Foswiki-2.1.9 is now available for download! We are delighted to announce the new release, which includes 57 significant bug fixes compared to the previous 2.1.8 version. This update addresses a range of important issues and enhances the overall stability and performance.

See the release notes for additional information.

Optimizing Storage Performance

This release focuses on performance optimization, building upon Foswiki's historical struggles with disk I/O bottlenecks. Traditionally, for each request, the engine would access multiple files to compile the necessary objects required to render a wiki page. This was particularly true for preference settings and access control rights, which often necessitated loading complex combinations of objects. To address this issue, extensive profiling has been conducted to identify areas where time can be shaved off. Notably, our analysis reveals that we have a performance window between 300ms and 1 second in which to make further optimizations, allowing us to fine-tune the engine's efficiency.

See Item15206 for more details.

Optimizing renaming/deleting webs

In large wikis renaming/deleting webs takes forever with the web-server's connection to the Foswiki backend timing out. This was caused by the system iterating over all of the wiki for all of the topics contained in the web to be renamed. In most cases this type of rewriting links isn't required or even desirable.

See Item15333 and Item15220 for more details.

Optimizing loading CSS, JavaScript and I18n files

A significant contributor to slow page loading times is the sheer volume of assets being loaded. Each wiki page may require a unique set of CSS and JavaScript files, which can be substantial in number. However, there are common core functionalities that need to be loaded on every page, while additional assets might be required only for specific cases. To address this, Foswiki now allows for the predefinition of this core set of assets, which can then be compiled into a single combined chunk. This approach reduces the number of parallel HTTP requests needed to load a page, resulting in improved performance.

See Item15229 for more details.

Get started with Foswiki today!

Download it immediately from various locations, as detailed on our download page. If you encounter any issues during installation, please submit a report through our task tracker for assistance. For further guidance, visit our System Requirements and Installation Guide pages.

When reporting problems or requesting support, kindly use our task tracker. You can also reach us online via IRC or Slack channels.

We are very pleased to announce the availability of Foswiki 2.1.8. This release contains 61 fixes relative to 2.1.7, including 9 critical security related fixes.

Most notable are:

• CVE-2023-33756: SpreadSheetPlugin's EVAL feature exposes information about paths and files on the server
• CVE-2023-24698: Local file inclusion vulnerability in viewfile

But also:

• directories in working directory are created as world writable 777 permissions
• possible XSS attack in attachment comments
• restricted allowed protocols to http and https, i.e. forbid file protocol for local file inclusion
• prevent symlink attacks by defaulting to a secure location for temporary files
• update to jquery-ui 1.13.2
• backport patch to earlier jQuery versons to fix a potential XSS vulnerability
• possible XSS vulnerability in topic title field

For more details read the release notes

You can download it from different locations immediately, see our download page for details. Please use our task tracker to report any issues. Or contact us on online via IRC or Slack.

For installation information, see the System Requirements and the Installation Guide.

timlegge/docker-foswiki has been updated to Foswiki 2.1.7. What you need to know to upgrade your instance.

We are very pleased to announce the availability of Foswiki 2.1.7.

This release addresses significant security issues we discovered in all previous Foswiki releases.

Upgrade to Foswiki 2.1.7 is highly recommended.

This release comes with a total of 110 fixes and enhancements as well as 7 security fixes.

For more details read the release notes

You can download it from different locations immediately, see our download page for details. Please use our task tracker to report any issues. Or contact us on online via IRC or Slack.

For installation information, see the System Requirements and the Installation Guide.

I have spent some time setting up an Apache Foswiki docker container to use as the basis for some course material. I wanted a container that started quickly and worked in the Katacoda course environment. I also wanted it to have good response times , which prompted me to try various "optimisations" that are available in Apache and Foswiki. Since it is easy to set up multiple environments in Katacoda/Docker, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to compare and contrast. It sent me down a few rabbit holes and I thought the results might be of interest to others. So here is the write up.