Ghost Release: 5.84.1

TL;DR

Ghost v5.84.1 is a minor release that addresses issues with post revisions and custom excerpts. It prevents potential data loss when restoring old post revisions by adding a fallback mechanism that preserves the current excerpt when a revision's excerpt is null. The release also optimizes the upgrade process by removing a time-consuming database migration that could cause problems on large sites.

Highlight of the Release

• Fixed potential data loss issue with custom excerpts when restoring old post revisions
• Improved upgrade performance by removing a time-consuming database migration
• Added fallback mechanism to preserve current excerpts when restoring revisions

Migration Guide

No specific migration steps are required for this release. The update can be applied normally through your standard upgrade process.

Upgrade Recommendations

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

1. Use the post revisions feature
2. Have the inline excerpt beta feature enabled
3. Manage large Ghost sites where upgrade performance is important

The release fixes potential data loss issues and improves upgrade performance without introducing any breaking changes.

Bug Fixes

Custom Excerpt Preservation

Fixed an issue where custom excerpts could be lost when restoring old post revisions. Previously, when restoring a revision created before the upgrade that didn't have excerpt data, the excerpt would be removed. Now, Ghost will fall back to the current excerpt when a revision's excerpt is null, ensuring data is preserved during the restore process.

Dependency Updates

Updated the Terser dependency to version 5.31.1.

New Features

No new features were introduced in this release.

Security Updates

No security fixes were included in this release.

Performance Improvements

Faster Upgrade Process

Removed the post_revisions.custom_excerpt population migration which could take a very long time to run on large sites, causing problems during the upgrade process. This optimization significantly improves upgrade performance and reliability for large Ghost installations.

Impact Summary

Ghost v5.84.1 focuses on stability and performance improvements rather than new features. The most significant impact is the prevention of potential data loss when working with post revisions and custom excerpts.

For site administrators, the removal of a time-consuming database migration means faster and more reliable upgrades, especially beneficial for large Ghost installations that previously might have experienced timeout issues during the upgrade process.

For content editors, the addition of a fallback mechanism for custom excerpts ensures that restoring old revisions won't unexpectedly remove excerpt content, providing a more predictable editing experience when working with the revision history.

These changes are particularly relevant for users who have enabled the inline excerpt beta feature, as they were most susceptible to the excerpt preservation issue that has now been fixed.

Full Release Notes