Ghost Release: 5.82.12

TL;DR

Ghost v5.82.12 Release

What's New: This release focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements, particularly addressing issues with external image URLs and optimizing member data loading. It also introduces a new "What's New" popup feature to improve feature discoverability, enhances the settings UI, and adds Persian/Farsi language support.

Why It Matters: These changes improve performance by reducing unnecessary database queries and fixing image handling issues. The UI improvements make the admin experience more intuitive, while the experimental caching headers could significantly improve performance for sites with member-restricted content.

Who Should Care: Ghost site administrators, content creators using external images, and developers working with the Ghost platform, especially those managing sites with member-restricted content.

Highlight of the Release

• Fixed external image URLs being incorrectly prefixed, ensuring proper display of third-party images
• Optimized performance by preventing redundant member data loading for static assets
• Added a new 'What's New' popup to improve feature discoverability
• Improved Settings UI to make unsaved changes more discoverable
• Added experimental headers to allow caching of member-restricted content
• Added Persian/Farsi to supported languages

Migration Guide

No migration steps are required for this release. The experimental caching headers for member content are opt-in and can be enabled via configuration if desired.

Upgrade Recommendations

This release contains important bug fixes and performance improvements that benefit all Ghost installations. The fixes for external image URLs and redundant member data loading address issues that could affect site performance and content display.

Recommended for: All Ghost installations, especially those:

• Using external images in their content
• With high traffic to static assets
• Running member-restricted content (for the experimental caching feature)

There are no breaking changes in this release, making it a safe upgrade for all users. Standard upgrade procedures apply.

Bug Fixes

• External Image URLs: Fixed an issue where external image URLs were incorrectly receiving resize prefixes. The system now only appends prefixes to images served by Ghost, while external image URLs are served as-is.

• Redundant Member Data Loading: Reorganized middleware execution to prevent redundant loading of member data for static assets and the sitemap, improving performance.

• Settings in Offline Development: Fixed a React Query configuration issue that prevented Settings from working in offline development environments. Queries now execute regardless of network status.

• Schedule Date Formatting: Fixed an orphaned notification and non-standard date format in schedule toast notifications.

• Post List Tooltips: Corrected tooltips for scheduled posts in the post list that incorrectly showed subscriber information for posts not sent as newsletters.

• Newsletter Preview: Fixed a static site title ("The Local Host") being displayed in newsletter previews instead of the actual site title. Also moved the "Support independent publishing" button to the design tab in newsletter settings.

• Twitter/X Domain: Updated validation for Twitter social accounts to accept the new x.com domain instead of only twitter.com.

New Features

• What's New Popup: Added a new notification system in the sidebar to inform users about new and noteworthy features. This popup can be dismissed and won't reappear after being closed, making it a non-intrusive way to highlight recent updates.

• Persian/Farsi Language Support: Added Persian/Farsi to the list of supported languages, expanding Ghost's accessibility to Persian-speaking users.

• Experimental Member Content Caching: Added experimental headers to allow caching of member-restricted content. This feature can significantly improve performance by caching content based on member tiers rather than individual members. To enable this feature, set cacheMembersContent:enabled to true and provide an HMAC key in cacheMembersContent:hmacSecret in your Ghost configuration.

Security Updates

No specific security fixes were mentioned in this release.

Performance Improvements

• Content API Optimization: Removed the mobiledoc and lexical columns from the posts input serializer, preventing these large fields from being unnecessarily queried from the database. These fields are the largest in the Ghost database, and removing them from queries significantly improves performance.

• Member Data Loading: Optimized middleware execution to prevent redundant loading of member data for static assets and the sitemap, reducing unnecessary processing.

• Experimental Caching Headers: Added experimental headers (X-Member-Cache-Tier, ghost-access, and ghost-access-hmac) to allow CDNs to cache member-restricted content based on tier rather than individual member cookies. This can significantly improve cache hit ratios and reduce load on Ghost instances.

• Sentry Configuration: Reverted the includeLocalVariables option in Sentry as it was causing the entire program to pause while collecting local variables, negatively impacting performance.

Impact Summary

Ghost v5.82.12 delivers several important bug fixes and performance improvements that enhance the platform's reliability and efficiency. The fixes for external image URLs and redundant member data loading address issues that could affect content display and site performance.

The UI improvements, including better visibility for unsaved settings, improved post status notifications, and fixed tooltips, create a more intuitive admin experience. The new "What's New" popup feature helps users discover new functionality, addressing a common feedback point about feature awareness.

The experimental caching headers for member content represent a potentially significant performance enhancement for sites with member-restricted content, allowing CDNs to cache content based on tier rather than individual members.

The addition of Persian/Farsi language support expands Ghost's accessibility to a new language community, continuing the platform's commitment to internationalization.

Overall, this release focuses on refinement and optimization rather than major new features, making it a solid maintenance update that improves the experience for both administrators and content creators.

Full Release Notes