WordPress MU 2.8.5.1 has just been released and is available for download immediately. This release addresses several security issues and bug-fixes. WordPress MU version 2.8.5 was tagged and ready for release when a bug was discovered which prevented editing of blogs. That is why this release is tagged 2.8.5.1. It is recommended to upgrade to version 2.8.5.1 immediately.
This release also fixes a problem with slashes in blog and site options. You’ll be prompted to run the site upgrader. Please run it on all your blogs.
If you are using the automatic upgrading feature in WordPress MU 2.8.2, you’ll first need to edit line 697 in wp-admin/includes/class-wp-upgrader.php. Replace “wordpress” with “wordpress-mu”.
Before:
if ( !$wp_filesystem->copy($working_dir . '/wordpress/wp-admin/includes/update-core.php', $wp_dir . 'wp-admin/includes/update-core.php', true) )
After:
if ( !$wp_filesystem->copy($working_dir . '/wordpress-mu/wp-admin/includes/update-core.php', $wp_dir . 'wp-admin/includes/update-core.php', true) )
You can use the auto upgrader after saving the changes. This bug was fixed in WordPress MU 2.8.3, so you only need to do this if you are using the auto upgrader from version 2.8.2.
WordPress version 2.8.5 was released earlier today which addressed several security issues. The WordPress core team had identified several security hardening changes while working on WordPress 2.9 and felt it was worth the effort to back-port these changes to the 2.8 branch.
The headline changes in this release are:
A fix for the Trackback Denial-of-Service attack that is currently being seen.
Removal of areas within the code where php code in variables was evaluated.
Switched the file upload functionality to be whitelisted for all users including Admins.
Retiring of the two importers of Tag data from old plugins.
It is recommended to download and upgrade to version 2.8.5 or use the automatic upgrade function of WordPress under Tools > Upgrade from the admin area.
If you noticed a significant drop in your twitter followers then you are not alone. Twitter announced that it pushed out an update to fix the follower and following counts which have been inconsistent for some time. Your follower and following counts should now be consistent with the corresponding numbers from the followers and following pages. Twitter also purged a lot of spam accounts so that may also cause a drop in your followers.
Twitter wrote:
For some time, the follower and following counts we display have been incorrect for some folks. We’re soon to push a change that will address this issue. This means that the count you see in your sidebar should match what you see on your follower and following pages.
However, a consequence of this change is that follower counts will drop for some people. In particular, those with large followings may see significant changes as we correct for spam accounts and data inconsistencies. No legitimate followings should be affected—we’re just cleaning up artifacts in the system.
Google Wave was announced at Google I/O 2009 in May at San Francisco. All developers attending Google I/O were given access to a developer sandbox for Google Wave and everyone left out had been campaigning for an account. Today, at the Google Wave API Hackathon in Mountain View, Google announced that 100,000 Wave Invites will be sent out on September 30th.
The new invites will not be for the developers sandbox but for wave.google.com. It is also assumed that all developers with a sandbox account will also an invite. The Wave team will be focusing on optimization, stability and usability of Google wave until the first official rollout on September 30.