WordPress 6.6.2 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is available for testing! Some ways you can help test this minor release:

• Use the WordPress Beta Tester 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
  • As this is a minor 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). release, select the Point Release channel and the Nightlies stream. This is the latest build including the RC and potentially any subsequent commits in the 6.6 branch.
• Use 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/ to test: wp core update https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.6.2-RC1.zip
• Directly download the Beta/RC version.

What’s in this release candidate?

Multiple fixes in this release are related to CSS specificity leading to front end sites not looking as intended. If you reverted to 6.5 due to this issue, please test this 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). on your staging site.

6.6.2 RC1 features 15 fixes in Core and 11 fixes for the Block Editor.

The following coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. tickets from TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. are fixed:

• Setting Button block to Outline Style causes CSS output order to change and cause conflicts
• global-styles-inline-css rule introduces breaking changes ” :root :where(body)”
• Global Styles: Prevent empty CSS rules and malformed selectors for custom css for blocks
• Some layout styles have increased specificity in WordPress 6.6 within the non-iframed editor
• About Page: text-wrap: balance; adds unintended new lines in Japanese
• Template contents are wiped out on rename
• Autofocus query string parameter in customizer url is broken
• Issue with search functionality in installed themes section
• Site Health Tool – Directory sizes stuck in loading state
• wp_calculate_image_srcset triggers warnings when WP_CONTENT_URL is a relative URL
• Text “None” disappeared from Align Display in WordPress 6.6
• WP_HTML_Tag_Processor doesn’t allow to set a valid image src
• Docs: Improve docs to include recommendations for changing existing admin bar menu items
• Interactivity API: Directives cannot access derived state properties on the server
• wp_list_pages() depth of 0 can show only top level of pages

The following 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 issues from GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ are fixed:

• Fix bumped specificity for layout styles in non-iframed editor
• Global Styles: Fix block custom CSS pseudo element selectors
• Featured Image Block: Reduce CSS specificity
• Update postcss-prefixwrap dependency to 1.51.0 to fix prefixing in :where selectors
• Don’t allow duplicating template parts in non-block-based themes
• Data Views: Don’t render action modal when there are no eligible items
• Fix canvas issues by removing VisualEditor’s height
• Post Editor: fix click space after post content to append
• Post Editor: Prevent popover from being hidden by metabox
• Post editor: apply space below content using a pseudo-element instead of padding-bottom
• Avoid errors for post types without a ‘menu_icon’

What’s next?

The dev-reviewed workflow (double committer sign-off) remains in effect when making changes to the 6.6 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"..

The final release is expected on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. Please note that this date can change depending on possible issues after RC1 is released. Coordination will happen in 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/ 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/. #6-6-release-leads channel.

A special thanks to everyone who helped test, raised issues, and helped to fix tickets. With this release candidate, testing continues, so please help test!

Thanks to @jorbin for pre-publication review.

#6-6, #6-6-x, #minor-releases, #releases