webtrees, the open-source collaborative genealogy web application (PHP and MySQL) has received a major update. webtrees allows you to with other genealogists or it can be just used to display and share your family tree with others without others having edit access. It runs on a server/host you control.
It was last updated over 7 months ago. Last month, based on comments by the developers, I speculated about changes that would be made with two branches – webtrees 2.2.x (the main branch) and webtrees 2.1.x. We now know what those major updates/changes are.
webtrees 2.2.0 actually saw the minimum PHP version raised to PHP 8.3 instead of PHP 8.2 (which had been the minimum), and webtrees 2.2.21 saw support extended to PHP 8.4 instead of PHP 8.3.
Why are the PHP changes important and why are there more fixes for 2.1.x? It’s mainly “under the hood” and although there are a lot of updates/fixes in webtrees 2.1.21, most, if not all, have to do with webtrees 2.1.21 being built upon PHP 7.x and as a result, it has older/outdated libraries that need updates. webtrees 2.2.0 is built on top of newer/updated libraries and PHP 8.x.
To the developer’s credit, with webtrees 2.1.21, they are still supporting those genealogists whose servers/hosts are running on the older PHP 7.4 (and up) while allowing an upgrade path for those whose servers have been updated to at least PHP 8.3.
Lest we forget, it’s a fork of the discontinued PhpGedView.
Downloads (all versions):
Server/Host Notes:
- If your server/host is running PHP 8.3 or newer, you are free to upgrade to webtrees 2.2.0.
- If your server/host is running PHP 7.4 – 8.2, you can install webtrees 2.1.21.
- If you are running PHP 7.1 – 7.3, you will need to remain with webtrees 2.0.26 (released November 2022).
- If you are running PHP 5.3 – 7.3, you will need to use webtrees 1.7.20 (released June 2022).
Demos:
- Royal Family – webtrees (2.1.20)
- Royal Family – webtrees. (2.2.0 dev)
| Changes in webtrees 2.2.0 – November 22, 2024 |
| Minimum supported PHP level is PHP 8.3 |
| A newer version of the graphics library is used, which fixes image autorotation issues. |
| Changes in webtrees 2.1.21 – November 22,2024 |
| — Adds support for PHP 8.4 — Do not show links to private families in family navigator — Do not require dummy search value for new advanced-search fields — Remove old/deprected links for sitemaps submission — Missing margins in create-media form — Typos in French historic events — Remove empty confirmation dialog in some onclick events — Wrong CSS colour for gender in minimal theme — Wrap long urls inside Fact notes and Shared notes — Do not show expand/collapse icons for source citations with no sub-tags — Add marriage type “COMMON LAW” — Date difference calculations failed on 32-bit systems — Add friendy error message when failing to upload new media obect — Remove indentation on slide-slow links — More information about people connected to slide-show photo — Add support for FTM’s INDI:_PHOTO tag — Update British monarchs and prime ministers history files — Create a New Zealand prime ministers history file — Wrong URL when forwarding legacy branch-list URLs — Long user-text breaks layout of research task table — Wrong counts of individuals/families on calendar page — Individual list, given names starting with digraphs not included — Date phrases for empty dates not displayed — Error displaying hide engagement tag — AE, OE UE shown as initial letter in German alphabet — Add Strict-Transport-Security header for HTTPS sites — Private GEDCOM exports contain empty records — Layout issues on places tab — Spinner for inactive tab visible above active tab — Linked repositories not added to clippings cart — Common surnames should link to individual lists — Allow audio/video elements in HTML blocks |
Note: There are additional translations available (https://translate.webtrees.net/)
As you can see, that is a lot of updates/fixes for the webtrees 2.1.21 release.