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Sarah Norris 4:24 pm on May 9, 2024
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Summary, Dev Chat, May 8, 2024

Start of the meeting in 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/., facilitated by @joemcgill. 🔗 Agenda post.

Announcements

The WordPress 6.6 roadmap has been published.

WordPress 6.5.3 was released on Tuesday, May 7. This minor 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. features 12 bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. fixes in CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and 9 bug fixes for the blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. editor. You can review a summary of the maintenance updates in this release by reading the Release Candidate announcement.

Gutenberg 18.3 was released on Wednesday, May 8. The release highlights include a full page client-side navigation experiment, negative values for margin controls, and adding a publish flow to the editor.

Forthcoming Releases

We are currently in the WordPress 6.6 release cycle and 4 weeks away from 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. The latest update on the release squad is detailed in this post and there are a few TBD roles for Core triagetriage The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. and Docs leads. During the meeting, @OGlekler volunteered to be Core Triage Lead for 6.6. @priethor also followed up with a note to say:

  • Would the Core Triage role benefit from a second lead?
  • The Docs lead role is nearly ready too.

@jorbin confirmed that 6.5.3 came out on May 7. Thank you to everyone who helped. We now need to consider whether we should plan a 6.5.4. As of now, there is one potential regressionregression A software bug that breaks or degrades something that previously worked. Regressions are often treated as critical bugs or blockers. Recent regressions may be given higher priorities. A "3.6 regression" would be a bug in 3.6 that worked as intended in 3.5. that is being investigated, so @jorbin suggested that we give it one to two weeks before making a decision. The 6.5.4 milestone has already been added in tracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress..

@annezazu noted that the only other feedback is around this: https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/59511: There’s been some feedback from an enterprise client as they can no longer change titles easily. The problem is there’s not an intermediate solution in the works and it will be resolved by 6.6 when the site editor pattern experience comes to classic themes. This will be discussed further in #6-5-release-leads.

Discussion

Here are a couple of follow-ups from previous meetings:

  • New slack channels: #core-interactivity-api was created to help folks working there better organize and collaborate.
  • 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/ commits: as a way to bring additional visibility to changes committed in the Gutenberg repo, we’ve started an experiment to show commits to the trunktrunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision. branchbranch A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses branches to store the latest development code for each major release (3.9, 4.0, etc.). Branches are then updated with code for any minor releases of that branch. Sometimes, a major version of WordPress and its minor versions are collectively referred to as a "branch", such as "the 4.0 branch". (PR merges) in the #core channel.

We dedicated a lot of discussion time to the 6.6 roadmap and any updates about the major efforts listed on the Roadmap.

@afragen gave an update about Rollback Auto-Update: there have been zero reported issues with the PR. We’re currently just looking at making some of the comments a bit more descriptive. Hopefully Rollback Auto-Update will be committed in the next day or so.

@johnbillion raised #61173: if anyone wants to help with that workflow that would be great.

Open Floor

@azaozz requested for “more eyes” and reviews on https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/6407#issuecomment-2101275000. This is a PR that properly fixes the infinite loopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop. as reported on #60652 (the current patchpatch A special text file that describes changes to code, by identifying the files and lines which are added, removed, and altered. It may also be referred to as a diff. A patch can be applied to a codebase for testing. just hides it, that PR removes the possibility for a loop to happen). It also fixes the possibility for a 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 to completely remove the new font_dir filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. which is a pretty nasty thing to do and would break all other plugins that are using that filter.

@kkmuffme requested some final reviews on the following PRs:

@grantmkin also noted: @vcanales and I have started exploring “canonical block plugins,” an idea to have more community developed blocks that are shipped as stand-alone block plugins, for blocks that aren’t a fit in the default block library shipped with Gutenberg/WordPress. The primary issue is at https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/58773, in case you’d like to learn more about, follow, discuss, or contribute to the effort. There will likely be a follow-up on make/core to get more feedback.

Note: Anyone reading this summary outside of the meeting, please drop a comment in the post summary, if you can/want to help with something.

Props to @joemcgill for proofreading.

#6-6, #core, #dev-chat, #summary

Sarah Norris 1:23 pm on May 2, 2024
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Summary, Dev Chat, May 1, 2024

Start of the meeting in 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/., facilitated by @joemcgill. 🔗 Agenda post.

Announcements

The WordPress 6.5 retrospective survey is now closed. Thank you to everyone who responded! Expect a follow-up post with collected, anonymized results once @priethor, @marybaum, and @akshayar have finished processing all of the feedback.

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/ 18.2 was released on April 24. Read about what’s new in this release.

The remaining Phase 3 related overview issues were created for folks to join Phase 3: Block Library, Phase 3: Workflows, Phase 3: Revisions, and Phase 3: Collaboration index. Thanks to everyone who worked on creating and updating these Phase 3 issues!

Forthcoming Releases

We’re in the 6.6 release cycle. @annezazu shared that the roadmap draft is well underway, and @ella has already created this tracking issue to coordinate PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher backports.

@fabiankaegy noted that it is worth calling out that there are still a few roles that are looking for volunteers. @priethor added: in particular, the CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Triagetriage The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. Lead role is the one with the most in need of volunteers. There are a few inexperienced volunteers for the docs lead role, but it would be great if somebody with experience in the role could participate, too. Please reach out to @priethor directly if you have any questions.

A quick update about the next maintenance release, WP 6.5.3. There are currently 3 open trac tickets and 1 Gutenberg ticket left to resolve. A Release Candidaterelease candidate One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see alpha (beta). is planned for May 2 at 17:00 UTC, with a tentative release date planned for May 7. There is more information about this release in this post, including the bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. scrub schedule and how you can get involved.

A quick reminder that our next Gutenberg release (18.3) is in progress and the Release Candidate is scheduled for May 2.

Discussion

We dedicated the discussion time to revisiting the conversation that was kicked off last week during our announcements related to recent #core-editor conversations about how we can improve how contributors follow along with editor updates and improve communication within the project.

To kick things off, @joemcgill shared some suggestions that @youknowriad posted on the agenda:

I know a lot of Core contributorsCore Contributors Core contributors are those who have worked on a release of WordPress, by creating the functions or finding and patching bugs. These contributions are done through Trac. https://core.trac.wordpress.org. follow core updates by following the commits that happen on the #core slack channel. I believe that we should be doing the same for editor commits. These commits are already shared on slack on #core-editor-commits channel. That would be IMO a great way for core contributors to keep up with what’s happening on the editor side and potentially interact (even on merged PRs like we do for closed tickets on tracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress.) without waiting for the code to reach Core through backports or anything.

I think we can also consider showing these commits directly in the #core channel in Slack like we do for Core commits because in the end, these are core commits too, they just happen on another repository. Today we have between 10 and 20 commits per day, I think that’s an acceptable number that won’t “flood” the channel that much and would bring more visibility.

We discussed that we could experiment with posting commit summaries to the #core channel for a short period of time, such as a few weeks, and evaluate how it works. We also discussed that the commits from Core provide more detailed summaries compared to the commits to trunk on the Gutenberg repo, so this is a potential improvement for the Gutenberg commits. @audrasjb noted the Core handbook link for Commit message best practices.

@joemcgill said that he will follow up on moving this forward this week.

@azaozz noted:

There was another concern in that discussion: many contributors that cannot contribute very regularly are missing when development starts for (major) new features. That results in not being able to start contributing to them in time, or not providing timely feedback, ideas, being able to test different approaches, etc.
One of the ideas how to fix this was to start announcing when new major features development starts in dev. chat (and in the summaries). Seems most/nearly all contributors follow make/core and that would benefit them.

@priethor noted that Dev chat time is not very EU-friendly, asking folks to announce features here can be a big ask depending on the project.

@joemcgill summarised that there are several things to unpack here, primarily:

  1. How can we make it easier for people to contribute to new features
  2. What is the right timing and method for communicating updates at key milestones for a feature (e.g., merges, etc.)

@hellofromtonya suggested: How about a Make/Core post with links to tickets or project board and/or the key labels for tracking?

Open Floor

@afragen gave an update on the Merge Proposal: Rollback Auto-Update, and noted that we haven’t received any issues with testing so @afragen believes that it’s going well and we’re on our way to commit in a week or so. Also, there are 6000+ active users of the feature pluginFeature Plugin A plugin that was created with the intention of eventually being proposed for inclusion in WordPress Core. See Features as Plugins.. Please read the proposal and test the feature plugin in the next week, ideally before the next dev chat.

#6-6, #dev-chat, #summary

Jonathan Desrosiers 11:40 pm on March 25, 2024
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WordPress 6.5 release delayed 1 week

Based on community feedback on the Unblocking WP6.5 – Font Library and Synced Pattern Overrides and Font Library follow up posts, there has been a change to the WordPress 6.5 release schedule and a final change to the Font Library. 

The release of WordPress 6.5 will be delayed one week and is now scheduled for release on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024.

The delay is to accommodate the following:

  • The directory for font storage will be changed to wp-content/uploads/fonts.
  • The Editor team will work on including fixes for a select few high impact bugs that have been identified with the Font Library feature in the upcoming 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/ 18.0.0 release. This ensures they will receive some testing before being considered for merge into trunk prior to WordPress 6.5 RC4.
  • An unplanned WordPress 6.5 RC4 is now scheduled for release on 28 March 2024 at 16:00 UTC with the updated font storage location and any other related bugs deemed critical to the release. This will be a normal release candidaterelease candidate One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see alpha (beta)., with the announcement being published on the WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ News blogblog (versus network, site) for extra reach.
  • The 1 week delay allows for ample time for testing, acknowledging that Thursday-Monday is a major holiday for parts of the globe.

Why the change?

This approach ensures that the greatest number of sites possible can benefit from the new Font Library feature without the need to install or configure anything.

While attempting to implement the originally suggested compromise, the sentiment from the trusted contributors involved was that a solution could not be shipped with a level of confidence that meets the standards that core contributorsCore Contributors Core contributors are those who have worked on a release of WordPress, by creating the functions or finding and patching bugs. These contributions are done through Trac. https://core.trac.wordpress.org. hold themselves to in the remaining time before the originally scheduled release.

After evaluating the potential options and discussing the proposed solution, the most risk averse option was determined to be storing fonts in the wp-content/uploads/fonts directory.

Shipping a feature that requires additional configuration or technical knowledge isn’t in line with the guiding philosophies that have helped the project mature into the successful project that exists today. Part of the original post was a call to return back to those project philosophies, and something this change attempts to adhere to.

The Dry run post will be updated to reflect the schedule for the new release date of 2 April.

Post release

Following the 6.5 release, these items detailed in the original post should still be explored:

  • A roadmap will be published outlining where the project components are headed in relation to establishing new first-class concepts outside of previously established paradigms within the software (like breaking down themes into fonts, patterns, templates, etc.). Why was this such an important and impactful decision? What is the goal we are trying to accomplish? And how might it present itself again in the future?
  • A means to move the canonical location of the fonts directory. Should the wp-content directory become writable for a site, a safe path forward should be offered for its owners.
  • Explore whether additional checks should be added to Site Health.

Props to @desrosj, @davidbaumwald,@hellofromtonya, @chanthaboune, @peterwilsoncc, @priethor, @jorbin, @annezazu, @akshayar, & @courane01 for pre-publish review.

#6-5, #core, #release-process

Jb Audras 11:18 am on February 27, 2024
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A Week in Core – February 26, 2024

Welcome back to a new issue of Week in CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. Let’s take a look at what changed on TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. between February 19 and February 26, 2024.

  • 53 commits
  • 100 contributors
  • 73 tickets created
  • 5 tickets reopened
  • 71 tickets closed

Ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. numbers are based on the Trac timeline for the period above. The following is a summary of commits, organized by component and/or focus.

Code changes

Build/Test Tools

  • Bump the Node.js version for Codespaces – #60555
  • Fix docblocks in a couple of test files to use two asterisks – #60513
  • Revert r57684 – #59647
  • Update JSHint config to remove deprecated options – #28236
  • Mock 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. response in 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 Dependencies tests – #59647
  • Query mariadb.org instead of mariadb.com in README test – #59647
  • Synchronize Theme.JSONJSON JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML. unit testunit test Code written to test a small piece of code or functionality within a larger application. Everything from themes to WordPress core have a series of unit tests. Also see regression. between Core and 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/ – #60387
  • Use assertSame() in WP_REST_Navigation_Fallback_Controller tests – #59655
  • Use assertSame() in comment_exists() tests – #59655
  • Use assertSame() in new_admin_email_subject filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. test – #59655
  • Use assertSame() in wp_insert_post() tests – #59655
  • Use assertSame() in wp_read_image_metadata() tests – #59655

Bundled Themes

  • Twenty Twenty-Three: Update XX-large font-sizes for 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) – #58603

Coding Standards

  • Fix alignment in tests – #34668
  • Correct alignment in wp_get_attachment_image_src() – #59650

Docs

  • Add a @since note for $preferred_ext parameter in wp_mime_type_icon() – #31352
  • Correct the URLs that document the available images for MySQLMySQL MySQL is a relational database management system. A database is a structured collection of data where content, configuration and other options are stored. https://www.mysql.com/. and MariaDB for the local development environment – #59930
  • Improve docblockdocblock (phpdoc, xref, inline docs) for $x_redirect_by param in wp_redirect() – #60209
  • Use more inclusive term in rest_filter_response_fields docblock – #59651

Editor

  • Add fallback for blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. version when registering block script module – #60233
  • Add id to the supported Image’s binding attributes – #60577
  • Allow symlinks in directories provided to get_block_asset_url() – #59175, #58525
  • Ensure font collection metadata can be properly localized – #60509
  • Fix instance element styles for links applying to buttons – #60557
  • Format and sanitize font family names according the CSSCSS Cascading Style Sheets. spec – #60537
  • Improve PHPUnit tests for block pattern registration – #59532
  • Load pattern content only when used – #59532
  • Update Packages with the latest bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. fixes for 6.5 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. 2 (Round 2) – #60315
  • Update Packages with the latest bug fixes for 6.5 beta 2 – #60315
  • Block HooksHooks In WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same.: Allow hooked_block filters to return null – #60580
  • Block Hooks: Fix actual/expected order in test assertions – #60506
  • Block Hooks: Introduce a new hooked_block filter – #60574
  • Block Hooks: Make test a bit easier to read – #60580

Export

  • Include featured imageFeatured image A featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts. for posts or pages – #17379

General

  • Handle missing field in WP_List_Util::pluck() – #59774

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.

  • Do not set translationtranslation The process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization. controller localeLocale A locale is a combination of language and regional dialect. Usually locales correspond to countries, as is the case with Portuguese (Portugal) and Portuguese (Brazil). Other examples of locales include Canadian English and U.S. English. in bootstrap – #59656

Media

  • Ensure wp_mine_type_icon() returns expected file type – #31352
  • Fix broken media modal following [57688] – #58973
  • Prevent Media Library sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. from showing with no actions – #58973

Plugins

  • Plugin Dependencies: Remove auto-deactivation and bootstrapping logic – #60457, #60491, #60510, #60518
  • Output plugin card elements in the order they’re displayed – #60488

REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/.

  • Pass correct context to embedded items – #43439

Script Loader

  • Add hooks for script modules and interactivity API only on after_setup_theme – #60411
  • Fix small typo in wp_remove_surrounding_empty_script_tags docblock – #60591
  • Inject wp_remove_surrounding_empty_script_tags function name in returned error string using sprintf – #60590

Shortcodes

  • Fix small typo in inline documentation – #60603

Themes

  • Use original template paths when switching blogs – #60290

Toolbar

  • Accessibility: Keyboard navigation for screen readers – #34668, #43633

Upgrade/Install

  • Fix upgrade count decrement on Updates page – #60589
  • Improve plugin install button appearance – #60494
  • Normalize major versions in is_wp_version_compatible() – #59448

Props

Thanks to the 100 (!) people who contributed to WordPress Core on Trac: @swissspidy (16), @costdev (8), @joedolson (6), @mukesh27 (6), @joemcgill (5), @youknowriad (5), @gziolo (4), @huzaifaalmesbah (4), @afragen (3), @hellofromTonya (3), @shailu25 (3), @SergeyBiryukov (3), @sabernhardt (2), @afercia (2), @netweb (2), @azaozz (2), @kkmuffme (2), @thekt12 (2), @Ankit-K-Gupta (2), @zunaid321 (2), @antpb (2), @poena (2), @dhruvishah2203 (2), @mmaattiiaass (2), @spacedmonkey (2), @jghazally (2), @audrasjb (2), @aaronrobertshaw (2), @get_dave (2), @scruffian (2), @abletec (1), @Cheffheid (1), @alexstine (1), @sparklingrobots (1), @danieltj (1), @dionysous (1), @jorbin (1), @sessioncookiemonster (1), @wazeter (1), @oglekler (1), @kevin940726 (1), @naoki0h (1), @kirasong (1), @iamarunchaitanyajami (1), @davidbinda (1), @helgatheviking (1), @nendeb55 (1), @mikachan (1), @ryokuhi (1), @sruthi89 (1), @nithi22 (1), @ivanzhuck (1), @ukdrahul (1), @grantmkin (1), @flixos90 (1), @manfcarlo (1), @metropolis_john (1), @jeremyfelt (1), @aristath (1), @billseymour (1), @nateallen (1), @petitphp (1), @duck_ (1), @jane (1), @rcain (1), @smub (1), @batmoo (1), @axwax (1), @creativeslice (1), @dlocc (1), @nacin (1), @wonderboymusic (1), @ganon (1), @hlashbrooke (1), @chriscct7 (1), @fischfood (1), @hifidesign (1), @bosskhj (1), @antonlukin (1), @maxpertici (1), @peterwilsoncc (1), @joshuatf (1), @tomjcafferkey (1), @itschristiandale (1), @mahnewr (1), @rudlinkon, @kraftbj (1), @freewebmentor (1), @ajlende (1), @dennysdionigi (1), @bgardner (1), @westonruter (1), @bernhard-reiter (1), @mamaduka (1), @timothyblynjacobs (1), @dd32 (1), @desrosj (1), @pbiron (1), @nithins53 (1), @kafleg (1), and @vivekawsm (1).

Congrats and welcome to our 14 (!) new contributors of the week: @jghazally, @abletec, @sessioncookiemonster, @wazeter, @iamarunchaitanyajami, @sruthi89, @ukdrahul, metropolis_john, @billseymour, @rcain, @axwax, @creativeslice, @ganon, @hifidesign ♥️

Core committers: @swissspidy (13), @sergeybiryukov (7), @joedolson (6), @youknowriad (5), @costdev (4), @joemcgill (3), @hellofromtonya (3), @bernhard-reiter (3), @audrasjb (3), @gziolo (2), @peterwilsoncc (1), @kadamwhite (1), @johnbillion (1), and @desrosj (1).

#6-5, #core, #week-in-core

Joe McGill 12:25 am on February 22, 2024
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Summary, Dev Chat, February 21, 2024

Start of the meeting in 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/..

Curated agenda and facilitation: props to @joemcgill

Announcements

WordPress 6.5 Beta 2 was released on February 20, 2024. Thanks to everyone involved and who came to help test.

Gutenberg 17.8 release is planned for Feb 28, 2024. Please help test.

Forthcoming Releases

Major releasemajor release A release, identified by the first two numbers (3.6), which is the focus of a full release cycle and feature development. WordPress uses decimaling count for major release versions, so 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, and 3.1 are sequential and comparable in scope.: 6.5

@marybaum shared that there is a Hallway Hangout planned for the same day as the 6.5 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. 3 release, next week. To help with a smooth release process in order to avoid a scheduling conflictconflict A conflict occurs when a patch changes code that was modified after the patch was created. These patches are considered stale, and will require a refresh of the changes before it can be applied, or the conflicts will need to be resolved., she asked for volunteers for committing and Mission Control (MC). @audrasjb, @swissspidy, @davidbaumwald all agreed to be available with @hellofromtonya saying that she’ll be available to help during RCs

@joemcgill reminded everyone that we are 2 weeks away from 6.5 RC1, and dev-notes should be published as soon as possible to be included in the Field GuideField guide The field guide is a type of blogpost published on Make/Core during the release candidate phase of the WordPress release cycle. The field guide generally lists all the dev notes published during the beta cycle. This guide is linked in the about page of the corresponding version of WordPress, in the release post and in the HelpHub version page..

  • The documentation team has this this project board that is being used to track dev-notes.
  • This report on Trac shows that there are additional tickets marked with needs-dev-note.
  • @swissspidy expressed concern that the process for dev notesdev note Each important change in WordPress Core is documented in a developers note, (usually called dev note). Good dev notes generally include a description of the change, the decision that led to this change, and a description of how developers are supposed to work with that change. Dev notes are published on Make/Core blog during the beta phase of WordPress release cycle. Publishing dev notes is particularly important when plugin/theme authors and WordPress developers need to be aware of those changes.In general, all dev notes are compiled into a Field Guide at the beginning of the release candidate phase. is not clear this release, which led to some further discussion. @joemcgill pointed out that we should be following the process included in the handbook, or making sure that it is updated to be accurate.

Discussions

Check in on the recent experimental format for Dev Chats, specifically to not share highlighted posts during the meeting and instead focus on discussion of an open proposal. (Slack link)

To summarize the main topics that were raised during that discussion:

  1. Overall, response to the new format is positive.
  2. @jorbin suggested “for Alpha time, it was fantastic. I wonder if it would make sense to move more towards a focus of “How can we help the next release” during beta/RCrelease candidate One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see alpha (beta). and then come back to the proposals”.
    • @joemcgill agreed to prioritize release discussion over proposals during the rest of this release cycle.
  3. @joemcgill asked for feedback on how to ensure we’re choosing the most useful topics for discussion
    • @jeffpaul: Seems there’s a backlog of things we could continue to pull from the Community Summit posts?
    • Action: propose a way for us to collect and nominate priorities for future discussions.

If you have additional ideas for topics that should be discussed in future meetings, or ideas for how to better organize/prioritize topics for discussion, please share in the comments.

Highlighted posts

The full list of posts from the last week in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. can be read on the agenda at this link.

Also, from last week’s agenda, this section provides updates on the core-editor and the Developer blog, including the latest topics that need writers.

Open floor

@costdev provided an update on the 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 Dependencies feature for 6.5.

Key updates:

  1. Auto-deactivation of plugins with unmet dependencies, all bootstrapping logic, and the plugin_data option have been removed, and Plugin Dependencies now mostly runs on plugins.php and plugin-install.php.
    • This significantly reduces the footprint of Plugin Dependencies, removes the risk of the database and cache becoming out-of-sync on high traffic sites, and resolves a concern about consent-less deactivation of plugins.
  2. An 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) issue has been fixed.
  3. Plugin updates on plugins.php were failing due to some JSJS JavaScript, a web scripting language typically executed in the browser. Often used for advanced user interfaces and behaviors. that I had not guarded correctly. This has been fixed.
  4. Most of the remaining work is on messaging, and is making steady progress (PRs in re-review stage).

Here’s a summary of where things stand with each ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker., which we’ll also be posting the meeting summary on Make/Core following this evening.

Props to @azaozz for reviewing.

#6-5, #dev-chat, #summary

Colin Stewart 9:55 am on February 15, 2024
Tags: , , , , feature-plugin-dependencies,   

Merge Announcement: Plugin Dependencies

Note: This post was updated to add the “Third-party plugins not hosted on WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/” section. 15th February, 2024 – @costdev

View the kickoff post, the Trac ticket and the feature plugin for 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 Dependencies.

Purpose & Goals

Extensibility of WordPress through plugins and the HooksHooks In WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same. 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. is one of its most beneficial features. There are many plugins that act purely as extensions of others, building functionality on top. The Plugin Dependencies feature aims to make the process of installing/activating addons (dependents) and the plugins they rely on (dependencies) consistent and easy to use.

Plugin authors are currently implementing their own ways of informing users about other plugins that they depend on. The implementations are inconsistent and sometimes incomplete. Users are often left to search for and install the other required plugins themselves.

The feature does not intend to replace the need for defensive coding within dependent plugins, or ensure version compatibility with their dependencies; nor does it seek to mitigate the vast array of potential plugin interactions. For WordPress and/or PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher incompatibilities, CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. already has handling for preventing installing, updating, or activating plugins with unmet requirements.

Implementation Details

A plugin’s dependencies can be declared by the use of a new Requires Plugins headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. in the dependent plugin’s main file. This must contain a comma-separated list of WordPress.org slugs for its dependencies, such as jetpack (jetpack/jetpack.php is not supported). It does not support commas in plugin slugs.

Example

/**
 * Plugin Name: Bridge for Foo and Bar
 * Requires Plugins: foo, bar
 */

Version management support, such as providing specific minimum and maximum version numbers through the Requires Plugins header value, is not currently supported.

Requirements

Declaring a plugin dependency places the following requirements:

  1. Bridge for Foo and Bar can only be installed once Foo and Bar have been installed.
  2. Bridge for Foo and Bar can only be activated once Foo and Bar have been activated.
  3. Foo and Bar can only be deactivated once Bridge for Foo and Bar has been deactivated.
  4. Foo and Bar can only be deleted once Bridge for Foo and Bar has been deleted.

Viewing, installing and activating dependencies

In the Plugins > Add New screen, dependencies are listed in the dependent’s plugin card. Next to these is a View Details link to open a dependency’s information modal. The dependency can be installed and activated using the buttons in the modal’s footer.

Previously, the modal would close upon clicking the Install Now or Activate button. The feature makes the modal persistent, and the buttons used in the plugin cards and modal now use the same underlying markup and functionality for consistency and reduced maintenance burden.

The side effect of this shared functionality is that automatic redirection upon activating a plugin from Plugins > Add New is no longer available. This has the benefit of not redirecting a user away from the Plugins > Add New screen for each plugin, removing them from their current context. Users can therefore install and activate multiple plugins without leaving their current context.

For plugins with onboarding experiences, they often have additional logic in case a plugin is installed and activated through a tool such as WP-CLIWP-CLI WP-CLI is the Command Line Interface for WordPress, used to do administrative and development tasks in a programmatic way. The project page is http://wp-cli.org/ https://make.wordpress.org/cli/, so that the user is still presented with the onboarding experience upon navigating to a screen deemed an appropriate starting place.

Automatic deactivation of dependent plugins

As currently implemented, plugins with unmet dependencies are automatically deactivated. While this was the approach suggested in initial discussions, there were valid concerns raised about this behavior after merging into trunk. These have been weighed and discussed, and a decision was made to remove this behavior.

Third-party plugins not hosted on WordPress.org

Defining plugins not hosted on WordPress.org as dependencies will enforce and display the dependencies to the user. However, there will be no ability to install the missing plugins through the UIUI User interface changes, and these will need to be installed manually.

UI changes

The feature makes changes to the UI on two screens: Plugins > Installed plugins, and Plugins > Add New.

Design Feedback

Design feedback was requested on the ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. and responses were received from @azaozz, @paaljoachim and @karmatosed on the ticket and on the Feature Plugin repository.

Plugins > Installed plugins

The following changes are made:

  1. Dependent plugin rows now contain a list of their dependencies, linked to the respective plugin modal to install and activate the dependency.
  2. Dependency plugin rows now contain a list of their dependents.
  3. If a plugin has dependencies that are not installed and active, the Activate link is disabled.
  4. If a plugin has dependents that are active, the Deactivate and Delete links are disabled.

Before

Plugin rows without listing any dependents or dependencies.
No dependents or dependencies are listed.

After

Plugin rows for a dependent and its two dependencies. The plugin row for a dependency shows a list of plugins that depend on it, and a dependent's plugin row shows a list of plugins that it depends on. The dependent's plugin row links the names of each dependency to a modal with buttons to install and activate the dependency.
Dependents and dependencies are listed, and actions are enabled/disabled based on the status of requirements.

Plugins > Add New

The following changes are made:

  1. If a plugin has unmet dependencies, the Install Now and Activate buttons are disabled, both in their plugin card and their plugin information modal.
  2. Dependent plugin cards now contain a notice listing their dependencies, with a View Details link to the dependency’s information modal which contains Install Now or Activate buttons based on their current installation status.
  3. Plugin information modals are now persistent after button clicks, and modal-based plugin installation and activation are now performed through AJAX directly within the modal.

Before

A plugin card that does not list dependencies for the plugin, and allows installation even if the dependencies are not installed first.
Plugin card with no dependencies listed and an active Install Now button despite unmet dependencies.

After

A plugin card with a notice containing a list of dependencies and a link to open a modal with buttons to install and activate the dependency
Plugin card with dependencies listed with modal links to install and activate each dependency, and the “Install Now” button disabled while dependencies are unmet.

User Testing

The feature team released calls for testing in October 2022 and March 2023. Additional user testing was performed during design and technical feedback with reports on the ticket and in the #core-upgrade-install 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 up to the day of commit.

Outcomes

Based on responses to calls for testing, and design and technical feedback, the following UI changes were made:

  1. Adminadmin (and super admin) notices for each unmet dependency were reduced to a single notice informing the user that there were plugins with unmet dependencies.
  2. A dedicated Dependencies tab was removed from the Plugins > Add New screen in favour of an integrated solution in plugin rows on Plugins > Installed plugins and plugin cards on Plugins > Add New.
  3. The plugin row on Plugins > Installed plugins had a Manage Dependencies action link removed, which linked to the removed Dependencies tab.
  4. Messaging was improved to inform the user about missing dependencies.

Security

A security review was performed by @costdev during the development of the feature following WordPress security best practices of escaping output, sanitizing input (slugs, POST, etc.), verifying AJAX referrers and using nonces where appropriate. Comparisons were also done with existing functionality to avoid missed opportunity for hardening the feature.

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)

The feature was reviewed by the team for accessibility concerns. In addition, @costdev reached out to @joedolson regarding the use of links (<a>) as buttons, rather than <button> elements.

It was deemed that this approach, though likely not ideal, is consistent with the patterns throughout the code base today. A wider conversation is needed before a decision can be made about this specific  accessibility pattern at a later date.

wp.a11y.speak() is implemented where appropriate in JavascriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/., consistent with prior functionality in Core.

Unit Tests

In addition to user testing, testing by Core developers, and the feature team, unit tests have been written for the feature and the public API is covered. There are plans to continue increasing test coverage during the 6.5 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. period.

Props to @afragen, @pbiron, @azaozz and @desrosj for peer review.

#6-5, #feature-plugins, #feature-projects, #feature-plugin-dependencies, #merge-proposals

Jb Audras 11:54 am on February 13, 2024
Tags: , ,   

A Week in Core – February 12, 2024

Welcome back to a new issue of Week in CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. Let’s take a look at what changed on TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. between February 5 and February 12, 2024.

  • 71 commits
  • 245 contributors
  • 82 tickets created
  • 11 tickets reopened
  • 82 tickets closed

Ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. numbers are based on the Trac timeline for the period above. The following is a summary of commits, organized by component and/or focus.

Code changes

Administration

  • Improve contrast and consistency of focus styles – #51870

Bundled Themes

  • Twenty Fifteen: Add top margin to the File blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. button styles – #58498
  • Twenty Nineteen: Add border-radius to avatarAvatar An avatar is an image or illustration that specifically refers to a character that represents an online user. It’s usually a square box that appears next to the user’s name. images in the editor – #59285
  • Twenty Nineteen: Correct line height for Button block – #58443
  • Twenty Nineteen: Restore transition property to a single line – #58443
  • Twenty Sixteen: Add border-radius to avatar images in the editor – #59253
  • Twenty Twenty-Four: Add missing translationtranslation The process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization. functions to text strings – #60298
  • Twenty Twenty-Four: Prefix the block pattern categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. name – #59839
  • Twenty Twenty-Three: Include Latin-extended characters in DM Sans font files – #59008
  • Twenty Twenty-Two: Prefix the pages block pattern category name – #59839
  • Twenty Twenty: Fix Table block default and custom border colors – #58022
  • Twenty Twenty: Scope .privacy-policy styles to the footer only – #60469
  • Improve focus outline in Twenty Twenty-Four – #60334
  • Cast font URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org functions to string for add_editor_style() – #59704

Build/Test Tools

  • Fix bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. pulling local environment containers on Apple silicone – #59930
  • Generate a human-readable HTMLHTML HyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers. coverage report – #60476
  • Make the props bot message shorter – #60417
  • Pin a specific commit for Hosting Test Reporter – #59647
  • Revert [57551] – #59647
  • Unpin PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher 7.4 from the test coverage workflow – #59647
  • Adjust the metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. key time in wp_scheduled_delete() tests – #59938

Canonical

  • Introduce admin_canonical_url filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. – #59545

Coding Standards

  • Add missing fullstop to docblocks in wp-includes/vars.php – #41877
  • Replace alias join() in WP_Font_Utils – #60473

Editor

  • Add viewScriptModule handling to block.json metadata – #60233
  • Add wakeup magic method to the block bindings registry – #60282
  • Avoid double escaping on value passed for attribute in HTML tagtag A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses tags to store a single snapshot of a version (3.6, 3.6.1, etc.), the common convention of tags in version control systems. (Not to be confused with post tags.) processor
  • Expand Block Bindings for button block – #60481
  • Fix block style variation selector generation – #60453
  • Fix typo in FontUtils doc block – #59166
  • Improve code documentation for block bindings – #60282
  • Introduce WP_Block_Bindings_Source class – #60447
  • Make asset file optional for block scripts – #57234
  • Refactor block binding processing and attribute computation – #60282
  • Register the Google Font collection – #59166
  • Show the patterns page for classic themes – #58827
  • Update PHPDocPHPDoc (docblock, inline docs) for block bindings’s context arg – #59743
  • Update pattern overrides attribute format – #60456
  • Update the WordPress packages to 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/ 17.7RC1 – #60315
  • Block HooksHooks In WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same.: Inject hooked blocks into modified templates and parts – #59646
  • Blocks: Allow reading the script handle from asset files – #60485
  • Interactivity 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.: Integrate Server Directive Processing – #60356
  • Interactivity API: Remove empty file – #60356

Filesystem API

  • Fix typo in ftp_base::restore() – #60497

General

  • Add an option to configure the site icon in general settings – #54370, #16434
  • Remove ableist language from code comments – #60247

HTML API

  • Add subclassed has_bookmark() and fix seek() – #60474
  • Join text nodes on invalidinvalid A resolution on the bug tracker (and generally common in software development, sometimes also notabug) that indicates the ticket is not a bug, is a support request, or is generally invalid.-tag-name boundaries – #60385

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.

  • Add Translator comments for Planet URLs – #58010

Media

  • Update progress spinner position on small screens – #33049
  • enable control of progressive image output – #21668

Networks and Sites

  • Improve switch_to_blog() docblockdocblock (phpdoc, xref, inline docs) – #60332

Permalinks

  • Detect Caddy web server support – #41877

Plugins

  • Store 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 deletion results in temporary option – #59433

Quick/Bulk Edit

  • Pre-fill category fields with their status – #11302

REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/.

  • Add featured_media field to attachments endpoint – #41692
  • Improve error handling in REST meta fields – #48823
  • Introduce the necessary endpoints for the font library – #59166
  • Provide detailed error data in REST API response – #60014

Script Loader

  • Add a timezone offset display value to wp.date.setSettings – #60105
  • Improve translators comments for wp.date.setSettings in compat file – #60412
  • always output core block global styles after base global styles – #60280
  • Add deregister module function – #60463

Shortcodes

  • Always return an array in shortcode_parse_atts() – #59249

Themes

  • Add ‘theme_files’ cache group to block pattern cache operations – #60120
  • update add_theme_support docblock – #60221

Toolbar

  • Add adminbar link for new sites in networknetwork (versus site, blog) installs – #41104

Upgrade/Install

  • Avoid update_option() calls during bootstrap – #60461, #60457, #60491
  • Upgrade/Install: Introduce Plugin Dependencies – #22316
  • Micro-optimizations for getting plugin_file in plugins loader loopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop. – #60510
  • Remove unnecessary individual subfiles from $_old_files array – #58995

Users

  • Replace table tags for color palettes in profiles – #53157

Props

Thanks to the 245 (!!) people who contributed to WordPress Core on Trac: @gziolo (14), @mukesh27 (13), @swissspidy (13), @sabernhardt (13), @poena (12), @shailu25 (11), @huzaifaalmesbah (9), @youknowriad (8), @oglekler (7), @joedolson (7), @jorbin (7), @audrasjb (7), @spacedmonkey (6), @SergeyBiryukov (6), @dmsnell (6), @get_dave (6), @hellofromTonya (5), @afercia (5), @kebbet (5), @harshgajipara (5), @johnbillion (5), @costdev (4), @nicolefurlan (4), @jonsurrell (4), @czapla (4), @TimothyBlynJacobs (3), @karmatosed (3), @pbiron (3), @desrosj (3), @afragen (3), @azaozz (3), @luisherranz (3), @dingo_d (2), @mikeschroder (2), @andraganescu (2), @johnjamesjacoby (2), @rajinsharwar (2), @nidhidhandhukiya (2), @cbravobernal (2), @dd32 (2), @wildworks (2), @pooja1210 (2), @wasiur195 (2), @scribu (2), @ajmcfadyen (2), @peterwilsoncc (2), @pitamdey (2), @santosguillamot (2), @isabel_brison (2), @bernhard-reiter (2), @mcsf (2), @ocean90 (2), @aaronrobertshaw (2), @sadpencil (1), @cfinnberg (1), @viliamkopecky (1), @ecc (1), @rcorrales (1), @cvorko (1), @flixos90 (1), @joemcgill (1), @adamsilverstein (1), @_ck_ (1), @markoheijnen (1), @Japh (1), @pmeenan (1), @derekspringer (1), @buley (1), @ericlewis (1), @bahia0019 (1), @born2webdesign (1), @kushang78 (1), @timothyblynjacobs (1), @wonderboymusic (1), @dlh (1), @obenland (1), @jameskoster (1), @kjellr (1), @stacimc (1), @h71 (1), @krupajnanda (1), @jordesign (1), @monzuralam (1), @hrrarya (1), @fnpen (1), @mhshohel (1), @bedas (1), @jeremyfelt (1), @prionkor (1), @matveb (1), @benniledl (1), @jsnajdr (1), @mnydigital (1), @onemaggie (1), @luminuu (1), @pouicpouic (1), @ugyensupport (1), @jivygraphics (1), @sumitbagthariya16 (1), @kkmuffme (1), @talldanwp (1), @dartiss (1), @upadalavipul (1), @manfcarlo (1), @mayur8991 (1), @panchalhimani711 (1), @itpathsolutions (1), @thakordarshil (1), @Ankit-K-Gupta (1), @darshitrajyaguru97 (1), @pavelevap (1), @chasedsiedu (1), @helen (1), @joshcanhelp (1), @ubernaut (1), @Cyberchicken (1), @laumindproductscomau (1), @Marcoevich (1), @tomybyte (1), @thinkluke (1), @virtality-marketing-solutions (1), @Michalooki (1), @itecrs (1), @pannelars (1), @WHSajid (1), @samba45 (1), @Mte90 (1), @tomluckies (1), @soulseekah (1), @francina (1), @webcommsat (1), @balub (1), @sarathar (1), @glendaviesnz (1), @up1512001 (1), @zodiac1978 (1), @davidbinda (1), @westonruter (1), @retrofox (1), @joefusco (1), @colorfultones (1), @acosmin (1), @alh0319 (1), @beafialho (1), @javiercasares (1), @mmaattiiaass (1), @grantmkin (1), @oandregal (1), @ajlende (1), @ahoereth (1), @alanfuller (1), @alexkingorg (1), @amykamala (1), @anonymized_10690803 (1), @apeatling (1), @ashfame (1), @atimmer (1), @aristath (1), @batmoo (1), @beaulebens (1), @blobaugh (1), @bobbingwide (1), @boonebgorges (1), @brianhenryie (1), @chanthaboune (1), @chrisdavidmiles (1), @coolmann (1), @courane01 (1), @danielbachhuber (1), @davidperez (1), @Denis-de-Bernardy (1), @DJPaul (1), @dougal (1), @DrewAPicture (1), @ethitter (1), @filosofo (1), @georgestephanis (1), @giuseppemazzapica-1 (1), @goldenapples (1), @griffinjt (1), @husobj (1), @ideag (1), @jarednova (1), @jbobich (1), @jbrinley (1), @jltallon (1), @johnciacia (1), @joppuyo (1), @jsmoriss (1), @knutsp (1), @kraftbj (1), @kraftner (1), @kurtpayne (1), @lkraav (1), @logikal16 (1), @man4toman (1), @markjaquith (1), @matt (1), @mbijon (1), @megphillips91 (1), @mikeschinkel (1), @mordauk (1), @morehawes (1), @mrwweb (1), @mte90 (1), @mzaweb (1), @nacin (1), @norcross (1), @nvwd (1), @nwjames (1), @obliviousharmony (1), @paaljoachim (1), @pauldewouters (1), @pbaylies (1), @Philipp15b (1), @pogidude (1), @retlehs (1), @rmccue (1), @ryan (1), @sabreuse (1), @sc0ttkclark (1), @sereedmedia (1), @ShaneF (1), @shidouhikari (1), @soean (1), @stephenh1988 (1), @taylorde (1), @tazotodua (1), @threadi (1), @TJNowell (1), @tollmanz (1), @toscho (1), @tropicalista (1), @Viper007Bond (1), @westi (1), @whiteshadow (1), @williamsba1 (1), @wpsmith (1), @ZaneMatthew (1), @noisysocks (1), @kevin940726 (1), and @fabiankaegy (1).

Congrats and welcome to our 28 (!!) new contributors of the week: @sadpencil, @cfinnberg, @viliamkopecky, @ecc, @cvorko, @pmeenan, @derekspringer, @born2webdesign, @kushang78, @hrrarya, @fnpen, @mhshohel, @benniledl, @mnydigital, @up1512001, @alh0319, @anonymized_10690803, @blobaugh, @chrisdavidmiles, @giuseppemazzapica-1, @jltallon, @johnciacia, @logikal16, @pbaylies, @Philipp15b, @pogidude, @tropicalista, @whiteshadow ♥️

Core committers: @gziolo (11), @youknowriad (10), @sergeybiryukov (8), @audrasjb (7), @joedolson (7), @swissspidy (5), @desrosj (5), @spacedmonkey (3), @jorbin (3), @costdev (3), @hellofromtonya (2), @dmsnell (2), @isabel_brison (2), @adamsilverstein (1), @davidbaumwald (1), and @bernhard-reiter (1).

#6-5, #core, #week-in-core

Abha Thakor 2:22 am on February 8, 2024
Tags: , ,   

Summary, Dev Chat, February 7, 2024

Start of the meeting in 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/..

Curated agenda: @webcommsat

Facilitator dev chat: @joemcgill – welcoming one of 2024’s new co-team reps for CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.!

Discussions

Proposal: What’s next for the Outreach program

  • Feedback deadline: February 12, 2024. Add comments to the post.
  • A Hallway Hangout is scheduled on February 20, 2024, at 15:00 UTC to further discuss it and next steps.
  • Actionable proposal. Potential for cross-team involvement in furthering it.

Forthcoming Releases

Maintenance releases

@jorbin reports there are currently no updates on a 6.4 release.

Major releasemajor release A release, identified by the first two numbers (3.6), which is the focus of a full release cycle and feature development. WordPress uses decimaling count for major release versions, so 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, and 3.1 are sequential and comparable in scope.: 6.5

@marybaum made a request for contributors to fulfill roles of Mission Control, Committercommitter A developer with commit access. WordPress has five lead developers and four permanent core developers with commit access. Additionally, the project usually has a few guest or component committers - a developer receiving commit access, generally for a single release cycle (sometimes renewed) and/or for a specific component., Security, and MarComms for the release parties, especially 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 on Tuesday. 

List of new updates on 6.5 including ones requiring input together with their deadlines, next bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. scrubs, and more.

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 dependencies discussion

You can also view discussions taking place in #core-upgrade-install channel on Slack. This has been highlighted as a potentially very valuable feature for 6.5 and was merged into ‘trunktrunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision.’ on Tuesday. Note this is the last dev chat before Beta 1.

The discussion focused on @desrosj‘s first point in the update: “When a plugin’s dependencies are unmet, the plugin is deactivated, and the user is only informed of this if they visit the plugin page, and only if they visit on the same request that the deactivation occurs on. It is my opinion that plugins should not be deactivated if dependencies are suddenly unmet. This could be very unexpected for anyone unfamiliar with the concept of dependencies in the context of software. Instead, the WSOD protection should be allowed to do its job, allowing the site owner to receive an email, and see a path forward to correcting the issue.”

@azaozz asked if it was better for a plugin to throw a fatal error and trigger “fatal errors protection” in WordPress?

@jorbin: highlighted whatever decisions are made they need to be ones that reinforce the trust users have in WordPress and in auto updates.

@desrosj: There are also some scenarios where things may reasonably continue working without the dependency, but that would break or become missing currently. This would especially be true for anything that displays content. The content would just go missing without the site owner knowing.

@azaozz: A plugin that stops working either because it was auto-disabled, or because it is missing a dependency is a bad thing that needs to be fixed.

A discussion on the use of emails to admins followed, Perhaps sending another email to the admins to alert users. View the discussion on Slack.

@jorbin: suggestion to highlight all the ways that a plugin could end up with unmet or mismet dependencies and what the expectation would be in each of them

@christopher allford : For a feature that has sat in discussion for so long I think pushing through with a minimal implementation (sans the consent-less deactivation) is a great first step. That will naturally incite discussions about iteration (such as sending dependency information in update metadata to let WordPress opt-out of updating incompatibilities).

Summary of two main concerns:

  1. How do we ensure we’ve identified and resolved any issues with this feature during beta so we ship something that does not hurt user confidence in upgrades?
  2. How can we better communicate these changes so folks can be prepared?

Wider discussion surrounded:

  • How we determine that a large feature is “ready” to ship?
  • How are can we better communicate when a feature needs further testing after being merged. For example, Is a dev-note enough or should there be some other way to communicate these changes?.

Highlighted posts

The full list of posts from the last week in core can be read on the agenda at this link.

Also, this section provides updates on the core-editor and the Developer blog, including the latest topics that need writers.

Open floor

Anyone can ask for a ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. or PR to be discussed during an open floor. To help us provide good feedback, please include a link to the issue you want to discuss in the dev-chat agenda notes prior to the meeting.

Props to @joemcgill for reviewing.

#6-5, #dev-chat, #summary

Jb Audras 12:01 am on February 6, 2024
Tags: , ,   

A Week in Core – February 5, 2024

Welcome back to a new issue of Week in CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. Let’s take a look at what changed on TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. between January 29 and February 5, 2024.

  • 66 commits
  • 117 contributors
  • 79 tickets created
  • 8 tickets reopened
  • 56 tickets closed

Ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. numbers are based on the Trac timeline for the period above. The following is a summary of commits, organized by component and/or focus.

Code changes

Administration

  • 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): Use the default cursor style for labels and disabled form controls – #59733

Build/Test Tools

  • Introduce Props Bot workflow – #60417
  • Mock 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 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. response in WP_REST_Plugins_Controller_Test – #59647
  • Pass a token to the Codecov action – #59658
  • Some improvements to the Props Bot workflow – #60417
  • Test against MySQLMySQL MySQL is a relational database management system. A database is a structured collection of data where content, configuration and other options are stored. https://www.mysql.com/. 8.3 – #59779
  • Update the codecov/codecov-action action – #59658
  • Update third-party 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/. action – #59805
  • Remove redundant unregister call in blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. bindings tear down – #60282

Bundled Themes

  • Twenty Eleven: Fix typo in twentyeleven_widgets_init() description – #60383
  • Twenty Fifteen: Fix typo in css/blocks.css – #60383
  • Twenty Twenty-Three: Rename Comments template part – #56999

Coding Standards

  • Remove unnecessary access and internal annotations from two functions in WP_REST_Templates_Controller – #60358
  • Rename the $ID parameter to $post_id in trackback() – #59650
  • Rename the $expires_offset variable in cache_javascript_headers() – #59650
  • Update PHPCSPHP Code Sniffer PHP Code Sniffer, a popular tool for analyzing code quality. The WordPress Coding Standards rely on PHPCS. to version 3.8.1 – #60279
  • Use strict comparison for functions lookup in plugin/theme editors – #60415
  • Use strict comparison in wp-admin/update-core.php – #58061, #60415

Docs

  • Fix typo in do_robots() docblockdocblock (phpdoc, xref, inline docs) – #60405

Editor

  • Add Block Bindings API helpers – #60282
  • Add allowed_blocks field to block registration and REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/. – #60403
  • Add viewStyle property to block.json for frontend-only block style – #59673
  • Add deprecated functions from interactivity core blocks – #60380
  • Add registry for block binding sources – #60282
  • Add the Block Bindings API – #60282
  • Fix PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher warning in Layout block support – #60327
  • Fix Theme.jsonJSON JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML. font settings in unit testunit test Code written to test a small piece of code or functionality within a larger application. Everything from themes to WordPress core have a series of unit tests. Also see regression. – #60341
  • Fix Theme.json font settings unit test – #60341
  • Refactor the way block bindings sources are handled – #60282
  • Remove shadow support via direct attribute – #60377
  • Sanitize nested array in theme.json properly – #60360
  • Update WordPress packages to 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/ 16.7 RC3 – #60315
  • Update the WordPress packages to the Gutenberg 16.7 RC2 version – #60315
  • Update the minimum compatible version of Gutenberg – #60315
  • fix small typos in block bindings API docblocks – #60282, #60386
  • introduce dimensions.aspectRatio block support – #60365
  • reduce specificity of block style variation selector – #60312

General

  • Add tests for array_is_list polyfill added in r57337 – #55105

HTMLHTML HyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers. API

  • Fix CDATA lookalike matching invalidinvalid A resolution on the bug tracker (and generally common in software development, sometimes also notabug) that indicates the ticket is not a bug, is a support request, or is generally invalid. CDATA – #60406
  • Fix splitting single text node – #60385
  • Fix typo setting the wrong self-closing flag
  • Fix void tagtag A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses tags to store a single snapshot of a version (3.6, 3.6.1, etc.), the common convention of tags in version control systems. (Not to be confused with post tags.) nesting with next_token – #60382
  • Reset parser state after seeking to bookmark – #60428
  • Test cleanup – #59647

HTTPHTTP HTTP is an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. HTTP is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web and this protocol defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. API

  • Ensure cookie names are cast to strings – #58566

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.

  • Add missing space after foreach keyword – #59656
  • Add type declaration to new method missed in [57518] – #59656
  • Delete .l10n.php files when deleting a theme – #59656
  • Ensure .l10n.php files are deleted when upgrading language packs – #59656
  • Fix plural forms parsing in WP_Translation_File – #59656
  • Improve singular lookup of pluralized strings – #59656
  • Improve singular lookup of pluralized strings – #59656
  • Load new translationtranslation The process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization. library in wp_load_translations_early() – #59656
  • Revert [57386] pending further investigation – #59656
  • Support loading .l10n.php translation files on their own – #59656

Upgrade/Install

  • When populating options, maybe_serialize instead of always serialize

Media

REST API

  • Add route for single styles revisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. – #59810
  • Support assigning terms when creating attachments – #57897

Script Loader

  • Remove unused WP_Scripts::get_unaliased_deps() method – #60438
  • Use a global variable in wp_script_modules() – #56313
  • Add import map polyfill for older browsers – #60348

Upload

  • Fallback to PclZip to validate ZIP file uploads – #60398
  • Check for and verify ZIP archives

Props

Thanks to the 117 (!) people who contributed to WordPress Core on Trac: @mukesh27 (12), @swissspidy (11), @gziolo (7), @peterwilsoncc (6), @jonsurrell (6), @costdev (5), @jorbin (5), @dmsnell (4), @youknowriad (4), @santosguillamot (4), @desrosj (4), @talldanwp (4), @czapla (4), @luisherranz (4), @azaozz (3), @joemcgill (3), @lgladdy (3), @sc0ttkclark (3), @artemiosans (3), @fabiankaegy (3), @shailu25 (3), @cbravobernal (3), @get_dave (3), @jeffpaul (2), @johnbillion (2), @kevin940726 (2), @joedolson (2), @dharm1025 (2), @harshgajipara (2), @isabel_brison (2), @audunmb (1), @britner (1), @cdevroe (1), @colorful-tones (1), @courane01 (1), @endymion00 (1), @feastdesignco (1), @halounsbury (1), @jsandtro (1), @karinclimber (1), @kevincoleman (1), @koesper (1), @maartenbelmans (1), @mathewemoore (1), @melcarthus (1), @mujuonly (1), @nerdpressteam (1), @olegfuture (1), @otto42 (1), @room34 (1), @sayful (1), @schutzsmith (1), @stephencronin (1), @svitlana41319 (1), @tnolte (1), @tobiasbg (1), @vikram6 (1), @welaunchio (1), @wpfy (1), @viralsampat (1), @adamsilverstein (1), @lukefiretoss (1), @ayeshrajans (1), @navjotjsingh (1), @Tyrannous (1), @jb510 (1), @gregbenz (1), @nickpagz (1), @JavierCasares (1), @yguyon (1), @mamaduka (1), @upadalavipul (1), @jsnajdr (1), @afercia (1), @Chouby (1), @dd32 (1), @pento (1), @noisysocks (1), @chrisdavidmiles (1), @wpscholar (1), @annezazu (1), @chanthaboune (1), @Chrystl (1), @codepo8 (1), @oglekler (1), @nicolefurlan (1), @antpb (1), @syamraj24 (1), @wildworks (1), @madhudollu (1), @westonruter (1), @mikachan (1), @poena (1), @nosilver4u (1), @darssen (1), @kraftbj (1), @engahmeds3ed (1), @barry-hughes (1), @schlessera (1), @aaronrobertshaw (1), @mmaattiiaass (1), @ramonopoly (1), @gaambo (1), @andrewserong (1), @flixos90 (1), @xknown (1), @tykoted (1), @afragen (1), @hellofromtonya (1), @ocean90 (1), @amieiro (1), @Dharm1025 (1), @Ankit-K-Gupta (1), @tanjimtc71 (1), @timothyblynjacobs (1), @spacedmonkey (1), @jrf (1), and @antonvlasenko (1).

Congrats and welcome to our 25 (!!) new contributors of the week: @audunmb, @cdevroe, @endymion00, @feastdesignco, @halounsbury, @kevincoleman, @koesper, @maartenbelmans, @mathewemoore, @melcarthus, @nerdpressteam, @olegfuture, @room34, @sayful, @svitlana41319, @vikram6, @welaunchio, @navjotjsingh, @gregbenz, @nickpagz, @chrisdavidmiles, @codepo8, @nosilver4u, @darssen, @barry-hughes ♥️

Core committers: @swissspidy (18), @youknowriad (11), @sergeybiryukov (7), @gziolo (7), @desrosj (6), @dmsnell (6), @peterwilsoncc (2), @adamsilverstein (2), @isabel_brison (2), @jorbin (2), @afercia (1), @joedolson (1), and @jorgefilipecosta (1).

#6-5, #core, #week-in-core

Ari Stathopoulos 1:17 pm on February 1, 2024  

Proposal: Implement a PHP autoloader in WordPress Core

Past discussions

8 years ago, a ticket was created in WordPress, suggesting a PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher autoloader for WordPress CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. classes. In that ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker., many things were discussed regarding the concept of adding a PHP autoloader in WordPress. That ticket discusses adding an 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. to allow 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 developers to register their own classes, it discusses using Composer, as well as other more nuanced topics of implementing an autoloader in WP.

It is a long thread, but a recommended read for anyone wanting to get some more context and historical data. That initial discussion was derailed several times, so for the purposes of this proposal, a new ticket was created on #60414

Since then, a lot of things have changed – both in PHP and in WordPress. Despite all these changes, WordPress Core still loads most of its codebase on each page load – regardless of whether a file is used or not. That means that WordPress takes more time to load, and at the same time consumes more memory than it should.

The time cost of including these extra files is pretty small (almost negligible), but the memory cost is not – especially for small sites running on shared hosting. By including files that are never used on a page load, we’re forcing servers to keep them in-memory, which is obviously sub-optimal.

Current work

In 2022, work started in a pull request to implement a PHP autoloader for Core classes. In the 20 months since the PR was initially created, it has received feedback, has been polished, and has been tested thoroughly. It has been kept up-to-date with the trunktrunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision. version of WordPress and is ready for production.

Initial tests show an improvement in loading time, CPU resources and memory consumption. On average, the improvements server-side for a new WP site with no plugins installed and using the default theme, are approximately 2-3ms for load-time, 0.5-1.5% for CPU time and 5-7% for memory consumption.

What the proposed implementation does

The implementation in that pull-request was kept simple and minimal:

  • Introduced a WP_Autoload class.
  • Added a CONST in the object, containing the classMap for classes & their filenames. A hardcoded classMap was deemed preferable because of legacy reasons. WordPress classes don’t (currently) have namespaces or standardized mapping. By using a hardcoded classMap we can introduce an autoloader, and facilitate future implementations & standardization.
  • Removed the include/require/include_once/require_once calls for files containing classes throughout the WP codebase
  • Included external libraries and their respective autoloaders in the Core autoloader.

What the proposed implementation does not do:

It does not introduce an API for plugins

The implementation does not introduce an API to allow plugins/themes to add their own classes to the autoloader. Instead, it only focuses on Core classes, keeping things minimal.

Though adding an API and/or method to allow plugins to add their classes to a centralized autoloader is something we can consider for the future, it is not a requirement for this initial implementation, and it would overcomplicate the initial steps of autoloading Core.

It does not use Composer

Since the Composer vs non-composer autoloader was one of the main points of discussion in the 8-year-old ticket, it’s worth mentioning here, and clarify some points:

Composer is a very mature and safe way to autoload classes. However, this initial implementation does not use it.

This proposal is for a minimally invasive, performance-optimized change. It implements autoloading using a hardcoded classMap. Still, It does take care of all the preliminary work so if it is decided that a Composer autoloader is what we want to do, then switching to that will be a relatively easy task. The current PR has a very narrow focus and serves as the first step towards modernizing the WP codebase.

Composer would allow us to automate generating the autoloader, so if deemed appropriate, we could modify the current proposal to implement that.

Adding an initial, minimal autoloader will not blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. a future Composer implementation. It is easier to start without it, and then add it if we find that we need it. Doing the reverse could prove more difficult, so this path was deemed safer as a first step.

Benefits

The result of that PR is a cleaner and faster codebase. But this change is not only beneficial to Core developers, it will also benefit the ecosystem as a whole:

  • Reduce friction for plugin developers: Right now, plugin developers usually need to check if a class exists, if it doesn’t then look up its location in Core files, include the file etc. Then and only then can they safely use what WP has to offer. Adding an autoloader makes things easier and removes a friction point for plugin developers who will now be able to directly use a WP class.
  • Improved performance: – no matter how small the improvement is, it can make a big difference for hosts and larger sites.
  • This is the first step towards modernizing the WP codebase. Though in itself it may appear like a marginal (but still very worthy) performance improvement, it opens the door to more improvements in the future of WordPress without any backwards-compatibility concerns.

A word about overriding Core classes

One concern has already been raised, and I want to immediately tackle it: adding an autoloader for WordPress Core classes would mean that it will be possible to override these classes by loading another file early enough. We should not base code decisions in Core on how developers might misuse it… There are always ways that someone can mess up WordPress by doing the wrong thing. Being able to override Core classes can be seen both a pro and a con, depending on our point of view – but should not be a deciding factor.

  • It can benefit hosts who need to override things because of idiosyncracies in their hosting environment.
  • It can benefit site-builders who don’t know any better and are currently “hacking” Core files, making it impossible to later apply security updates. As WP purists, we know not to ever do that, but we can’t assume that everyone else is as mindful as we are.
  • It is a shift in the way we think about WP classes, and change is not easy. Autoloading classes is a battle-tested and established good practice in all modern applications.
  • When adding a new class file to WP-Core, we’ll need to update the classMap accordingly. This is not a big issue however, since we won’t have to include the files we add – just add them to the class-map.

Adding a PHP autoloader to WordPress is a relatively trivial change as the PR demonstrates. It comes with nice benefits and modernizes the way we handle class loading. Because it also represents a fundamental change in the way we include files and classes in the future, your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Props @joostdevalk for the review