Ghost Release: 5.7.1

TL;DR

Ghost v5.7.1 is a maintenance release that includes several bug fixes, improvements to the comments system, and internal refactoring. This update enhances the commenting experience with better email notifications and UI improvements, fixes issues with the admin interface, and includes various performance optimizations and code modernizations. The update to Casper theme v5.2.3 is also included.

Highlight of the Release

• Fixed issues with the post tags input functionality
• Improved comments system with better email notifications and UI enhancements
• Fixed impersonate modal behavior when navigating away from member pages
• Enhanced markdown card with support for superscripts and subscripts
• Updated Casper theme to v5.2.3

Migration Guide

No specific migration steps are required for this release. This is a maintenance release with bug fixes and improvements that should not affect existing functionality.

If you're a theme developer working with comments:

• The comment_count helper has been updated from a block to inline helper
• The frontend script now replaces the entire element with the comment count text
• GScan has been updated to support the new comment_count and comments helpers

Upgrade Recommendations

This is a maintenance release with bug fixes and improvements. It's recommended for all users to upgrade to benefit from the fixes and enhancements, particularly if you're using the comments feature or have experienced any of the specific issues addressed in this release.

The update process should be straightforward with no breaking changes reported. As always, it's recommended to backup your Ghost installation before upgrading.

Bug Fixes

Admin Interface Fixes

• Fixed pasting into the post tags input not working
• Fixed impersonate modal not closing correctly when navigating away from member page
• Fixed markdown card lacking superscripts & subscripts

Other Fixes

• Fixed Admin HTML missing from NPM tarball
• Fixed the count endpoint for the Members Comments API to always include count data
• Fixed failing tests by setting proper this context binding on class methods
• Fixed trailing whitespace in test files

New Features

Comments System Improvements

• Changed comment email subject lines for better clarity
• Added empty line trimming to comment messages (at start, end, and duplicate empty lines)
• Changed #ghost-comments-root to #ghost-comments for better fragment navigation
• Added underline and bold style to post links in comment emails
• Updated comment_count helper from a block to inline for more flexibility
• Added default values for comment_count helper with English defaults for singular and plural params

Developer Features

• Added freeTrials alpha flag in labs for feature development
• Added monorepo and internalPackages metadata to package.json for tooling support
• Refactored settings cache to use class/DI pattern for better injectability

Security Updates

No specific security fixes were mentioned in this release.

Performance Improvements

Performance Optimizations

• Refactored security.password to use native bcrypt promises
• Refactored security.string to use more modern ES features and be more readable
• Cleaned up job manager test suite for faster execution
• Switched out @lodder/grunt-postcss for postcss-cli to streamline build process
• Cleaned up Grunt copy plugin, removing unnecessary steps
• Updated admin asset serving for ember-auto-import@2 compatibility

Impact Summary

Ghost v5.7.1 is primarily a maintenance release that focuses on bug fixes and improvements to the comments system. The update enhances the user experience for both content creators and readers by improving comment email notifications, fixing UI issues, and making the comment count display more flexible for theme designers.

For developers, the release includes several code modernizations and refactorings that improve performance and maintainability. The security modules now use native promises and modern ES features, and the settings cache has been refactored to use a class/DI pattern.

The update to Casper theme v5.2.3 is also included, bringing the latest improvements to Ghost's default theme.

Overall, this release represents incremental improvements rather than major new features, with a focus on stability and user experience enhancements.

Full Release Notes