KyleH (talk) 19:08, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Ok, I see on w:c:color:Special:Categories, they are up now. Thanks. —HenryNe 19:37, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Categorytree mode=pages broken
On guildwars.wikia.com, the categorytree extension shows no pages (but does show subcategories) with mode=pages and shows them with mode=all. Example:. DPL works. --◄mendel► 09:50, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Images aren't considered pages, and it looks to me like that category is all images. (I'm not sure if this behavior is new in 1.13). Try it with  instead.
 * Ah, ok, you're right, and after re-examining the docs I found it is stated there. The working code is . Thank you. --◄mendel► 23:45, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Double Redirects
I think I saw something about it fixing Double Redirects, if so, is there now any point in having the Double Redirects special page? - Kingpin13 on Birds and on Wookieepedia (Talk) 16:26, 10 September 2008 (UTC)


 * The double redirects are only fixed on page moves - so most cases are covered, but it's still possible to create them otherwise. 16:31, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Okay, thanks - Kingpin13 on Birds and on Wookieepedia (Talk) 16:35, 10 September 2008 (UTC)


 * This isn't enabled by default with moves, but the box must be checked to have it done. Is there any way to make this box checked by default and uncheck it when necessary?  We'd like to do the same thing for moving the subpages associated with the page.
 * Peteparker 21:46, 10 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Currently there is no way to do this (that I can find), but I'll pass the option along as a suggestion. --KyleH (talk) 22:52, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Weird tab in prefs
There's a wierd tab in preferences titled "# 9" and it dont seems to have any purpose. — TulipVorlax 17:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I assume you're using Internet Explorer? Twas spotted yesterday on Yugioh (which got 1.13 first) - I've updated the report to the techs to say it's now sitewide. Thanks! 17:06, 10 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Oh yeah, sorry, forgot to talk about specs... I'm on IE7 in Win XP Home. I just checked Firefox, it's not there. — TulipVorlax 22:45, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

User:WikiaBot
Will it mess up the bot if pages like this are categorized (so that other users know not to delete them)? For that matter, is it okay to delete the pages when upgrade discussions here and on the listserv have died down? Yes, I searched for documentation of the bot here, and on inside, and on help; I found no explanations. Ryan W 19:32, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The bot is editing that page to make sure that your wiki was upgraded successfully (and fix it if it wasn't). It is safe to delete that page at any point, but you may want to wait a few days because it may be recreated as we continue to test to make sure that everything rolled out successfully.  --KyleH (talk) 19:46, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * That makes sense. Thank you.    Ryan W 20:30, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Logs
In the recent changes at Brickipedia it shows somebody moving a page under the upload log. MarioGalaxy2433g5 10+ { talk /contribs/Logs} 21:53, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * As I read above, it seems that all logs are under it. MarioGalaxy2433g5  10+ { talk /contribs/Logs} 21:58, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not seeing this myself. Can you provide a link to where you're seeing that?  And which article you're seeing there?  --KyleH (talk) 22:56, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * c:lego:Special:RecentChanges. This is what I see pretty much:
 * 22:05 (Upload log)‎ [MarioGalaxy2433g5‎; TYLERAF‎ (2×)]


 * 22:05 . . TYLERAF (Talk | contribs) (uploaded "Image:Lego AAT Box.JPG")
 * 22:03 . . MarioGalaxy2433g5 (Talk | contribs) (The page Lego roboriders, moved to RoboRiders: Actual name)
 * 22:02 . . TYLERAF (Talk | contribs) (uploaded "Image:Lego Republic Attack Shuttle Box.JPG")


 * -- MarioGalaxy2433g5  10+ { talk /contribs/Logs} 23:07, 10 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Ahhh, I see. It appears that in recent changes, all log items are grouped under the most recent log entry.  I'll report it.  Thanks!  --KyleH (talk) 23:13, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Special:ListGroupRights

 * Information on the Bureaucrat group is missing.
 * Information on userrights in the staff group is missing.
 * Some groups, such as forumadmin, have very vague information such as "dummyforumadminpermission" (huh?) Dtm142 23:43, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I've reported these issues. Thanks. --KyleH (talk) 00:00, 11 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Further, the page should probably have the left cells be vertical-align: top with their CSS. Apparently, Kirkburn was having that view (using who knows what), while I and another on IRC had it as vertically aligned to the center of the row. --Sky (talk) 01:52, 11 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I still think you're crazy, cause I can't get it to valign middle, either in Firefox or Internet Explorer :P 11:08, 11 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I just checked the page in Firefox 3, Firefox 2, IE7, and IE6 and the left cells appear valigned to the top on all 4 browsers. On what browser and what wiki are you seeing them valigned to the middle of the cell?  --KyleH (talk) 21:08, 11 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I have seen a similar thing already long before de upgrade; it was in the Wii Opera browser. — TulipVorlax 22:40, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Ahhh, thanks. I was able to reproduce this issue in the latest version of Opera.  I'll pass it along.  --KyleH (talk) 23:38, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

The PAGESIZE parser function is absent on some wikis
Meta says the function is new for MW1.13. The usage is, e.g. or  , and here on central Wikia that works:  or. It works on wowwiki as well, but it doesn't on spore.wikia.com, guildwars.wikia.com , guestbook.wikia.com, redwall.wikia.com, warriors.wikia.com , ... . I haven't tested if any other parser functions are affected. --◄mendel► 10:28, 11 September 2008 (UTC)


 * It may be related to whether those wikis have the new parser/preprocessor active. It's a big improvement on the normal parser, and was introduced in 1.12, but it can require some small template updates so it has not been enabled Wikia-wide yet. There are plans to do so soon, and we'll try and make sure everyone knows what changes. In the meantime, you can view this which gives a rather more technical overview. Note: if any wikis are desperate to use these things, we are willing to switch you to the new parser early, so long as there is someone knowledgeable who can fix any problems that might arise with templates. 11:20, 11 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I just tested this and confirmed that the new parser functions only work when the new parser is enabled. If you want the new parser enabled, just let us know, but make sure you understand the implications of doing so.  Special:ParserDiffTest is enabled on all wikis so that you can test the new parser before asking to have it enabled.  If you don't have a compelling reason to ask for the new parser to be enabled, however, we would prefer that you wait until we roll it out Wikia-wide rather than asking for it now.  --KyleH (talk) 21:15, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Pywikipediabot broken?
Don't know if this is related, but the "Pywikipediabot" is currently broken, erroring out with the following message when trying to get page content: "Got incorrect export page. Sleeping for XX seconds...". Did the behaviour of Special:Export change with the update? -- Cid Highwind 17:01, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I've been using Pywikipediabot on Wookieepedia before and after the upgrade with no such issues. Are you using a recent SVN and have you edited your family file to reflect the upgrade? -- Darth Culator  (Talk) 05:00, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

I've been using both the somewhat old version that still worked before the upgrade, and a recent nightly (2008-09-12). Some of the family changes were missing on my end, but adding those didn't resolve the situation. Will have to investigate further, perhaps it's an issue specific to the Memory Alpha wikis. Thanks for your help, though. :) -- Cid Highwind 14:56, 14 September 2008 (UTC)