MediaWiki 1.4 released, preparations move forward for version 1.5
Notable events in software development included a new release of MediaWiki software last week, while work progresses on new features including one to help identify reliable versions of Wikipedia articles.
Last Monday, developer Brion Vibber announced the official release of MediaWiki 1.4.0 in a stable version. As is usual with MediaWiki development, Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects had already been using this upgrade in a beta version a couple of months ahead of the official release.
Meanwhile, preparations continue for the next software version, to which Wikipedia will be upgraded in the near future. Vibber estimated that implementations of new features might still be considered for inclusion in MediaWiki 1.5 if ready within the next month. At some point soon, however, the development of version 1.5 will start focusing strictly on fixing bugs to prepare for beta and eventual release.
With respect to the upcoming schedule, Vibber has indicated that MediaWiki tends to have two or three major version releases per year. While there is no fixed deadline, six-month intervals could be a reasonable estimate. Considering that Wikipedia was moved to the MediaWiki 1.4 beta in December, a rough guess would put the transition to a beta of 1.5 around June, although many factors could still affect the timing of the upgrade.