Dev Chat summary, January 18, 2023

Start of meeting on the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel.

Agenda

Last week’s DevChat summary – January 11, 2023

Posts to highlights

A Week in Core from January 16, 2023

Can you help with topics for WordPress Developer Blog? which includes a request to flesh out suggested topics or volunteer to write.

Releases

Next major: 6.2

The 6.2 development cycle page 

WordPress 6.2 Planning Roundup including the schedule and the squad

Bug Scrub Schedule for 6.2

6.2 is underway. The Release Squad is set and chats in #6-2-release-leads channel. Schedule is set. BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. 1 is Feb 7, 2023. Coming fast. Lots to do.

@francina no additional update from release co-ordinators.

Component maintainers: any blockers/ where need any help relating to 6.2

@sergeybiryukov: Upgrade/Install: Testing the Faster Updates pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party would be appreciated, see the testing instructions. It introduces a move_dir() function which speeds up plugin or theme updates by moving files rather than copying them, thus decreasing the memory usage and reducing the chance of timeouts or running out of disk space during updates. If no major issues arise, this should ideally make it into WordPress 6.2. If you use VirtualBox in your development environment, commonly used in Chassis and VVV, please help. More details on tickets #57375 and #57386 for more details.

General: Work has continued on renaming parameters that use reserved PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher keywords. More details on ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. #56788.

Build/Test Tools, Date/Time, I18Ni18n Internationalization, or the act of writing and preparing code to be fully translatable into other languages. Also see localization. Often written with a lowercase i so it is not confused with a lowercase L or the numeral 1. Often an acquired skill., Permalinks: No major news this week.

@webcommsat: About/ Help & Bulk/Quick edit components – focus on trying to replicate some bugs reported on older  tickets. One or two appear to be no longer an issue since 6.1. Will raise if further help is needed.

@afragen: Faster Updates and move_dir. The discussion is on #57375 (where the actual PR is), in the PR, and in #57386. In testing, this does not seem to effect or cause an error with VirtualBox. Refer to @costdev’s explanation of the issue

An experiment is underway for backporting (copying code) from GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ to Core. Instead of one massive TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. ticket and PRs, backports will be in separate Trac tickets with smaller PRs. @hellofromtonya will focus on this area during 6.2.

@craigfrancis: request for an additional review/approval for PR-3724 (ref ticket #52506), which has been ready for a while, and would be good to get into 6.2 (was added in 6.1, but an undocumented “feature” was found at the last minute). It is on the early list. Related make posts: Postponed to WP 6.2 and Escaping table and field names with wpdb.

Open Floor

i) Early ticket freeze

@hellofromtonya: Any early tickets not yet committed will be moved to the 6.3 or Future Release milestones. A new milestone was added in 6.1 as an experiment. That experiment is also included in 6.2. But there’s no date yet. Last week during the early scrub, there was a discussion of 1 week from the scrub for early to end.

Discussion on what early means in relation to Alpha start and Beta 1 and when it should end.

@audrasjb: early tickets should ideally be moved to Future Release a way earlier in the cycle, which means we should ideally plan early weekly scrubs around two months before beta.

Discussion on first release after the new year having less time due to the holidays, and that time tends to be focused on fixing bugs for the next point releaseMinor Release A set of releases or versions having the same minor version number may be collectively referred to as .x , for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.3, and all other versions in the 5.2 (five dot two) branch of that software. Minor Releases often make improvements to existing features and functionality..

Make / core post to discuss what early is really for, how to get it more attention during the early parts of Alpha, and what should and shouldn’t be marked as early.

Discussion on the amount and reach of communication on Alpha.

Actions:

  • Previous draft Make / core post draft to be updated.
  • Definition/specs for early for consideration and comment are in the Trac Workflow Keywords page. Clarification needed on what does early in the next release cycle mean in this document.

ii) Volunteers needed to lead and support core tables at WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Asia Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/., February, 17 2023

Details of event, will start at 09:00 Bangkok time (UTC+7).

@desrosj volunteered and will provide update on who else may be available in person. Two to three others needed to help lead the tables. @francina to be available. @jonnyharris able to help lead a table.

For part of the time, given the time differences, additional volunteers to help on Slack: @audrasjb (UTC+1). Some interest from other devs to work on tickets remotely or in-person.

Actions: If anyone else is going to WordCamp Asia and is interested in helping on the core tables or can support on Slack (please indicate UTC times can be available), pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” @abhanonstopnewsuk. @desrosj to share an update so core tables information can be a post.

iii) Rebooted Fields APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. project

@sc0ttkclark request for initial feedback on the direction of the rebooted Fields API project from anyone who could help identify no-gos — Fields API Kick-off Chat Summary: January 5th, 2023. Working towards putting a specification together in #core-fields.

Reminder: Fields API (2013-2018) is back with help from a few of us in #core-fields including @sc0ttkclark, @joedolson from the AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) team, and others. They will be focusing on the Settings API and a new modernized Fields API that isn’t tied to the Customize API like the last prototype was. They will be reaching out to particular people who could assist. French Slack had some following on this too.

Thanks to @hellofromtonya for reviewing the summary.

#dev-chat, #summary