WordPress.org

WordPress 3.7.1 is now available! This maintenance release addresses 11 bugs in WordPress 3.7, including:

• Images with captions no longer appear broken in the visual editor.
• Allow some sites running on old or poorly configured servers to continue to check for updates from WordPress.org.
• Avoid fatal errors with certain plugins that were incorrectly calling some WordPress functions too early.
• Fix hierarchical sorting in get_pages(), exclusions in wp_list_categories(), and in_category() when called with empty values.
• Fix a warning that may occur in certain setups while performing a search, and a few other notices.

For a full list of changes, consult the list of tickets and the changelog.

If you are one of the nearly two million already running WordPress 3.7, we will start rolling out the all-new automatic background updates for WordPress 3.7.1 in the next few hours. For sites that support them, of course.

Download WordPress 3.7.1 or venture over to Dashboard → Updates and simply click “Update Now.”

Just a few fixes
Your new update attitude:
Zero clicks given

Version 3.7 of WordPress, named “Basie” in honor of Count Basie, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. This release features some of the most important architectural updates we’ve made to date. Here are the big ones:

• Updates while you sleep: With WordPress 3.7, you don’t have to lift a finger to apply maintenance and security updates. Most sites are now able to automatically apply these updates in the background. The update process also has been made even more reliable and secure, with dozens of new checks and safeguards.
• Stronger password recommendations: Your password is your site’s first line of defense. It’s best to create passwords that are complex, long, and unique. To that end, our password meter has been updated in WordPress 3.7 to recognize common mistakes that can weaken your password: dates, names, keyboard patterns (123456789), and even pop culture references.
• Better global support: Localized versions of WordPress will receive faster and more complete translations. WordPress 3.7 adds support for automatically installing the right language files and keeping them up to date, a boon for the many millions who use WordPress in a language other than English.

For developers there are lots of options around how to control the new updates feature, including allowing it to handle major upgrades as well as minor ones, more sophisticated date query support, and multisite improvements. As always, if you’re hungry for more dive into the Codex or browse the over 400 closed tickets on Trac.

A New Wave

This release was led by Andrew Nacin, backed up by Dion Hulse and Jon Cave. This is our first release using the new plugin-first development process, with a much shorter timeframe than in the past. (3.6 was released in August.) The 3.8 release, due in December, will continue this plugin-led development cycle that gives much more autonomy to plugin leads and allows us to decouple feature development from a release. You can follow this grand experiment, and what we’re learning from it, on the make/core blog. There are 211 contributors with props in this release:

Aaron Brazell, Aaron D. Campbell, Aaron Holbrook, Aaron Jorbin, adamsilverstein, Alexander Hoereth, Alex Mills (Viper007Bond), Amy Hendrix (sabreuse), andg, Andrew Nacin, Andrew Norcross, Andrew Ozz, Andrew Spittle, askapache, atimmer, Barry, Beau Lebens, ben.moody, Ben Miller, Bernhard Riedl, BFTrick, Billy (bananastalktome), bmb, Brandon Kraft, brianhogg, Brian Richards, Bryan Petty, Carl Danley, CharlesClarkson, Chip Bennett, Chouby, Chris Olbekson, Chris Rudzki, coderaaron, Coen Jacobs, Colin Robinson, cyonite, Daan Kortenbach, Daniel Bachhuber, Daniel Convissor, dartiss, Daryl Koopersmith, Dave Ross, David Laietta, Dion Hulse, dllh, Dominik Schilling (ocean90), dpash, Drew Jaynes, DrProtocols, Dustin Filippini, dzver, Edward Caissie, enej, Eric Andrew Lewis, Eric Mann, Evan Solomon, faishal, Faison, Foofy, Frankie Jarrett, Frank Klein, Gary Cao, Gary Pendergast, Gaya Kessler, George Stephanis, Gizburdt, goldenapples, gradyetc, Gregory Cornelius, Gustavo Bordoni, hakre, Helen Hou-Sandi, Ian Dunn, Ipstenu (Mika Epstein), itinerant, J.D. Grimes, jakub.tyrcha, James Collins, Jen Mylo, Jeremy Buller, Jeremy Felt, Jesper Johansen (jayjdk), Joe Hoyle, Joey Kudish, John Beales, John Blackbourn (johnbillion), John Fish, John James Jacoby, John P. Bloch, Jonas Bolinder (jond3r), Jonathan Christopher, Jonathan Desrosiers, Jon Cave, Jon Lynch, Joost de Valk, Joseph Scott, Josh Betz, Justin de Vesine, Justin Sainton, K.Adam White, Kailey (trepmal), Ketwaroo, kevinB, Kim Parsell, kitchin, Konstantin Kovshenin, Konstantin Obenland, koopersmith, Kurt Payne, Lance Willett, Lee Willis (leewillis77), lessbloat, Lew Ayotte, Luke Gedeon, Marcin Pietrzak, Marco Cimmino, Marco Galasso, Mark Jaquith, Mark McWilliams, Marko Heijnen, Mel Choyce, Michael Beckwith, Mike Hansen, Mike Schinkel, Mike Schroder, Milan Dinic, mitcho (Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine), Mr Papa, Naoko Takano, Naomi, Nashwan Doaqan, NateJacobs, nathanrice, Niall Kennedy, Nick Daugherty, Nick Halsey, Nick Momrik, Nikhil Vimal (NikV), Nikolay Bachiyski, noahsilverstein, nofearinc, nukaga, nullvariable, Oleg Butuzov, Paolo Belcastro, Parham, Paul Biron, Paul de Wouters, pavelevap, peterjaap, Peter Westwood, Philip Arthur Moore, Pippin Williamson, plocha, Pollett, Ptah Dunbar, Rami Yushuvaev, Rasheed Bydousi, RayBernard, rboren, Reuben Gunday, rfair404, Richard Tape, Rick Radko, Robert Chapin, Robert Dall, Rodrigo Primo, Ron Rennick, rpattillo, Ryan Boren, Ryan McCue, Sam Hotchkiss, Scott Reilly, scottsweb, Scott Taylor, scribu, scruffian, Seisuke Kuraishi (tenpura), Sergey Biryukov, ShinichiN, Simon Prosser, Simon Wheatley, Siobhan, Siobhan Bamber (siobhyb), sirzooro, solarissmoke, Stephanie Leary, Stephen Edgar (@netweb), Stephen Harris, strangerstudios, sweetie089, swissspidy, Takayuki Miyauchi, Takuma Morikawa, Taylor Lovett, tivnet, TobiasBg, Tom Auger, toscho, Travis Smith, Ulrich Sossou, vericgar, Vinod Dalvi, Weston Ruter, wikicms, Will Norris, Wojtek Szkutnik, wycks, Yoav Farhi, and Yuri Victor.

Enjoy what may be one of your last few manual updates. See you soon for version 3.8!

The second release candidate of WordPress 3.7 is now available for testing!

Those of you already testing WordPress 3.7 will be updated automatically to RC2. (Nice.) If you’d like to start testing, there’s no time like the present! Try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”) or download the release candidate here (zip). Please post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums if you think you’ve found a bug, and if any known issues are raised, you’ll be able to find them here.

Developers, please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 3.7. If there is a compatibility issue, let us know as soon as possible so we can deal with it before the final release.

For more on WordPress 3.7, check out the announcement post for Release Candidate 1.

WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences that celebrate everything related to WordPress, and are a great opportunity to meet other WordPress users and professionals in your community. This has been a great year for WordCamps — there have been 56 so far in more than 20 countries, and there another 15 on the calendar before the year’s over. If there’s one near you, check it out! In addition to getting to know your local WordPress community, most WordCamps attract some traveling visitors a well, giving you the chance to meet contributors to the WordPress open source project and get involved yourself.

Here are the WordCamps on the schedule for the rest of this year.

October 25-27: WordCamp Boston, Boston, MA, USA
October 25-26: WordCamp Malaga, Spain
October 26: WordCamp Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal
October 26: WordCamp Sofia, Bulgaria
November 7: WordCamp Cape Town, South Africa
November 9: WordCamp Porto, Portugal
November 9-10: WordCamp Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
November 15: WordCamp Edmonton, AB, Canada
November 16-17: WordCamp Orlando, FL, USA
November 16: WordCamp Denver, CO, USA
November 23-24: WordCamp London, UK
November 23-24: WordCamp Raleigh, NC, USA
November 23: WordCamp São Paulo, Brazil
December 14: WordCamp Las Vegas, NV, USA
December 14-15: WordCamp Sevilla, Spain

No WordCamps on this list in your area? Not to worry! There are thriving WordPress meetups all over the world where you can meet like-minded people, and we maintain a library of WordCamp videos at WordPress.tv.

Get Involved

• If you’re interested in organizing a WordCamp in your area, check out our WordCamp planning site.
• If you’re interested in starting a WordPress meetup in your area, let us know and we can set up a group on meetup.com for you.
• And speaking of WordCamp videos, we’ve recently enabled volunteer-generated subtitles/closed captioning of the videos on WordPress.tv to make them more accessible. Interested in helping? Check out the WordPress.tv subtitling instructions.

The first release candidate for WordPress 3.7 is now available!

In RC 1, we’ve made some adjustments to the update process to make it more reliable than ever. We hope to ship WordPress 3.7 next week, but we need your help to get there. If you haven’t tested 3.7 yet, there’s no time like the present. (Please, not on a production site, unless you’re adventurous.)

WordPress 3.7 introduces automatic background updates for security and minor releases (like updating from 3.7 to 3.7.1). These are really easy to test  — RC 1 will update every 12 hours or so to the latest development version, and then email you the results. (You may get two emails: one for debugging, and one all users of 3.7 will receive.) If something went wrong, you can report it.

Think you’ve found a bug? Please post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. If any known issues come up, you’ll be able to find them here.

To test WordPress 3.7 RC1, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the release candidate here (zip). If you’d like to learn more about what’s new in WordPress 3.7, visit the awesome About screen in your dashboard ( → About in the toolbar). There, you can also see if your install is eligible for background updates. WordPress won’t automatically update, for example, if you’re using version control like Subversion or Git.

Developers, please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 3.7, so that if there is a compatibility issue, we can figure it out before the final release. Make sure you post any issues to the support forums.

WordPress three seven
A self-updating engine
Lies beneath the hood

WordPress 3.7 Beta 2 is now available for download and testing. This is software still in development, so we don’t recommend that you run it on a production site.

This has been a quiet beta period. We’re hoping to get some more testers for automatic background updates, which will occur for security and minor releases (like updating from 3.7 to 3.7.1). It’s really easy to test this, as Beta 2 will update each day to the latest development version and then email you the results. If something goes wrong, you can report it — it’s that simple. To get the beta, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the beta here (zip). Check out Dashboard → Updates to see if your install is eligible for background updates. WordPress won’t update if, for example, you’re using version control like SVN or Git.

For more of what’s new in version 3.7, check out the Beta 1 blog post. In Beta 2, we further increased the stability of background updates and also added about 50 bug fixes, including a fix for Internet Explorer 11 in the visual editor.

If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. Or, if you’re comfortable writing a bug report, file one on the WordPress Trac. There, you can also find a list of known bugs and everything we’ve fixed.

Happy testing!

Beta 2 released
Dotting i’s and crossing t’s
Expect RC next

I’m pleased to announce the availability of WordPress 3.7 Beta 1.

For WordPress 3.7 we decided to shorten the development cycle and focus on a few key improvements. We plan to release the final product in October, and then follow it in December with a jam-packed WordPress 3.8 release, which is already in development. Some of the best stuff in WordPress 3.7 is subtle — by design! So let’s walk through what we’d love for you to test, just in time for the weekend.

Automatic, background updates. 3.7 Beta 1 will keep itself updated. That’s right — you’ll be updated each night to the newest development build, and eventually to Beta 2. We’re working to provide as many installs as possible with fast updates to security releases of WordPress — and you can help us test by just installing Beta 1 on your server and seeing how it works!

When you go to Dashboard → Updates, you’ll see a note letting you know whether your install is working for automatic updates. There are a few situations where WordPress can’t reliably and securely update itself. But if it can, you’ll get an email (sent to the ‘Admin Email’ on the General Settings page) after each update letting you know what worked and what didn’t. If it worked, great! If something failed, the email will suggest you make a post in the support forums or create a bug report.

Here are some other things you should test out:

• If you’re running WordPress in another language, we’ll automatically download any available translations for official WordPress importers and the default themes. (More to come here.)
• Our password meter got a whole lot better, thanks to Dropbox’s zxcvbn library. Again, subtle but effective. Strong passwords are very important!
• Search results are now ordered by relevance, rather than just by date. When your keywords match post titles and not just content, they’ll be pushed to the top.
• Developers should check out the new advanced date queries in WP_Query. (#18694)

This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. I’d suggest setting up a test site just to play with the new version. To test WordPress 3.7, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the beta here (zip).

As always, if you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. Or, if you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on the WordPress Trac. There, you can also find a list of known bugs and everything we’ve fixed so far.

Happy testing!

WordPress three seven
Saves your weary hand a click
Updates while you sleep

After nearly 7 million downloads of WordPress 3.6, we are pleased to announce the availability of version 3.6.1. This maintenance release fixes 13 bugs in version 3.6, which was a very smooth release.

WordPress 3.6.1 is also a security release for all previous WordPress versions and we strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately. It addresses three issues fixed by the WordPress security team:

• Block unsafe PHP unserialization that could occur in limited situations and setups, which can lead to remote code execution. Reported by Tom Van Goethem.
• Prevent a user with an Author role, using a specially crafted request, from being able to create a post “written by” another user. Reported by Anakorn Kyavatanakij.
• Fix insufficient input validation that could result in redirecting or leading a user to another website. Reported by Dave Cummo, a Northrup Grumman subcontractor for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Additionally, we’ve adjusted security restrictions around file uploads to mitigate the potential for cross-site scripting.

We appreciated responsible disclosure of these issues directly to our security team. For more information on the changes, see the release notes or consult the list of changes.

Download WordPress 3.6.1 or update now from the Dashboard → Updates menu in your site’s admin area.

The latest and greatest WordPress, version 3.6, is now live to the world and includes a beautiful new blog-centric theme, bullet-proof autosave and post locking, a revamped revision browser, native support for audio and video embeds, and improved integrations with Spotify, Rdio, and SoundCloud. Here’s a video that shows off some of the features using our cast of professional actors:

Introducing WordPress 3.6 "Oscar"

▶

We’re calling this release “Oscar” in honor of the great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. Here’s a bit more about some of the new features, which you can also find on the about page in your dashboard after you upgrade.

User Features

• The new Twenty Thirteen theme inspired by modern art puts focus on your content with a colorful, single-column design made for media-rich blogging.
• Revamped Revisions save every change and the new interface allows you to scroll easily through changes to see line-by-line who changed what and when.
• Post Locking and Augmented Autosave will especially be a boon to sites where more than a single author is working on a post. Each author now has their own autosave stream, which stores things locally as well as on the server (so much harder to lose something) and there’s an interface for taking over editing of a post, as demonstrated beautifully by our bearded buddies in the video above.
• Built-in HTML5 media player for native audio and video embeds with no reliance on external services.
• The Menu Editor is now much easier to understand and use.

Developer features

• A new audio/video API gives you access to metadata like ID3 tags.
• You can now choose HTML5 markup for things like comment and search forms, and comment lists.
• Better filters for how revisions work, so you can store a different amount of history for different post types.
• Tons more listed on the Codex, and of course you can always browse the over 700 closed tickets.

The Band

This release was led by Mark Jaquith and Aaron Campbell, and included contributions from the following fine folks. Pull up some Oscar Peterson on your music service of choice, or vinyl if you have it, and check out some of their profiles:

Aaron Brazell, Aaron D. Campbell, Aaron Holbrook, Aaron Jorbin, Adam Harley, adamsilverstein, AK Ted, Alex Concha, Alex King, Alex Mills (Viper007Bond), Amaury Balmer, Amy Hendrix (sabreuse), Anatol Broder, Andrew Nacin, Andrew Ozz, Andrew Ryno, Andy Skelton, Antonio, apimlott, awellis13, Barry, Beau Lebens, BelloSwan, bilalcoder, Billy (bananastalktome), bobbingwide, Bob Gregor, bradparbs, Brady Vercher, Brandon Kraft, Brian Layman, Brian Zeligson, Bryan Petty, Callum Macdonald, Carl Danley, Caspie, Charleston Software Associates, cheeserolls, Chip Bennett, Chris Olbekson, Christopher Cochran, Christopher Finke, Chris Wallace, Cor van Noorloos, crazycoders, Daniel Bachhuber, Daniel Dvorkin (MZAWeb), Daniel Jalkut (Red Sweater), daniloercoli, Danny de Haan, Dave Ross, David Favor, David Trower, David Williamson, Dion Hulse, dllh, Dominik Schilling (ocean90), dovyp, Drew Jaynes (DrewAPicture), dvarga, Edward Caissie, elfin, Empireoflight, Eric Andrew Lewis, Erick Hitter, Eric Mann, Evan Solomon, faishal, feedmeastraycat, Frank Klein, Franz Josef Kaiser, FStop, Gabriel Koen, Gary Cao, Gary Jones, gcorne, GeertDD, Gennady Kovshenin, George Stephanis, gish, Gregory Karpinsky, hakre, hbanken, hebbet, Helen Hou-Sandi, helgatheviking, hirozed, hurtige, hypertextranch, Ian Dunn, Ipstenu (Mika Epstein), jakub, James Michael DuPont, jbutkus, Jeremy Felt, Jerry Bates (JerrySarcastic), Jesper Johansen (Jayjdk), Joe Hoyle, Joen Asmussen, Joey Kudish, John Blackbourn (johnbillion), John James Jacoby, Jonas Bolinder (jond3r), Jonathan Desrosiers, Jon Bishop, Jon Cave, Jose Castaneda, Joseph Scott, Josh Visick, jrbeilke, jrf, Justin de Vesine, Justin Sainton, kadamwhite, Kailey (trepmal), karmatosed, Kelly Dwan, keoshi, Konstantin Kovshenin, Konstantin Obenland, ktdreyer, Kurt Payne, kwight, Lance Willett, Lee Willis (leewillis77), lessbloat, Mantas Malcius, Maor Chasen, Marcel Brinkkemper, MarcusPope, Mark-k, Mark Jaquith, Mark McWilliams, Marko Heijnen, Matt Banks, Matthew Boynes, MatthewRuddy, Matt Wiebe, Max Cutler, Mel Choyce, mgibbs189, Michael, Michael Adams (mdawaffe), Michael Beckwith, Michael Fields, Mike Hansen, Mike Schroder, Milan Dinic, mitcho (Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine), Mohammad Jangda, najamelan, Naoko Takano, Nashwan Doaqan, Niall Kennedy, Nick Daugherty, Nick Halsey, ninnypants, norcross, ParadisePorridge, Paul, Paul Clark, pavelevap, Pete Mall, Peter Westwood, Phill Brown, Pippin Williamson, Pollett, Prasath Nadarajah, programmin, rachelbaker, Rami Yushuvaev, redpixelstudios, reidburke, retlehs, Reuben Gunday, rlerdorf, Rodrigo Primo, roulandf, rovo89, Ryan Duff, Ryan Hellyer, Ryan McCue, Safirul Alredha, sara cannon, scholesmafia, Scott Kingsley Clark, Scott Reilly, Scott Taylor, scribu, Seisuke Kuraishi (tenpura), Sergej, Sergey Biryukov, Simon Hampel, Simon Wheatley, Siobhan, sirzooro, slene, solarissmoke, SriniG, Stephen Harris, storkontheroof, Sunny Ratilal, sweetie089, Tar, Taylor Lovett, Thomas van der Beek, Tim Carr, tjsingleton, TobiasBg, toscho, Tracy Rotton, TravisHoffman, uuf6429, Vitor Carvalho, wojtek, wpewill, WraithKenny, wycks, Xavier Borderie, Yoav Farhi, Zachary Brown, Zack Tollman, zekeweeks, ziegenberg, and viniciusmassuchetto.

Time to upgrade!

The second release candidate for WordPress 3.6 is now available for download and testing.

We’re down to only a few remaining issues, and the final release should be available in a matter of days. In RC2, we’ve tightened up some aspects of revisions, autosave, and the media player, and fixed some bugs that were spotted in RC1. Please test this release candidate as much as you can, so we can deliver a smooth final release!

Think you’ve found a bug? Please post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums.

Developers, please continue to test your plugins and themes, so that if there is a compatibility issue, we can figure it out before the final release. You can find our list of known issues here.

To test WordPress 3.6, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

Revisions so smooth
We autosave your changes
Data loss begone!