2.3.1 Release Notes

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Migration
2.1. Database Conversion
2.2. Skin Update
2.3. Configuration changes
3. What's New
3.1. Tool Promotions
3.2. Tool Enhancements
3.3. Other Enhancements
4. Fixes Included in this Release
5. Open Issues
6. Maintenance Branch

1. Overview

Security Update: 2.3.1 adds critical security and performance fixes to the 2.3.0 release, and should therefore be taken to simply supersede 2.3.0. Anyone running an unpatched 2.3.0 should upgrade to 2.3.1 immediately. Unpatched systems could allow a user to view all attachments on the system through the browser (SAK-7288) as well as alter or delete them through a WebDAV client (SAK-7672).

The Sakai 2.3 series as a whole presents more in the way of feature enhancements and less in the way of API changes than 2.2. Three new provisional tools have been added, while two very successful provisional tools have been promoted to the enterprise bundle (for details see below). Several existing tools have seen significant enhancements, along with general improvements for the portal and configuration options in sakai.properties.

These release notes highlight salient enhancements and required migration steps, while links to complete lists of fixed and open issues specific to 2.3.1 are available below.

2. Migration

2.1. Database Conversion

A DB conversion script is required for a database migration from 2.2.1 to 2.3.1 (there were no DB schema changes introduced in 2.2.2 or 2.2.3). There is also a conversion script for a move from 2.3.0 to 2.3.1, for those who may be already running 2.3.0, but the 2.3.0 release should be bypassed altogether by those who are upgrading from a 2.2 release.

Note

DB conversions require the successive application of all intermediate scripts, e.g., a migration from 2.2.0 will require two conversions: one from 2.2.0 to 2.2.1, and one from 2.2.1 to 2.3.1 (again, there were no DB schema changes introduced in 2.2.2 and 2.2.3, and while there is a conversion script for a 2.3.0 to 2.3.1 conversion for those who may have already migrated to 2.3.0, the 2.2.1-2.3.0 conversion had a significant gradebook error, and is no longer made available). The 2.3.0 release has been superseded, and is no longer even a waystation in the database conversion process.

The conversion scripts to be applied - in distinct versions for MySQL and Oracle, respectively - are found in the reference/docs/conversion folder of the release or on subversion: https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn/reference/tags/sakai_2-3-1/docs/conversion

2.2. Skin Update

Portal changes (see below) have reduced the number of frames that Sakai uses, and 2.2 skins will need to be adapted as a result. The changes are however few in number, and they are described in Appendix I of: https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn/reference/tags/sakai_2-3-1/docs/architecture/sakai_skin.doc

2.3. Configuration changes

Among the enhancements of 2.3 are improved configuration options. The sakai.properties settings below are new and optional.

  • For disabling new Resources features 

    # set to false to disable the release/retract and hiding of resources in ContentHostingService
# if this setting is left out of sakai.properties, the availability features should be enabled
# by default
availabilityChecksEnabled@org.sakaiproject.content.api.ContentHostingService = true

# set to false to disable custom sorts within folders in ContentHostingService
# if this setting is left out of sakai.properties, the priority sorts should be
# enabled by default
prioritySortEnabled@org.sakaiproject.content.api.ContentHostingService = true

  • For configuring threaded view for Message Center 

    mc.threadedview=true

  • For handling tool stealthing in a more flexible way (these settings override default stealthing). 

    visibleTools@org.sakaiproject.tool.api.ActiveToolManager=
hiddenTools@org.sakaiproject.tool.api.ActiveToolManager=

  • For switching off the saving of tool state 

    portal.experimental.auto.reset=true

3. What's New

For a more complete treatment of all available tools, see the Sakai Tools page.

3.1. Tool Promotions

3.1.1. New Enterprise Bundle Tools

  • Rwiki

  • Calendar Summary

3.1.2. New Provisional Tools

  • Blog: for collaborative blogging among members of a particular site.

  • Linktool: for calling external applications in Sakai (e.g. those written in PHP).

  • Podcasts: a podcasting tool which takes advantage of the Resources tool for storage, but displays podcasts in a user friendly way and provides an RSS feed for access through one's favorite podcatcher.

3.2. Tool Enhancements

3.3. Other Enhancements

  • Accessibility: Site navigation and tool titles are now contained in the main document, which eliminates several iFrames and makes navigation more seamless (see "CSS changes" below for more detail). Repaired problem with Help opening on tab. Accesskeys revised to reflect UK eCommerce standards.

  • CSS Changes: mostly to make possible the rendering of site navigation and tool title content. How these 2 things get displayed is now radically different - they will look the same mostly, but they will now behave decently. Things like really testing for 800X600 resolution, ungodly long site titles, etc. are now possible.

  • Portal:

    • Left-hand buttons are now permissions-based ( http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/jira/browse/SAK-4120). Each tool in its registration file indicates the Sakai functions which are needed for the execution of the respective tool. For example, the Presentation tool is completely non-functional without content.read so the following line is added to the tool registration:

      <configuration name="functions.require" value="content.read" />

      You can specify more than one security function using commas. The implication is "AND" so if two functions are specfied the user must have both permissions.

    • Added a capability to deep link URLs through Charon into tools - this is still under some debate so folks should use caution when trying to use this...it might change.

  • Course Management API: The API is in - Josh (jholtzman@berkeley.edu) has providers and Quartz Jobs that you can use if you prefer to integrate your SIS data using the CM approach.

  • Basic Auth: Initially inspired by Rwiki RSS requirements, but it can be used with any portal or access servlet URL ( http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/jira/browse/SAK-4295).

  • Refactored Import: includes limited support for importing packages formatted according to our current understanding of the IMS Common Cartridge specification (which is however still in development).

  • Partial Swedish translation

4. Fixes Included in this Release

Sakai 2.3.1 fixes the following issues:

http://source.sakaiproject.org/release/2.3.1/fixed-issues.html

5. Open Issues

The list of known issues with Sakai 2.3.1 is found at:

http://source.sakaiproject.org/release/2.3.1/open-issues.html

6. Maintenance Branch

The code of each release has a corresponding maintenance branch, which is patched with fixes in an ongoing way by a branch manager - effectively until there is no longer sufficient interest in it for a branch manager to volunteer. Maintenance branches therefore represent the latest snapshot of fixes for any given Sakai version.

These maintenance branches may be checked out through subversion; they are labeled with an 'x' replacing their minor version number, e.g. '2-3-x'. You can check out the 2.3 maintenance branch with the following command:

svn co https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn/sakai/branches/sakai_2-3-x/

If you come upon an important fix that you believe should be included in the branch (and perhaps isn't yet), feel free to bring it to the attention of the branch manager, Lance Speelmon (lance@indiana.edu).