Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/Technology report

This is a summary of recent technology and site configuration changes that affect the English Wikipedia. Please note that some bug fixes or new features described below have not yet gone live as of press time; the English Wikipedia is currently running version, and changes to the software with a version number higher than that will not yet be active. Configuration changes and changes to interface messages, however, become active immediately.

Bots approved
4 bots or bot tasks were approved for operation this week. These were:


 * AnomieBOT 32, for the creation of isotope-based redirects;
 * Mr.Z-bot 7, to report certain abuse filter violations to the administrator intervention against vandalism noticeboard;
 * Kwjbot 3, to fix double redirects.
 * EdwardsBot, to deliver newsletters for Amazing Race Wikipedia.

This week's discussion report contains information on current bot requests and related discussions.

Bug fixes

 * The API no longer flags pre-April 2008 edits, retrieved using, as new edits. (r52096, bug:19271)

New features

 * MediaWiki:Sp-contributions-footer-anon has been added for all IPs, when viewing Special:Contributions, rather than appear only when the IP has made edits. (r52174, bug:19294)
 * and  have been added to the API for   and  . (r52152, bug:14200)
 * The API now returns a HTTP 503 status code for maxlag errors. (r52190)

Other news

 * The Wikimedia Foundation has announced that the Amsterdam-based data center provider EvoSwitch will be providing bandwidth and hosting services &mdash; 300,000 euros of in-kind support &mdash; to the Foundation, with their center serving as a HUB for Europe. The sponsorship will allow the Foundation to add new caching servers at the Amsterdam data center.