takahe/docs/releases/0.6.rst
2022-12-30 12:13:06 -07:00

5.3 KiB

0.6

Originally released: 2022/12/24

Latest release: 0.6.1 on 2022/12/30

This release focuses primarily on server completeness and stability, with an extra helping of moderation tools as well.

This is the first release we might recommend you start a community on. Bear in mind that this is still beta software, and so not free of bugs, but we've now reached enough stability and moderation functionality that it's doable. We're also spooling up invites on takahe.social as part of our own push in this regard - see https://jointakahe.org/takahesocial/ for more information and how to get an invite.

If you're curious on the reasons not to use Takahē yet, see what's left to implement on our /features page, and our federation and client compatibility list on our /interoperability page.

Major features:

  • Initial Mastodon Client API support
    • Timelines, notifications, posting, image upload, emoji, search, follow/unfollow, like, boost, thread view all work
    • Filtering, DMs/conversations, bookmarks, favourites list, lists, scheduling, announcements do not work yet
  • Custom Emoji ("emojo") support
    • Fetching and rendering is fully supported
    • Local creation is still via the Django Admin, but otherwise works well
  • Report functionality and moderation queue
    • Both local and forwarded reports from other servers
    • Identities can now be "limited" or blocked entirely
  • Following/Followers pages
  • Identity, user and invites admin pages
  • Stator status monitoring page
  • Separate moderation and admin user permission levels
  • Terms Of Service, Privacy Policy, and Server Rules page functionality

Additionally, we've made lots of bug fixes and other improvements, including:

  • Profile and post URLs now work in search
  • Character counter on compose forms
  • Videos will now show in the timeline
  • Counts on boosts and likes (that can be turned off in new Wellness settings)
  • Compatibility with more Fediverse servers (see /interoperability)
  • Static files are now efficiently served/proxied by a bundled nginx
  • All uploaded images are now WebP for efficiency
  • Sessions use signed cookies for reduced database load
  • Better web user experience on mobile devices

Our plan for the 0.7 release is not finalised, but likely includes:

  • Emoji admin page
  • User-initiated identity deletion
  • Server announcements system
  • Initial video support
  • HTML emails and moderation emails

We're specifically looking help from the following people as we develop further:

  • Visual Design - We'd like to have a proper design system and identity for Takahē
  • Instance admins or developers of non-Mastodon servers - We need help debugging federation issues, especially where we're causing errors we can't see elsewhere.

If you'd like to help with these or other areas, see /contributing to see how to get in touch.

I would also like to specifically thank Michael Manfre and Tyler Kennedy (TkTech) for their help during the 0.6 development cycle; it is people like them, who turn up and help with the boring and unglamarous parts of development, who make Open Source work.

You can download images from Docker Hub, or use the image name jointakahe/takahe:0.6.

Upgrade Notes

Migrations

There are new database migrations, but this once, they are not fully backwards-compatible, as we've deleted the unneeded stator_errors table.

To apply these migrations, you should:

  • Stop all Stator processes (it's fine to leave webservers going)
  • Apply the migrations
  • Start new Stator processes

As of version 0.6, Takahē uses signed cookies for sessions rather than a database table. As part of this change, when you upgrade, all users will be signed out, but no data will be lost - they just need to sign in again.

Signup Settings

The previous "invite only signups mode" option has been removed - invites are now always allowed to sign up, and the only option is to disable open signup or not.

As a result, your site may default to open signups after upgrade - check the setting and ensure signups are disabled if you want invite-only.

Storage Settings

If you use Google Cloud for storage, the URI format has changed - before it was gcs://bucketname, and now it is gs:///bucketname.

About Page Format

The about page and homepage have been merged and have a new format (and Markdown is now supported). You should check your layout and formatting still looks good.

Patch Releases

0.6.1 (2022/12/30)

This is a bugfix release. Main fixes and some small new features include:

  • Significant bugfixes to the client API
  • Reply threads now auto-fetch parent posts and don't error when not available
  • OpenGraph tags for post and identity pages
  • Ability to set profile metadata fields
  • Infinite scroll for timelines (with option to turn it off)
  • CWs persist through to replies
  • Media proxy and caching fixes
  • Federation compatibility fixes

There are no migrations or backwards incompatible changes.

We'd also like to specifically thank the author of Toot! for their help in debugging our client API and helping us work out what to fix!