Ghost Release: 2.38.0

TL;DR

Ghost 2.38.0 introduces HTML source support for pages, matching the functionality already available for posts, and fixes a critical RSS feed bug that was causing 500 errors when posts had no content. This release enhances content creation flexibility while ensuring more stable RSS feeds for your Ghost site.

Highlight of the Release

• Pages now accept HTML as a source, matching the functionality already available for posts
• Fixed critical RSS feed bug that caused 500 errors when posts had no content
• Improved stability for RSS feeds across the platform

Migration Guide

No migration steps are required for this release. The changes are backward compatible and will work automatically after updating.

Upgrade Recommendations

This release is recommended for all Ghost users, especially those who:

1. Use pages extensively in their content strategy
2. Rely on RSS feeds for content distribution
3. Have posts without content in their database

The upgrade process follows the standard Ghost update procedure and requires no additional steps or configuration changes.

Bug Fixes

RSS Feed 500 Error Fix

Fixed a critical bug that was causing 500 errors on /rss/ endpoints when a post had no content. This regression was introduced after extracting the url-utils package, where urlUtils.htmlRelativeToAbsolute(html) would return null rather than an empty string if html was explicitly passed in as null.

This fix ensures that RSS feeds remain stable and accessible even when posts don't contain any content, improving the overall reliability of Ghost's RSS functionality.

New Features

HTML Source Support for Pages

Pages can now accept HTML as a source, bringing them to feature parity with posts. This functionality was previously implemented for posts but was missed when the codebase was split into separate posts and pages components. The change has been implemented across both the latest API and API v2, ensuring consistent behavior throughout the platform.

This enhancement gives content creators more flexibility when working with pages, allowing for more advanced content creation workflows and better integration with external HTML editors.

Security Updates

No security fixes were included in this release.

Performance Improvements

No specific performance improvements were included in this release.

Impact Summary

Ghost 2.38.0 brings feature parity between posts and pages by allowing HTML source for pages, addressing a long-standing feature gap. It also fixes a critical RSS feed bug that was causing 500 errors when posts had no content.

The HTML source support for pages enables more advanced content workflows, especially for those who prepare content in external HTML editors or need more control over the underlying HTML structure of their pages.

The RSS feed fix improves platform stability by ensuring that feeds remain accessible even when posts don't contain content, which is particularly important for sites that rely on RSS for content distribution or syndication.

Overall, this release enhances content creation flexibility while improving platform stability, with no breaking changes or required migrations.

Full Release Notes