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

• 05:00 UTC dev-chat meeting led by @lukecarbis
• 20:00 UTC dev-chat meeting led by @francesca
• Agenda  followed at both meetings.

Main discussions from 05:00 meeting:

• @afragen: the Rollback Update Failure repo (here)
• @tellthemachines: CSSCSS Cascading Style Sheets. themed 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 in #core-css (here)

Announcements

5.7 -related

• 5.7 Beta 3 is here! Thanks you for testing, and to all the awesome people who have been tirelessly working on making WordPress happen—even going into this second year of pandemic.
• WordPress 5.7 Docs Focus update: @audrasjb
  • Several 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 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. are just about ready, pending final review from component maintainers or by the corresponding ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. authors.
  • A list of the HelpHub pages that need updates once 5.7 launches.
  • If you worked on a ticket labelled needs-dev-note, or if you want to work on a devnotedev 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 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., please get in touch with @audrasjb to keep everything coordinated. (Ed. note: And the release squad knows where to send your props!)
• 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. is still planned for RC1 next week. Co-ordinating with component maintainers taking place.

Minor releases

WordPress 5.6.2. RC 1 now available – @desrosj 5.6.2 

• This one is a very small release, and the majority of the bug testing could be done in 10-15 minutes.
• Additional testing available, raise tracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. tickets if any issues found. Focus to continue on 5.7
• 5.6.2 will be pushed out on Monday 22 February 2021.
• Aim is to try out a much smaller 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., which fixes a small handful of user-facing bugs that were finished and ready to go.
• If it’s received well, we could potentially explore more frequent, smaller minor releases.
• If you have any feedback around that, please feel free to share with @chanthaboune, @desrosj, or one of the Core team reps.

What’s new in 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/ 10.0.0

• Version 10.0 is here!
• It landed on 17 February 2021 and marks 100 releases of Gutenberg.
• Congratulations to the Gutenberg team and all contributors involved.

Highlighted posts

Here are the latest 5.7 dev notes: 

• Login & registration screens changes in WordPress 5.7
• Introducing new Post Parent related functions in WordPress 5.7
• @johnbillion: The post parent functions ticket is open again and may get renamed.

Core editor front:

• Core Editor Improvement: New Preferences experience
• Bringing the power of blocks to Widgets

Full Site Editing:

• work is going strong. Test, give feedback, ask friends to try it if they have never seen WP before and write down (with their consent of course) how they interact with the UIUI User interface, how does the UXUX User experience feels, etc.
• @annezazu: The #fse-outreach-experiment needs you, no matter what you do with WordPress. The next call for testing will likely be this week, alongside a comprehensive update that follows the open submission for questions related to FSE.
• If you want to test now, use this “How to Test” handbook page for FSE testing, and please share your feedback. (Though you don’t have to!)
• Discussion: how to get more people sending feedback and asking questions, especially from people who do not follow the Core blogs.
  • @francina: raised questions on how to get more part, particularly students and meetups
  • @webcommsat: In Marketing, we are also helping non-tech users understand better what is happening on FSE and the benefits it will bring. This will help with future marcomms too. If anyone from a non tech background would like to add to the discussion session from this week, contact the Marketing Slack for the documents. We also work with community on newsletters and social to Meetups.
  • @timothyblynjacobs: Should we consider doing another Core dashboard widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user./callout like was done for 5.0?
  • @nalininonstopnewsuk: request to let Marketing know please if this is planned at a future date to include in the schedule. 
  • @annezazu: Latest call for questions is closed, 47 questions received. There will be future rounds for open questions so we can continue to refine the general ‘reach’ going forward.
  • @lukecarbis: We’re starting to think about restarting meetups here in Australia, so maybe we could even do some in-person click-around testing, if there is a script.
  • Where is the best place to encourage outreach on this— #fse-outreach-experiment (not a feature pluginFeature Plugin A plugin that was created with the intention of eventually being proposed for inclusion in WordPress Core. See Features as Plugins. channel) or somewhere else? @annezazu suggested #core-editor channel on Slack. @Clorith suggested FSE-outreach channel to get testing and feedback on the feature before it lands in core.
• Discussion to continue after the meeting.
• A Week in Core – February 15, 2021 
• Making WordPress Releases Easier from @chanthaboune.

Updates from component maintainers

Build/Test Tools update – Updates shared by @sergeybiryukov

• Single-and Multisitemultisite Used to describe a WordPress installation with a network of multiple blogs, grouped by sites. This installation type has shared users tables, and creates separate database tables for each blog (wp_posts becomes wp_0_posts). See also network, blog, site PHPUnit test runs on GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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/ Actions are now separate jobs so they run in parallel and finish faster. Total duration was ~26 minutes; now it finishes in ~16 minutes. Thanks @johnbillion. Ticket #52548: Run Multisite tests in parallel during CI for more details.
• Work keeps going to add missing @covers tags to PHPUnit tests, for better tracking of coder coverage. Ticket #39265: Missing @covers in the comment blocks in PHPUnit tests for more details.

General: noindex robots 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. 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.) was added to search results, to keep search engines from indexing internal search results (and guard against reflected web spam attacks). Ticket #52457: WordPress vulnerable to search-reflected webspam for more details.

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

More from Build/Test Tools – @desrosj
The GitHub Action workflow files are now backported all the way through 3.7, to bring back automated testing for those branches if they need a security release. He will publish a post with the overall status of the work on 18 February. 

Upgrade/Install:

@fragen: Feature plugin Rollback Update Failure needs testing—just install and activate.

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 will create a zip of the current plugin/theme version in wp-content/updates/rollback. The first test: check whether or not the process uses too many server resources. Does it cause a server timeout? There’s a 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. to simulate a failure.

@audrasjb  shared major news: @afragen has joined us as component maintainer

General component news:

@francina: Has started reaching out to component maintainers, both to gauge the situation of features/tickets for 5.8 and check how many are active. Those who aren’t will be moved to an emeriti status, like the one used for committers, as Josepha illustrated in the post Committers, Maintainers, and Emeriti

If you:

• already know you cannot be actively involved with your component at this time, let @francina know, and she will update the component maintainers page
• want to become a component maintainer, reach out to @audrasjb or @francina so they can help you
  • Xris volunteered to help with a component. Francesca suggested to look at  existing components and see if drawn to anything 
• A refresher: what does it mean to be a component maintainer

Open Floor 

@Eclev91: Raised ticket #43495: Use Semantic Versioning for releases and asked for it to be reopened. “I’ve reviewed the discussion that took place in Slack that prompted the ticket, which noted that because core is currently on a base-10 versioning system, new and ready-to-launch features like ServeHappy and GDPR were blocked behind Gutenberg development slated for 5.0 (the idea of a 4.10 to launch these features was unheard of and untested). I added my thoughts to the ticket outlining a variety of QOL improvements for both core development and core consumers (devs like myself who maintain many WP sites) that could be gained by moving to semantic versioning. I imagine folks with hosting companies working on automating updates would also have $.02 to add.” If anyone has feedback, please post it in the Trac ticket.

Testing instructions

• @justinahinon: a WordPress testing instructions document was drafted at the contributor dayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. at Yoast (doc). Feedback about toning, phrasing, etc requested. Views on how it could work with the Core Handbook User Testing guide.
• @jeffpaul: suggested a potential use could be in Make WordPress Test Handbook rather than the Core handbook .
• @desrosj: this document is one that will be impossible to maintain over time. But it looks like each of the items you’ve detailed here so far look like great E2E test cases!
  • Some of these use cases could be used for user testing at meetups, or any other group of people that want to work on something together.
  • The steps change far too often release to release, and unless someone owns updating this document (or page) with each release, it will quickly become outdated. But if each of these are a test case, then they will fail when changes occur.
  • Not trying to discount having a document for testing at all! But feel this is far too detailed/intricate to maintain effectively for that purpose. 
  • @justinahinon: But if each of these are a test case, then they will fail when changes occur.

Growing Make Test Team

• @francina: Interest in reviving the Test Team. It has been dormant for a while: no team reps, no chats.
• During 5.6, @monikarao and others started weekly test scrubs.
• @jeffpaul: queried whether weekly test scrubs were enough to consider people as leading the Test Team into action again. Worth encouraging.
• Discussion: agreed.
• @Desroj: Triagetriage The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. team actually falls under the Test team’s umbrella now. Results of that team’s efforts are usually posted to each individual ticket as we go through them. But that is just one form of testing.
• We have a group of dedicated people showing up every week and that is amazing. At least one person on the team scrubs tickets present on a nearly daily basis.
• @nalininonstopnewsuk: we are planning a promote a team every month idea in marketing. If you decide to put a plea out for testing team, let us know to feature it in the schedule. Agreed.

Thanks to @nalininonstopnewsuk, @webcommsat. and @marybaum for the dev-notes this week.

#5-7, #core, #dev-chat, #summaries, #summary