Textpattern 4.9.2 release flight plan

[petecooper]

We are targeting Textpattern 4.9.2 to address bugs & other reported issues in Textpattern ≤4.9.1 and provide further refinements.

The release flight plan does not currently include any accommodations for a beta release.

Please update this post and subsequent replies with tasks etc as needed, assigning yourself or others where appropriate.

Timeline

• GA release: March spring summer 2026

Milestone(s)

• 4.9.2
• 4.9.3
• 4.9.4
• 4.9

GA release

Textpattern 4.9.2

Personnel

• Release pilot(s): tbc
• Release co-pilot(s): tbc

Preflight

• preflight
  • check vendors is up-to-date (everyone)
    • check PRs for dependabot updates
  • latest translations (@philwareham)
    • tag with release tag in own repo (@philwareham)
  • latest pophelp (@philwareham)
    • tag with release tag in own repo (@philwareham)
  • draft .com blog post (?id=489) (release pilot, or assigned person)
  • write HISTORY.txt (everyone)
    • additional credits where not already listed (e.g. patched security issues) (everyone)
  • top and tail HISTORY.txt with additional information (release pilot or co-pilot)
  • tag public/admin themes with release tag (@philwareham)
    • tag with release tag in own repo (@philwareham)

Take Off

• take off
  • package up for GitHub and .com (release pilot)
  • update latest.zip, latest.tar.gz, and latest.tar.xz in server config (@petecooper)
  • update language pack links in server config (@petecooper)
  • update demo site (@petecooper)
  • open feedback thread on forum (?id=52771) (release pilot, or assigned person)
  • publish .com blog post (release pilot, or assigned person)
  • forum announcement (release pilot, or assigned person)
  • forum feedback (release pilot, or assigned person)

Inflight service

• inflight service
  • close milestone (release pilot, or assigned person)
  • create next-but-one milestone, if appropriate (release pilot, or assigned person)
  • update https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Textpattern_version (release pilot, or assigned person)
  • update https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13168 (@rwetzlmayr, or assigned person)
  • socials (release pilot, or assigned person)
  • update https://textpattern.com/about/system-requirements to reflect any changes (release pilot, or assigned person)

[petecooper]

We're warming up the forge for Textpattern 4.9.2.

@philwareham @bloatware Please check the issue for preflight tasks.

@Bloke I'm happy to take this release as pilot if you'd prefer, and I'm happy for you to push the buttons.

@rwetzlmayr Your Wikidata fu would be appreciated in the postflight period.

Thank you, everyone. Break a leg.

[petecooper]

We need to push on with this release. I propose we release week commencing June 29th 2026, which is around three weeks away.

@Bloke - any forecast on your availability for that week, please? See above re: my involvement to help.

[petecooper]

Pinging this again. Can we shoot for an August release, please? Thank you.

[bloatware]

AFAIR, we still have a pending security issue, which looks cumbersome to fix without a clear admin/public (sub)domains separation. Few easy quick'n'dirty patches are worth testing but might break something. Another option is to recognise that security-wise there are only two txp user roles: those who can publish live articles and the others. So it goes.

[petecooper]

@bloatware - thank you, this is helpful. Could we defer the pending security issue for 4.9.3 for further tests? It's possible (likely?) we may need a 4.9.3 release following PHP 8.6 from late November 2026 (~16 weeks at the current time).