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WordPress MU 2.7.1 beta 2

WordPress MU is a multi user or multi blog version of WordPress that can be used to run sites like WordPress.com.

The 2.7.1 release is very close now. I have just uploaded wordpress-mu-2.7.1-beta2.zip for your enjoyment.

2.7.1 has taken longer than usual to come out, mainly because of the large number of bug fixes and new features in this release. Highlights include:

  • A revamped plugin system thanks to Andy Peatling. Plugins installed in the plugins directory rather than mu-plugins can be activated and deactivated on all blogs with one click.
  • The admin bar settings can be customized by any user for each blog via the “My Blogs” page. The code here is still rough, and may not make it into the final release. Please help clean it up!
  • The site admin can now set a Global Dashboard blog for users who don’t have blogs. Those users will be added to this blog rather than the first one.
  • And many more bugfixes you can read about on the MU Timeline

I think this release is just about good enough to put on a production server, but test it first on a development server and backup your old install if you’re really paranoid. All I’ll guarantee is that this software will take up space on your server. I need your help to test it.

If you’re a jQuery fiend or CSS styling guru, your help with the “My Blogs” page would be very much appreciated. My ugly code hides settings that aren’t relevant, but the page isn’t pretty. Use Trac or contact me through this site if you have ideas or code to contribute.

I’m glad to say that once MU 2.7.1 does come out. Upgrading from 2.7 should be as easy as clicking the Upgrade button in the dashboard. I tried upgrading from 2.7 yesterday and my test server upgraded itself after 1 or 2 false starts.
‘Course, if you’ve modified core files (naughty!), those changes will be overwritten and you’ll have to manually upgrade.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with patches, code snippets, ideas and with ticket updates on Trac.

By Donncha

Donncha Ó Caoimh is a software developer at Automattic and WordPress plugin developer. He posts photos at In Photos and can also be found on Twitter.

69 replies on “WordPress MU 2.7.1 beta 2”

Sounds like a local DNS issue on your server. Do you have the latest wp-super-cache installed? Does it complain that it can’t find wp-cron.php?

ssh to your server and ping a local blog url. Does that work?

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Donnacha, local DNS issue?
I upgrade to MU 2.7 and stops working, downgrade to 2.6.5 and works again. I guess it has nothing to do with local dns.

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Sorry, but this is the first I’ve heard of this problem so it’s unlikely to be fixed before 2.7.1 comes out. If you can debug it yourself that would help immensely because it doesn’t happen for me.

Have you got regular WordPress installed on that server? Does the same thing happen with that? Both projects share the same code so it should have problems too.

Have you tried the beta2 code?

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I’ve just installed a new MU for testing the fetch_rss feature, but seems still broken.

The intresting is, that it is working in the same box with normal 2.7.1 wp.

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To be more precise, in 2.7.1 beta2 it only stops working if your feed throws HTTP 301 (redirected to feedburner etc.), otherwise it seems working.

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This problem seems to be more intresting by the way. In the mean time I’ve installed a brand new 2.7.1 MU, and rss widgets work.

But, if I upgrade from an earlier version the rss widgets does not show any items anymore. I must have been something around the db, or a plugin conflict… I’m digging deeper.

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It’s where users without blogs can login and change their profile. Originally it was the first blog but that’s not the best solution.

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yes, that’s what i’ve got too, but i don’t see a difference between users without blog just on main site or on dedicated dashboard blog. They can change their profile on main blog too.
I personally prefer to have all users without blog as Contributors on main site, so they can post to main site.
BTW, was the default role already fixed? In 2.7 it was not working.

thanx
buzz

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Default role? I thought it was ok. Please open a ticket on Trac if this bug is still in the 2.7.1 beta 2 release and I’ll get it fixed.

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just opened new ticket #957.

One more question please. why usernames and blogs with underscore or dash are not allowed? I could create buzz_lightyear at wordpress.com why not in standard wmpu?

i hacked mine to allow it, but why not by default, please?

many thanx

buzz – you can’t create accounts with an underscore on WordPress.com now. It’s because _ is an invalid character in a hostname (or subdomain as it’s commonly called).

that does not mean you can ignore ie users. being a web developers means to seek or create solutions to overcome those issues.. i mean i am not using but there is still zillions of ie6 users out there

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I don’t have access to IE here so it’s not something I can fix. The theme is GPLed and the theme author is linked from the footer.
I’m sure they’d love to get a patch to improve compatibility!

wow you guys respond really quick P:

@barry: i told you i am not using ie6 other than testing purposes
@djzone: i am very aware of that..you dont have to tell me, try telling that to corporate users and moron home users P:
@Donncha: there’s shedloads of transparency and rounded corners fixes out there, but if you would like to fix before the creators, just emulate the transparency with a 1px black bg img and the css filter: 40 -mozilla:0.4 etc.. for rounded corners you dont have to use fancy js..just create a rounded corner graphic and pin it around your sidebar with absolute-relative positioning.. and dont be that hard on me, i hate ie more than you do P:

Hey Donncha, updated right now but I am having one problem:

When you click on the Dashboard link, it goes to wp-admin/admin.php?page=index.php but there is nothing there. It loads the menu, the header and footer but there is no content shown. Going to /wp-admin/index.php shows up corretly.

What could have gone wrong?

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I do have an index.php in both folders, the default from a mu install. Vhost is set to no. I tested this with main blog and another blog I have, both gave me the same result.

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Ah, didnt notice the change from php to txt. This will teach me to pay attention. Works now, and the dashboard loads fast!

Thanks! Beta 2 is working rather fine on my production server =)

Just installed this on a fresh clean site with WPv2.7.1 and got the following error:

Warning: constant() [function.constant]: Couldn’t find constant VHOST in /home/…/wpmu-settings.php on line 114

Warning: constant() [function.constant]: Couldn’t find constant VHOST in /home/…/wpmu-settings.php on line 140

Any ideas? If this is the wrong place to ask this type of question could you please direct me to the right location.

Cheers,

N.

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OMG I spent hours scratching my head only to find out MU dynamically generates the wp-config.php file…

Why do I have to over complicate things… 🙁

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Hence my handle… I really should read manuals before unwapping the package and wanting to play before I know how things work.. 😉

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I have a problem with my favourite plugin, and one used on many premium themes, when using it with MU. That is the Featured Content Gallery

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/featured-content-gallery/

Do you think this will be fixed in Mu 2.7.1? It seems like a simple problem, something on the options.php page.

I know that you can’t develope to get all plugin problems fixed, but I think that this working with MU would be a bonus that will get more users.

Joe

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Sorry, the dangers of tryign to work with 3 kids around.

The problem is that when you add info to the plugin, it tells you that the options.php page cannot be found. Which is strange, because that is on the options.php page.

I’ll take a look and see if I can figure out the problem.

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Ah, that can’t be fixed unfortunately. MU whitelists the options it’ll accept. WP 2.8 does too, but has a compatibility mode for legacy plugins.

Unfortunately it’s a huge security hole for MU sites because any admin can change any blog option and potentially execute PHP code.

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You’re welcome to translate the interface to your own language but I’m not familiar with the process.

I found this thread through a Google search. Leaving a message there or searching using Google should help you track down the correct language file.

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Just to let you know…

– I installed this version in about 5 mins (after spending 3 hours of wasting my time doing silly things with it)
– Changed most options to the way I like things
– Activated my top 15 plugins
– Created two subdomain blogs
– Activated various plugins (that don’t mess with the database) for each blog
– published posts & pages, then edited, deleted, and republished
– Made comments
– Changed a bit of the code to stop users changing permalinks
– and a whole lot more…

AND everything runs like a charm!

Thanks, and I look forward to the final version 😉

N.

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eo – thanks for the tips on editing the template. I’ll have a go at fixing it during the week if I find time. If MU is delayed I’ll tell everyone I was editing my theme! 😉

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Got this error: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_SL in /PATH/wp-admin/plugins.php on line 16

plugins.php at line 16 contains patch info:

<<<<<<>>>>>> .r1746

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