VaultWiki News

We have never made it a big secret what version of PHP we were running. We have always tried to keep our web site at the cutting edge of technology, using the newest releases of nginx, PHP, MySQL, vBulletin, VaultWiki itself, and more in order to maintain a compatible product and show it off.

Details

However, not all of the software we use has been so zealous. As a result, over the past year and a half, customers and prospective buyers alike have noticed compatibility error messages riddled across the site. Unfortunately for us, the developers of vBulletin, the forum software we primarily supported for the past 5 years, did not keep their software up-to-date with respect to new versions of PHP.

After a year and a half of waiting for an update, including one that was promised to resolve the issues and ended up making no headway in that respect, and countless complaints from our own customers and lost leads, we have officially downgraded our front-end site from PHP 5.4 to PHP 5.3.

Again this is in no way a reflection on PHP itself, but rather on vBulletin. We do hope they release a compatibility update soon, especially as PHP 5.5 recently had a stable public release. If ever this happens, we will surely update to the newest compatible PHP version there is.

Despite the site being an older version of PHP, we will still be developing VaultWiki and maintaining it to be compatible with the newest PHP releases. Any portions of our web site that do not rely on vBulletin (like the XenForo demo and some other minor areas) will use PHP 5.5 or whatever the newest stable release is at the time.

What to Take Away

The main reason for this announcement is not to transmit any displeasure with vBulletin or its development team. Our customers have long been aware of the PHP 5.4 issues on our site with respect to vBulletin, and with the errors on our site now being gone, we did not want to make any implicit endorsements that vBulletin was now working with PHP 5.4. The newest PHP family that is compatible with vBulletin 3 & 4 is still PHP 5.3, and we still do not recommend upgrading to PHP 5.4 (or beyond) at this time if you are running vBulletin.

Thanks to the help of our users, VaultWiki 4 has moved from alpha to beta status. With 4.0.0 Beta 1, released yesterday evening, we feel that most showstopper and other serious issues are now resolved in the core product.

XenForo Support

By adding support for XenForo forums, VaultWiki 4.0.0 Beta 1 is the first version of VaultWiki ever to work with a non-vBulletin forum software.

Software Selection and Licensing Implications

Our Members area has been updated to reflect this. Before downloading VaultWiki for the first time, you must first enter the URL where it will be used, as well as select the forum software it will be used with. Since different forum softwares have different software dependencies and different VaultWiki plugins, you must choose the correct option before downloading. The platform you choose will become tied to your license.

Once you select the forum platform, you cannot change your mind later. If you wish to use VaultWiki on both vBulletin and XenForo, or if you wish to migrate between forum softwares, you must purchase an additional VaultWiki license in order to continue using VaultWiki on the new platform.

Customers who purchased their licenses to VaultWiki prior to March 1, 2013, if those licenses are not currently expired, will be allowed to change their selection one (1) time free of charge by contacting an admin and requesting a Change of Platform service.

Release Notes

Please note that Beta 1 is only compatible with:

• vBulletin: 4.1.4 - 4.1.12, 4.2.1+
• XenForo: 1.1.2+

Since this is a Beta release, we do not recommend installing VaultWiki 4 Beta 1 on production sites at this time.

At the end of last week, we made VaultWiki 4 Alpha 7 available for download. This release fixes a number of editor and moderator-related issues.

Please note that Alpha 7, like those before it, is only compatible with vBulletin 4.1.4 and higher.

Changes

In this Alpha, you'll notice:

• Improved Javascript performance
• Better reliability notifying moderators of new content
• New islands are accessible
• Better stability posting comments
• Reduced likelihood of editing conflicts
• and more

Since this is still an Alpha release, we still do not recommend installing VaultWiki 4 Alpha 7 on production sites at this time.

VaultWiki 4 Alpha 6 has now been released. This release fixes a number of permissions and history-related issues.

Please note that Alpha 6, like those before it, is only compatible with vBulletin 4.1.4 and higher.

Changes

In this Alpha, you'll notice:

• The ability to quote wiki comments
• Allow viewing pages in an area, but not the area itself
• Better cache integrity
• Better stability of history and related moderation actions
• Other minor enhancements and bug fixes

Since this is still an Alpha release, we still do not recommend installing VaultWiki 4 Alpha 6 on production sites at this time.

Last night a potential cross-site scripting vulnerability was discovered in VaultWiki 4 Alpha 4. Under specific wiki configurations this vulnerability could be exploited to post arbitrary HTML on a victim's site.

The release of VaultWiki 4 Alpha 5 has been accelerated and made available today to address this issue. We highly recommend that any customers who are using an earlier Alpha of VaultWiki 4 to upgrade as soon as they are able to close this security hole. The issue does not exist in VaultWiki 3.

Please note that Alpha 5, like those before it, is only compatible with vBulletin 4.1.4 and higher.

Changes

In this Alpha, you'll notice:

• Resolved XSS vulnerability
• Discussions now work on their own tab
• More reliable caches
• Other minor enhancements and bug fixes

Since this is still an Alpha release, we still do not recommend installing VaultWiki 4 Alpha 5 on production sites at this time.

Earlier today one of our site users stumbled upon a potential cross-site scripting vulnerability in VaultWiki 4 Alpha 3 while using our web site. It's likely the user was unaware of the significance of what they had found: the action was not malicious and conditions were not ideal to perform an exploit, but the problem was obvious to site admins. Minutes later, developers discovered a bug that under specific wiki configurations could be exploited to post arbitrary HTML on a victim's site.

The release of VaultWiki 4 Alpha 4 has been accelerated and made available today to address this issue. We highly recommend that any customers who are using an earlier Alpha of VaultWiki 4 to upgrade as soon as they are able to close this security hole. The issue does not exist in VaultWiki 3.

Please note that Alpha 4, like those before it, is only compatible with vBulletin 4.1.4 and higher.

Changes

In this Alpha, you'll notice:

• Resolved XSS vulnerability
• Forum headers are back
• More reliable caches
• Deleting wiki pages works properly
• Discussion titles are fixed
• Other minor enhancements and bug fixes

Since this is still an Alpha release, we still do not recommend installing VaultWiki 4 Alpha 4 on production sites at this time.