Ghost Release: 5.12.2

TL;DR

Ghost v5.12.2 is a maintenance release that addresses two critical bugs affecting member subscriptions and commenting functionality. The update fixes issues with removing comped subscriptions for members with active subscriptions and resolves a problem that prevented members from commenting on tier-restricted posts. These fixes improve the membership and engagement experience for both site administrators and members.

Highlight of the Release

• Fixed issue preventing members from commenting on tier-restricted posts
• Resolved problem with removing comped subscriptions for members with active subscriptions
• Improved content gating by properly loading product and tier relations

Migration Guide

No migration steps are required for this update. This is a maintenance release that fixes bugs without introducing breaking changes or requiring any manual intervention during the upgrade process.

Upgrade Recommendations

We recommend all Ghost users upgrade to v5.12.2, especially those using membership tiers and subscription features. This release fixes important bugs that affect member engagement and subscription management without introducing any breaking changes.

To upgrade:

1. Back up your Ghost installation
2. Follow the standard Ghost update process for your installation method (CLI, Docker, or manual installation)
3. No additional configuration changes are required after upgrading

Bug Fixes

Fixed commenting on tier-only posts

Members were previously unable to comment on posts that were restricted to specific tiers, even when they had access to those tiers. This issue occurred because:

• The products relation was not being loaded on the member when performing content gating checks
• The tiers relation was not being loaded on the post when performing content gating checks

This fix ensures that all necessary relations are properly loaded when checking access permissions, allowing members to comment on tier-restricted content they have access to.

Fixed removing comped subscriptions for members with active subscriptions

Previously, when a member had an active subscription (or legacy comped subscription) for one product and a comped subscription for another product, it was impossible to remove the comped subscription. This release updates the API to allow more flexible product changes:

• Administrators can now remove comped products from a member, as long as that product doesn't have a related subscription
• The system still allows the addition of comped products to a member without other active subscriptions (maintaining existing behavior)
• The validation now only checks for conflicts on added products rather than all products

New Features

No new features were introduced in this maintenance release. The focus was on fixing critical bugs related to member subscriptions and commenting functionality.

Security Updates

No security fixes were included in this release. The changes were focused on fixing functional issues related to member subscriptions and commenting capabilities.

Performance Improvements

No specific performance improvements were included in this release. The changes were focused on fixing functional issues related to member subscriptions and commenting capabilities.

Impact Summary

This release addresses two significant bugs that were affecting core membership functionality in Ghost. The fixes improve the experience for both administrators and members by ensuring that:

1. Subscription management is more flexible, allowing administrators to remove comped subscriptions from members who have active subscriptions for other products.

2. Members can properly engage with content by commenting on tier-restricted posts they have access to.

These improvements enhance the reliability of Ghost's membership and commenting systems, which are critical for publishers who rely on these features for audience engagement and monetization. The changes are particularly important for sites using multiple membership tiers and mixed subscription types.

Full Release Notes