Drupal Release: 4.7.2

TL;DR

Drupal 4.7.2 is a maintenance release that addresses several important bugs affecting form handling, localization, and XHTML compliance. This update fixes issues with class names, plural formulas, locale exports, and duplicate IDs in forms, improving overall stability and standards compliance.

Highlight of the Release

• Fixed issue where plural formula was lost after uploads (#52853)
• Prevented multiple class names from being glued together (#58956)
• Resolved issue with locale exports when site names contain unsupported characters (#49855)
• Fixed XHTML errors related to duplicate IDs on hidden form elements (#62366)

Migration Guide

No migration steps are required for this maintenance release. Simply update your Drupal installation from version 4.7.1 to 4.7.2 following the standard update procedure:

1. Back up your database and site files
2. Replace the existing Drupal files with the new 4.7.2 files
3. Run the update script by visiting update.php in your browser
4. Clear caches after the update is complete

No database schema changes are included in this release.

Upgrade Recommendations

This is a recommended upgrade for all Drupal 4.7.x users, especially for:

• Sites using multilingual features that rely on plural formulas
• Sites with non-ASCII characters in their site names that need to export locales
• Sites requiring strict XHTML compliance
• Any site experiencing issues with class name formatting in HTML output

The update addresses several bugs that could affect site functionality and standards compliance. As this is a maintenance release with no known breaking changes, upgrading should be straightforward with minimal risk.

Bug Fixes

Form Handling and HTML Output

• Fixed issue where multiple class names were being incorrectly concatenated without spaces (#58956)
• Resolved XHTML validation errors caused by duplicate IDs on hidden form elements (#62366)
• Fixed generation of invalid class names in HTML output (#65854)

Localization and Internationalization

• Fixed bug where plural formulas were being lost after uploads, affecting translation functionality (#52853)
• Resolved issue preventing locale exports when site names contained unsupported characters (#49855)

Other Fixes

• Improved version definition handling
• Various minor code improvements and optimizations

New Features

No significant new features were added in this maintenance release. Drupal 4.7.2 focuses on bug fixes and compatibility improvements to enhance stability and standards compliance.

Security Updates

No security fixes were explicitly mentioned in this release.

Performance Improvements

No specific performance improvements were highlighted in this release. The focus was primarily on bug fixes and compatibility improvements.

Impact Summary

Drupal 4.7.2 is a bug fix release that addresses several issues affecting form handling, localization features, and XHTML compliance. The fixes improve stability for multilingual sites, particularly those using plural formulas or having special characters in site names. The release also enhances HTML output quality by fixing issues with class name formatting and duplicate element IDs.

While this update doesn't introduce new features, it resolves several pain points that could affect site functionality and standards compliance. The changes are particularly beneficial for multilingual sites and those requiring strict adherence to HTML standards.

The update is backward compatible with Drupal 4.7.1 and requires no special migration steps, making it a straightforward and recommended upgrade for all Drupal 4.7.x users.