Prepping 2.8.5. Get the beta here.

Changes:

• Fix for trackback DOS
• Removal of permalink_structure eval
• Remove some create_function() calls
• Disallow unfiltered uploads for admins by default. Enable it again with define(‘ALLOW_UNFILTERED_UPLOADS’, true); in wp-config.php
• Add extra escaping here and there for defense in depth
• Retire two old importers
• A few small bug fixes

This is mainly a security hardening release done as part of our always ongoing security audits. There’s nothing exciting in here unless you are concerned about the trackback DOS bug.

The plugins management page has been overhauled to better match other management pages. There are status filters for All, Active, Recently Active, Inactive, and Update Available. There’s also search and paging with a screen option for setting the number of plugins to show per page.

When on a management page, the Favorite Actions dropdown now defaults to the create page that corresponds to that management page, and vice-versa. For example, visit edit.php and the dropdown displays “Create Post”. Visit post-new.php and the dropdown displays “Edit Posts”.

plugins.php and edit-comments.php remember the last status filter you selected. Try it out. If we like this we can add it to other pages that have filters.

“Screen Options” for the post, page, comment, and media management pages now allows setting the number of items to show per page.

Image header cropping now uses Jcrop.

Soliciting feedback on new Widgets API

Converting default widgets to the new widgets API.

2.8 will land some time in April. People seem pretty happy with 2.7 so we’re taking time to work on some areas that need extra attention, like widgets.

Fixing bugs for 2.7.1 and thinking about 2.8 features.