When I upgraded the Masto.host platform to Mastodon version 3.4.3, by mistake I changed to the main branch. Meaning there are several “unannounced” features that are now live for every Mastodon server hosted on Masto.host.
Upon finding out, I had two options, either rollback to v3.4.1 and doing the proper upgrade or just leave it on the main branch for now and then evaluate the situation on the next release.
I ended up opting by continuing in the main branch for several reasons, the main one being that I have not identified any issues on this branch. Plus, four days have passed since this happened and some people are probably already using the new features. So, going back would be a bad experience and would cause unnecessary confusion.
So, what is different between the two branches?
Besides many fixes and improvements, the most noticeable features are:
- Add authentication history #16408
- Add ability to skip sign-in token authentication for specific users #16427
- Add ability to filter reports by origin of target account #16487
- Add confirmation modal when closing media edit modal with unsaved changes #16518
- Add feature to automatically delete old toots #16529
- Add single option votes tooltip in polls #16849
- Add graphs and retention metrics to admin dashboard #16829
You can see the full list of differences here.
Why did this happen?
It was human error. I jumped a step on the upgrade process and merged to the main branch. The testing I always do before running the upgrade reported no errors, again because the branch was working without problems, so I went ahead with the upgrade.
I have now implemented a double check on this step to avoid this happening again in future upgrades.
What will happen in the next release(s)?
It will need to be evaluated depending if it’s a major or minor release and what does the release include. Worst case scenario, I will have to rollback to v3.4.1 (no data would be lost, just the new features would be reverted to the defaults) and then do the upgrade. But hopefully in the next major release we will catch up and go back to the tag release branch.
Any issues or questions please let me know via email or Mastodon.
Really sorry for my mistake and the trouble or confusion it might cause. Still, hope you enjoy these early new features. I think the new admin dashboard looks really good and the auto delete old toots option is pretty cool.