WordPress MU is a multi user or multi blog version of WordPress that can be used to run sites like WordPress.com.
This release of WordPress MU has been much delayed but I think it’s been worth the wait. Included in this release are a number of new features and many bugfixes. Get it from the MU download page.
Update! In the final rush to get this post written I neglected to add that this release fixes a vulnerability in the importer system that would allow an untrusted user to run PHP code. Thanks to Alexander Concha for discovering the vulnerability and to Barry Abrahamson who recognised that some servers treat unknown file types as PHP scripts.
One more reason to upgrade.
New features and changes include:
- A revamped plugin system thanks to Andy Peatling. Plugins installed in the plugins directory rather than mu-plugins can be activated and deactivated on all blogs with one click.
- The admin bar was removed. It’ll be stuffed into a plugin instead. Must talk to Viper007Bond about that.
- A new “My Blogs” page where a user’s blogs are listed and personal “per blog” settings can be configured. It’s empty right now but it’s easy to add settings to it via plugins. Imagine having a different “Display Name” on each blog you write on! See SetupMenu and HandleFormPOST in the just removed admin bar for example code. That code uses actions rather than filters but it’ll get you started.
- The site admin can now set a Global Dashboard blog for users who don’t have blogs. Those users will be added to this blog rather than the main blog. The default role of users on that blog can also be set but if they’re not “Subscribers” they won’t be moved if you change the Global Dashboard.
They’re the major changes. Smaller changes include notification of failed blog upgrades [1728], MU will now ignore free space checks when importing posts [1725] and lots more. Check out the timeline for further details.
If you’re running WordPress MU 2.7 you can upgrade from inside the Dashboard. The system will notice that a new version is out and will lead you through the upgrade process, just like in regular WordPress. Plugins can be updated as well through the familiar plugin upgrade process as long as your plugins are hosted on the WordPress.org Plugins Database.
As always this release would not have been possible without the help and encouragement of many people along the way. I know I’ll leave out someone if I try to list everyone but I appreciate all the help people give working through tickets, and helping on the forums.
PS. WP Super Cache was updated today too. New features include an option to stop caching for logged in users, it doesn’t cache previewed posts, and it displays cache size summary information on the admin page now.
PPS. Happy birthday Adam! 2 today and Dad’s finally getting away from the computer now! 
37 Comments
Bret McMillan (2 comments.) on April 21, 2009 at 8:15 pm.
Enjoy your son’s birthday
Brian Bowelso on April 22, 2009 at 10:23 pm.
Happy Birthday, to your son!
Todd on April 21, 2009 at 8:22 pm.
Thanks so much for all your hard work on this. I just installed the beta version of 2.7.1 this morning. It was funny to see this released on the same day I installed the beta. Good stuff!
Andrea_R (7 comments.) on April 21, 2009 at 8:29 pm.
Go enjoy the boy’s birthday, you earned some time off.
Dave (1 comments.) on April 21, 2009 at 8:32 pm.
Thanks for the new release Donncha! I turned on the new to turn off caching for logged in users then updated the status. Now when I go to turn caching back on for logged in users, the checkbox stays checked after updating status.
Donncha (1707 comments.) on April 21, 2009 at 8:55 pm.
Bah, thanks for finding that and reporting it. Just fixed it and bumped the version number of wp-super-cache up.
Brian Layman (4 comments.) on April 21, 2009 at 9:16 pm.
Happy Birthday Adam!
Congrats on the update, Donncha!
Doing a check out and compare now to see all the nitty-gritty stuff…
Rahul Bansal (1 comments.) on April 21, 2009 at 9:21 pm.
I recently switched to WPMU 2.7 and made changes to core to get desired functionality.
So I am little skeptical about upgrade as of now but I will surely check use it on a test blog.
Thanks Donncha for WPMU as it made my life easier than I ever imagined.
Lots of birthday wishes to Adam.
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Matew on April 21, 2009 at 10:35 pm.
Thank You a lot for your BIG WORK, Donncha!
My best wishes and Happy Birthday Adam!
Billy Dennis (2 comments.) on April 21, 2009 at 11:11 pm.
I thought there was going to be a 1-button upgrade for WMPU, like straight WordPress.
Viper007Bond (28 comments.) on April 21, 2009 at 11:47 pm.
Yeah, my admin bar makes a lot more sense as a plugin, even if it’s bundled.
Oh, and I’m more than happy to open up SVN access to my plugin and even start using the Plugin Trac if there’s desire.
Bret McMillan (2 comments.) on April 29, 2009 at 3:45 pm.
Please do. I’d like to package and ship it in Fedora; holding off on reving wpmu there, as the admin bar is a pretty key nav feature for us.
Unless there’s an easier way for a user to switch amongst their blogs?
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Konstantin (8 comments.) on April 22, 2009 at 3:01 am.
I had to manually upgrade since 2.7.1beta, but it only took a few minutes to upload the new files. Runs fine
Trent (10 comments.) on April 22, 2009 at 4:11 am.
Thanks Donncha. I personally really appreciate your work on this project and I love the “cache size” in wp-super-cache
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Alexandre on April 22, 2009 at 12:21 pm.
Hi Donncha,
After complaining so much about the delay (I know I am usually too impatient), it would be unfair if I did not CONGRATULATE you and THANK you for this release !
Alex
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Steffen (1 comments.) on April 22, 2009 at 1:02 pm.
Thank You!
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donnacha | WordSkill (27 comments.) on April 22, 2009 at 6:50 pm.
Thank you Donncha!
I am particularly looking forward to BuddyPress 1.0 now.
kgraeme on April 22, 2009 at 7:06 pm.
Very nice! I already have it running on one of our staging servers and so far things look great.
StanHayes (2 comments.) on April 22, 2009 at 7:42 pm.
Love your plugin! Right now I’m not seeing my comments when I comment on my own blog. So if I comment (while logged in) I don’t see comments I just made unless I delete the cache. Any ideas?
Donncha (1707 comments.) on April 22, 2009 at 8:26 pm.
Stan – upgrade to the latest version I released this morning. That will fix it.
StanHayes (2 comments.) on April 23, 2009 at 6:41 pm.
I upgraded, but when I turn it on I don’t see comments when I comment still. Then I had a few commenters say the same thing so it’s not because I’m logged in either. Pretty confused on this.
Angelo (1 comments.) on April 24, 2009 at 5:51 pm.
Hi everyone. I’d really like to upgrade to 2.7.1–I usually do so through an svn switch to the new tag. However, this time with the admin bar disappearing, I needed to rollback. What’s missing from this post is the location of the plugin replacement. I know there is such a plugin on viper007′s website, but is that THE plugin for WPMU? It only says WP, so I am uncertain. I’d like to find the replacement for viper’s admin bar before doing the upgrade. Or could you possibly put the plugin in the mu-plugins/ folder in the repository as an external (like akismet)?
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DJSlim (8 comments.) on May 13, 2009 at 2:07 pm.
been running the plugin since it started and this is the first version that actually emptied my garbage. yeah. keep up the great work
John Bowersox (1 comments.) on July 3, 2009 at 5:44 pm.
Is there anywhere I can get a list of the files that were changed as part of the 2.7.1 upgrade?
My company was in the middle of a 2.7 upgrade when 2.7.1 came out and we have made some changes to the base code to accomidate a few changes requested by our user base. We would like to know which changes we will need to reapply after the 2.7.1 code refresh before we move forward.
Angelo (4 comments.) on July 3, 2009 at 7:32 pm.
John: Just do a subversion diff between http://svn.automattic.com/wordpress-mu/tags/2.7 and http://svn.automattic.com/wordpress-mu/tags/2.7.1
I use subversion to keep my software up to date whenever possible, and it even merges changes that I made to the base.