Pantheon release notes: WordPress

The latest version of Solr Search for WordPress, version 2.5.3, became available as of April 24, 2024.

Highlights

• Bug fixes: Fixed an issue identified by a user (offshorealert on WordPress.org) that prevented tax_query arguments from being parsed correctly by Solr.

You can upgrade to Solr Search for WordPress 2.5.3 from your WordPress dashboard on your Pantheon development environment to get this update.

An update is now available for the WordPress (Composer Managed) upstream to resolve a particular log message that started appearing after our WP-CLI wrapper update in February.

This update adds a new file to the /config directory, application.pantheon.php. In order to accomodate this new file, a line has been added to config/application.php to load the config/application.pantheon.php file. If you have made modifications to your config/application.php, it's possible you may run into conflicts with this update. If this is the case, you can manually resolve by running the following command:

git pull -Xtheirs https://github.com/pantheon-upstreams/wordpress-composer-managed.git main
git push origin master

For more help or assistance about managing potential merge conflicts, refer to our documentation on auto-resolving via the dashboard or manually resolving via the command line.

Technical Details

The application.pantheon.php file curently contains code to check for a defined WP_HOME value in the site's .env file. If the value is undefined or no .env file is being used, values for WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL are defined. This can be overridden by either adding values to the site's .env file or adding putenv( 'WP_HOME=https://example.com' ); and putenv( 'WP_SITEURL=https://example.com' ); to your application.php file.

Why the change?

Roots Bedrock makes heavy use of environment variables. We made an intentional decision to not rely on .env files in order to reduce overall complexity. This left WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL undefined in the application.php file except in local development with Lando. In most cases, WordPress is intelligent enough to use the database values for home and siteurl for normal interactions, however, this caused problems with WP-CLI operations. The addition of a new application.pantheon.php file allows us to define those values if they are not already while still allowing them to be overridden for more complex environments.

The latest version of WordPress, 6.5.2, became available on Pantheon as of April 10, 2024.

Highlights

• Security updates: Addressed one security vulnerabilities in the Avatar block type.
• 2 bug fixes in Core
• 12 bug fixes in the Block Editor

What happened to 6.5.1?

6.5.2 is the first minor release for WordPress 6.5 rather than 6.5.1. Yesterday, it was disclosed on the Make WordPress Core development site that due to an error with the initial package, 6.5.1 could not be released.

Upgrade to WordPress 6.5.2 right from your Pantheon dashboard or Terminus for added security.

The latest version of WordPress, 6.5 (Regina), became available on Pantheon as of April 2, 2024.

Highlights

• WordPress 6.5 introduces the new Font Library. This feature allows you to upload fonts to your WordPress site or install any of the fonts available from Google's font library.
• Previously, in version 1.3.3 of our Pantheon MU Plugin, we added support for the new Font Library feature by explicitly defining where fonts are stored to support this new feature.
• For more information, refer to our documentation.

• WordPress 6.5 also adds a new Interactivity API. This API establishes a standardized way to add interactive elements to Gutenberg blocks.

• A new localization system has been introduced in WordPress 6.5 to improve the performance of translations. This system uses a new file format, .l10n.php, to store translations in addition to the standard .mo and .po files you may already be familiar with. When .l10n.php files exist, they are loaded instead, providing significant performance improvements and using less memory.
• For more information about Performant Translations on Pantheon and how to generate .l10n.php files if they do not exist, see our Performant Translations guide.

• WordPress plugins can now have dependencies on other plugins. This allows plugin authors to specify that their plugin requires another plugin to be installed and activated in order to work properly. A new Requires Plugins Plugin Header has been introduced to require other plugins to be installed and activated before the current plugin can be activated and prevent plugins that are dependent upon other plugins to be deactivated accidentally. For more information, see the Plugin Dependencies dev note.

• For full details about WordPress 6.5, see the release notes or the WordPress 6.5 Field Guide.

On March 25, 2024, it was announced in the WordPress development blog that the default storage location for the Font Library (added in WordPress 6.5) will be wp-content/uploads/fonts. Previously, we had added a feature to our Pantheon MU Plugin to support the new Font Library feature by changing the previous default path (wp-content/fonts) to wp-content/uploads/fonts. This change to our MU plugin removes that override as it is no longer necessary. You can read more about the Font Library feature in our guide to using the Font Library on Pantheon.

Pantheon Advanced Page Cache v1.5.0 is now available on WordPress.org and GitHub. This release adds a new filter to make cache purges less aggressive and provide more flexibility for developers and the sites they maintain. You can learn about the filter in the plugin's README file which includes an example of how to use it.

Additionally, this update implements our recently updated WPUnit Helpers project to simplify PHP Unit tests as well as our recently developed Plugin Release Actions to automate steps in the release process.

You can read the full changelog in the GitHub release notes.

WordPress 6.5 will add a new Font Library feature. The Font Library allows you to upload fonts from your computer or add any of the fonts available on Google's font library to your WordPress site. In anticipation of this, Pantheon has added a feature to our Pantheon MU Plugin to support the new Font Library feature. You can read more about the Font Library feature in our guide to using the Font Library on Pantheon.

We've recently modified the Pantheon wrapper around the WP-CLI executable to solve a number of interrelated issues that customers may have previously been experiencing and/or using workarounds to solve. We recommend reviewing your site's logs and resolve any PHP notices or warnings.

Problem

• Our WP-CLI wrapper included a hard-coded --url flag for all wp commands run on the platform (via Terminus, e.g. terminus remote:wp or terminus wp, or internal workflows that relied on WP-CLI like flushing cache or viewing the Status page in the dashboard).
• For WordPress Multisites, the hard-coded --url flag pointed to the Pantheon platform domain (*.pantheonsite.io) instead of the actual domain of the site resulting in errors and the command failing unless executed manually (via Terminus with the correct --url flag attached).

Solution

• We have implemented a solution that checks if a site is a WordPress Multisite. If so, we remove the hard-coded --url flag, allowing WP-CLI to operate normally.
• This change does not affect workflows that are properly passing the --url flag to WP-CLI commands via terminus (e.g. terminus wp <site>.<env> -- plugin list --url=<url>). Any WP-CLI flags passed after the -- in the terminus wp command will be passed through to and interpreted by WP-CLI.
• This change means that many sites that were previously unable to view their full Status page will now be able to do so, and flushing site cache via the button in the Pantheon dashboard on sites that previously were unable to or had errors in doing so should now work as expected. Any other workflows or processes that relied on WP-CLI will also benefit from this change.

Recommended action

We're thrilled to announce the availability of WP-CLI v2.10.0 on the Pantheon platform.

WP-CLI is easily accessible for any WordPress site on Pantheon through our CLI, Terminus. Manage your WordPress installations efficiently with the power of WP-CLI at your fingertips.

Highlights

• New i18n "make-php" command: This new command lets site owners take advantage of WordPress Core's "Performant Translations" project even before it is released with WordPress Core.
• Adds minor and patch limitations to theme updates: Now, like plugins, themes can be updated only to their latest minor or patch releases
• Bug fixes: WP-CLI 2.10.0 fixes "a lot of small and not so small bugs" with more than 200 pull requests merged.

For those who love diving into the details, we encourage you to explore the detailed WP-CLI changelog.

The latest version of WordPress, 6.4.3, became available on Pantheon as of January 30, 2024.

Highlights

• Security updates: Addressed two security vulnerabilities, including a PHP file upload bypass (limited to administrators), and a object injection mechanism that could be used to exploit an existing Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability. Since this release fixes security vulnerabilities, users are urged to upgrade their sites immediately. For a detailed analysis of the two security patches, see this article from Patchstack.
• 5 bug fixes in Core
• 16 bug fixes in the Block Editor

Upgrade to WordPress 6.4.3 right from your Pantheon dashboard or Terminus for added security.

We're thrilled to announce the availability of WP-CLI v2.9.0 on the Pantheon platform.

WP-CLI is easily accessible for any WordPress site on Pantheon through our CLI, Terminus. Manage your WordPress installations efficiently with the power of WP-CLI at your fingertips.

Highlights

• Enhanced PHP 8.2 support: This release is dedicated to refining support for PHP 8.2, the recommended version on Pantheon.
• Optimized compatibility with WordPress 6.4: We've worked to guarantee seamless compatibility, providing you with the best performance and features available.
• Introducing "wp config is-true" command: Our Pantheon engineers have introduced the new "wp config is-true" command. Specifically designed for shell scripting, this command improves WP-CLI functionality and is already integrated into some of our automation processes.
• Bug fixes: Although primarily a compact release, WP-CLI v2.9.0 brings a significant impact with crucial bug fixes to enhance usability.

For those who love diving into the details, we encourage you to explore the detailed WP-CLI changelog.

The latest version of WordPress, 6.4.2, became available on Pantheon as of December 6, 2023.

Highlights

• Security updates: Addressed a Remote Code Execution vulnerability. While not directly exploitable in Core, its potential severity was recognized, especially when combined with certain plugins, particularly in multisite installations.
• 7 bug fixes in Core: Resolved an issue causing inconsistencies in stylesheet and theme directories.

Upgrade to WordPress 6.4.2 right from your Pantheon dashboard or Terminus for added security.

The WordPress Native PHP Sessions plugin added primary keys to its custom tables in 1.2.2 for greater performance and redundancy, but did not upgrade existing sites. Now, version 1.4 includes an optional upgrade command for sites that installed the plugin prior to the 1.2.2 release.

Our open source WordPress Native PHP Sessions is available in the WordPress.org plugins repo.

Global CDN now has improved compatibility with the WPML multilingual WordPress plugin. Page variations for each language can be cached at the edge. This update was rolled out automatically for all sites that use the WPML plugin and increased site cache hit ratio by 24% on average.

The Pantheon Front-End Sites Settings page is now available for users of the WordPress for Front-End project. It provides a simplified post install experience where users can copy environment variables for use in the Front-End Sites dashboard, and also test their preview endpoint. Instructions for creating a new WordPress project can be found here. Want to chat more about these kinds of sites? Join the #front-end-frameworks Slack Channel.

WordPress Multisites can now run automated Search and Replace when cloning the database between environments or spinning up new environments.

Subdomain Multisites can use a domain map to define the URLs between environments, or auto-convert to a subdirectory Multisite in non-live environments.

For more information, see Pantheon’s documentation on Search and Replace. Or join the #WordPress Slack Channel to connect with other Pantheon customers & super-users.

We released an update for the Solr Search for WordPress plugin which disables auto-commit by default and allows cron to push solr commits regularly instead.

This drastically improves the performance of large sites and avoids 503 errors related to hard committing on every update. This update is recommended for all WordPress sites currently running the plugin.

You can still enable auto-commit by explicitly setting SOLRPOWER_DISABLE_AUTOCOMMIT to false.

We released an update for the Pantheon Advanced Page Cache WordPress plugin which adds a filter to allow disabling surrogate keys for posts' taxonomy terms. This can be especially helpful for posts with large numbers of taxonomies (such as WooCommerce products with a large number of global attributes).

For more information, see Pantheon documentation.

WordPress sites can now leverage an upgraded object caching solution on Pantheon! Object Cache Pro is a highly optimized premium WordPress plugin that integrates with Redis for business class performance. Find out more about our perspective Object Caching from Steve Persch, Director of Developer Experience.

See Pantheon’s documentation for instructions on how to enable Object Cache Pro. Or join the #WordPress Slack Channel to connect with other customers using Object Cache Pro.

Pantheon has pushed an update to WordPress and Drupal 7 core upstreams which sets PHP 8.1 as the new default PHP version, rather than 7.4.

Please test this core update thoroughly before deploying to the Live environment. If your site requires an older version of PHP, or if you'd like to upgrade to PHP 8.2, see Pantheon’s documentation on how to manage PHP versions via the pantheon.yml configuration file.

WP-CLI 2.8.1 is now live on the platform.

WP-CLI 2.8.0 is now live on the platform.

WordPress 6.2.1 is available on the Pantheon platform. Users may update their sites immediately. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WordPress 6.2 is available on the Pantheon platform. Users may update their sites immediately. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

Pantheon users with Gold tier accounts (or above) now have the option to create their own WordPress Multisite. To enable the WordPress Multisite option on your account, contact your Customer Success Manager. To learn about WordPress Multisite, refer to our documentation.

WordPress 6.1.1 is available on the Pantheon platform. This release fixes 29 bug fixes in Core and 21 bug fixes for the block editor and users may update their sites immediately. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WordPress 6.1.1 is currently available on the Pantheon platform. This minor release features 29 bug fixes in Core and 21 bug fixes for the block editor.

WordPress 6.1 is currently available on the Pantheon platform. WordPress 6.1 refines the site-building experience and allows users to interact with enhancements that continue to make site creation more intuitive while pushing creative boundaries. For more information on the general updates, status reports, and the occasional code changes, check out the version 6.1 release status page.

The Pantheon-maintained WordPress Composer Managed upstream is available for Early Access participants. This upstream leverages Bedrock, a WordPress-specific framework for using Composer on WordPress sites. Complete the request form if you are interested in participating in this Early Access offering.

WordPress 6.0.2 is currently available on the Pantheon platform. This release features nearly a thousand enhancements and bug fixes. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. The next major release will be version 6.1 which is planned for late 2022.

WordPress 6.0.1 is currently available on the Pantheon platform. This maintenance release features 13 bug fixes in Core and 18 bug fixes for the Block Editor.

The next major release will be version 6.1 which is planned for later in 2022.

WordPress 6.0.1 is currently available on the Pantheon platform. This maintenance release features 13 bug fixes in Core and 18 bug fixes for the Block Editor.

The next major release will be version 6.1 which is planned for later in 2022.

WordPress 6.0 is the latest major release of WordPress and is currently available on the Pantheon platform. This release features nearly a thousand enhancements and bug fixes.

If you’ve updated the previously released Twenty Twenty-two theme outside of Pantheon's WordPress upstream, updating to WordPress 6.0 will result in an error, due to the removal of the wp-content/themes/twentytwentytwo/assets/fonts/LICENSE.md file. To resolve this error delete this file, commit, and push your change, then reapply the update. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WordPress 5.9.1 is a maintenance release that is currently available on the Pantheon platform. This maintenance release features 82 bug fixes on both Core and the Block editor. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WordPress 5.9 is available for production sites and includes full site editing and the first default block theme. WordPress 5.9 comes installed with the Twenty Twenty-Two theme.

WordPress 5.8.2 is available on the Pantheon platform. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation. This security and maintenance release features two bug fixes in addition to one security fix. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. All versions since WordPress 5.2 have also been updated. This release fixes security vulnerabilities and users are urged to upgrade their sites immediately.

WordPress 5.8.1 is a short-cycle security and maintenance release that is currently available on the Pantheon platform. The next major WordPress release will be version 5.9. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WordPress 5.8News – Releases – WordPress.org is available on the Pantheon platform. This release fixes security vulnerabilities, and users are urged to upgrade their sites immediately. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WordPress 5.7.2 is available on the Pantheon platform. This release fixes security vulnerabilities, and users are urged to upgrade their sites immediately. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WP-CLI 2.5.0 is now available. This release fixes security vulnerabilities, and users are urged to upgrade. For more information, see the WP-CLI 2.5.0 release notes. Detailed information on using WP-CLI on the Pantheon Platform can be found in the WP-CLI documentation.

WordPress 5.7.2 is now available on the Pantheon platform. This release fixes security vulnerabilities, and users are urged to upgrade their sites immediately. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WordPress 5.7.1 is now available on the Pantheon platform. This release fixes security vulnerabilities, and users are urged to upgrade their sites immediately. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation documentation. For more information, see the WordPress 5.7.1 release notes.

WordPress 5.7 is now available on the Pantheon platform. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation. For more information, see the WordPress 5.7 release notes.

WordPress 5.6.1 is now available on the Pantheon platform. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation. For more information, see the WordPress 5.6.1 release notes.

WordPress 5.6 is now available on the Pantheon platform. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WordPress 5.5.3 is now available on the Pantheon platform. Detailed information on applying and debugging core updates can be found in the Core Updates documentation.

WordPress 5.5.1 has been released on the Pantheon platform. WordPress 5.5.1 is a maintenance release with multiple bug fixes and enhancements, including fixes for changes introduced in WordPress 5.5. See the release notes for the full list of bug fixes and enhancements added in 5.5.1.

WordPress 5.5 has been released on the Pantheon platform. This version of WordPress introduces a new method, wp_get_environment_type(), which returns whether your site is running on a live, test or development environment. Pantheon supports this method, so it will return the correct value on any site that has upgraded to WordPress 5.5.

WordPress 5.4.2 is now available on the Pantheon platform. As part of this release, Pantheon also rolled out a configuration change to block xmlrpc by default. If your site uses xmlrpc, re-enable it before deploying this release to production.

WordPress 5.4.1 is now available on the Pantheon platform to apply as a 1-click update on Pantheon site dashboards. For more information, see the WordPress 5.4.1 release notes .

WP-CLI has been upgraded from version 1.x to version 2.4.0 platform-wide. For more information, see the WP-CLI release notes.

Update to WordPress 5.3.2 is available to apply as a 1-click update 1-click update on Pantheon site dashboards.

Terminus now runs the version of Drush or WP-CLI installed in a site’s codebase via Composer, rather than the platform-wide version installed by Pantheon.

Update to WordPress 5.3 is available to apply as a 1-click update on Pantheon site dashboards. For more information, see https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-3/

Update to WordPress 5.2.4. For more information, see https://wordpress.org/news/2019/10/wordpress-5-2-4-security-release/.

Update to WordPress 5.2.3. For more information, see https://wordpress.org/news/2019/09/wordpress-5-2-3-security-and-maintenance-release/.

WordPress 5.2.2 is available to apply as 1-click updates on Pantheon site dashboards. For more information, see https://wordpress.org/news/2019/06/wordpress-5-2-2-maintenance-release/.

WordPress 5.2.1 is available to apply as 1-click updates on Pantheon site dashboards. . For more information, see https://wordpress.org/news/2019/05/jaco/.

PHP 7.3 is the new default for Drupal 8 and WordPress sites. Apply the 1-click update on the Pantheon site dashboard to upgrade. For more information see Faster WordPress & Drupal 8 sites with PHP 7.3 by Default.

Pantheon has made WordPress 5.1.1, a security release, available on the platform. All users are encouraged to upgrade. For more information, see the WordPress 5.1.1 release announcement.

A fix has been deployed for WordPress Launch Check and the Pantheon site dashboard "Status" tab, which now accurately reports plugin vulnerabilities.

Pantheon has released Drupal 8.6.10, Drupal 7.64, and WordPress 5.1 on the platform. For information on applying the updates see WordPress and Drupal Core Updates.

Pantheon has released Drupal 8.6.7, Drupal 7.63, and WordPress 5.0.3 on the platform. For information on applying the updates see WordPress and Drupal Core Updates.

Pantheon has released Drupal 8.6.5 and WordPress 5.0.2 on the platform. For information on applying the updates see WordPress and Drupal Core Updates.

WordPress has been updated to version 4.9.8. For more information, see https://wordpress.org/news/2018/08/wordpress-4-9-8-maintenance-release/.

Drupal 8 and WordPress now default to PHP 7.2, while Drupal 7 defaults to PHP 7.1. For details see https://pantheon.io/blog/speed-your-site-php-72/.

Pantheon has released WordPress 4.9.7 on the platform. For more information, see https://wordpress.org/news/2018/07/wordpress-4-9-7-security-and-maintenance-release/

WordPress 4.9.6 has been pushed to all site dashboards.

WordPress 4.9.5.1 has been pushed to all site dashboards.

This update improves Pantheon’s customization to WordPress login form. Click here for more information.

WordPress 4.9.5 has been pushed to all WordPress site dashboards.

Pantheon's update to WordPress 4.9.5 included a customization to the WordPress login form, which shows a button to "Return to Pantheon" to help with the first time user experience. Additional information is available here.

WordPress 4.9.4 has been pushed to all WordPress site dashboards.

WP-CLI on Pantheon has been upgraded to 1.5.0, which resolves "Error: Site not found" failures often seen when clearing caches on WordPress Multisites.

WordPress 4.9.3 has been pushed to all WordPress site dashboards.

WordPress 4.9.1 has been pushed to all WordPress site dashboards. This is a security release, and we suggest everyone upgrade immediately.

WordPress 4.8.3 has been pushed to all WordPress site dashboards. This release is classified as a critical security release, and we encourage all sites to upgrade immediately.

This Pantheon-made Plugin for WordPress has been updated to version 0.6.3, which fixes this issue regarding boolean conditions.

WP-CLI on Pantheon has been updated to version 1.3.0. You can read the release notes for this update here.

WordPress 4.8.1 has been pushed to all WordPress site dashboards

WordPress CLI on Pantheon has been updated to version 1.2.1. You can read the release notes for this update here.

WordPress 4.7.4 Has been pushed to all WordPress Site Dashboards.

WP-CLI on the Pantheon Platform has been upgraded to Version 1.1.0

This is a security patch put out by WordPress and made available as a one-click upgrade in the Pantheon Site Dashboard. We suggest all users upgrade immediately if you haven’t already. See our Status Post for more information.

Pantheon has released two security patches for WordPress 4.7. For details, see WordPress 4.7-p1 - CVE-2016-10033 and WordPress 4.7-p2 - CVE-2016-10045.

WordPress 4.7 has been pushed to all Pantheon Dashboards. This update includes changes to core in addition to Pantheon specific changes. See WordPress.org for a full list of changes to core and review our documentation to see what’s new for Pantheon sites.

Upgraded from 0.24.1 to 1.0.0. Learn more.

We released an update for the Solr Power WordPress plugin which adds a Solr search widget that supports faceting. If you have any input please open an issue on the GitHub repo.

As of July 28, now when you choose Migrate Existing Site and select WordPress, you’ll be guided to install the Pantheon Migrations plugin, so you can get your migration going with just a few clicks. Learn more.

We are no longer updating Akismet and other non-core WordPress plugins and themes. We are now only doing in-place core updates.

For the past several months we’ve been collecting best practices and resources, and put together a microsite to help anyone thinking about scale. The content of the site is a community effort managed via GitHub (pull requests welcome!). See Josh Koenig's blog post for more information.

Previously, for sites on PHP 5.5 (WordPress sites default, Drupal sites can upgrade now), code changes were only refreshed every 60 seconds, regardless of the environment. Now, Dev/Multidev environments on 5.5 will immediately see code changes, and Test/Live now refresh every 2 seconds.

WordPress 4.2.3 is now available. This is a security release for all previous versions to protect against a cross-site scripting vulnerability that could allow users with the Contributor or Author role to compromise a site. Read Josh’s post recapping the ways we save users from automatic updates breaking their sites.

WordPress Launch Check is an automated report you can run to make sure your site is ready to launch—built right in to the Pantheon Dashboard or available as a WP-CLI extension. For more details, see related blog post Announcing WordPress Launch Check.

WordPress 4.2 came out this month to great fanfare. For more details, see Version 4.2 announcement. A few days later, the core team released a security update. We were on it, and the most recent version is available in all Pantheon WordPress Site Dashboards. We recommend updating all of your WordPress sites as soon as possible.

WordPress released patch version 4.1.1. It is available in all WordPress site Dashboards. Read more at WordPress.org.