Keeping Sites Safer
Version 5.2 of WordPress, named “Jaco” in honor of renowned and revolutionary jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. New features in this update make it easier than ever to fix your site if something goes wrong.
There are even more robust tools for identifying and fixing configuration issues and fatal errors. Whether you are a developer helping clients or you manage your site solo, these tools can help get you the right information when you need it.
Site Health Check
Building on the Site Health features introduced in 5.1, this release adds two new pages to help debug common configuration issues. It also adds space where developers can include debugging information for site maintainers.
PHP Error Protection
This administrator-focused update will let you safely fix or manage fatal errors without requiring developer time. It features better handling of the so-called “white screen of death,” and a way to enter recovery mode, which pauses error-causing plugins or themes.
Improvements for Everyone
Accessibility Updates
A number of changes work together to improve contextual awareness and keyboard navigation flow for those using screen readers and other assistive technologies.
New Dashboard Icons
Thirteen new icons including Instagram, a suite of icons for BuddyPress, and rotated Earth icons for global inclusion. Find them in the Dashboard and have some fun!
Plugin Compatibility Checks
WordPress will now automatically determine if your site’s version of PHP is compatible with installed plugins. If the plugin requires a higher version of PHP than your site currently uses, WordPress will not allow you to activate it, preventing potential compatibility errors.
Developer Happiness
The minimum supported PHP version is now 5.6.20. As of WordPress 5.2*, themes and plugins can safely take advantage of namespaces, anonymous functions, and more!
A new theme page template, a conditional function, and two CSS classes make designing and customizing the Privacy Policy page easier.
5.2 introduces a wp_body_open hook, which lets themes support injecting code right at the beginning of the <body> element.
With the addition of webpack and Babel configurations in the wordpress/scripts package, developers won’t have to worry about setting up complex build tools to write modern JavaScript.
*If you are running an old version of PHP (less than 5.6.20), update your PHP before installing 5.2.
The Squad
This release was led by Matt Mullenweg, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and Gary Pendergast. They were graciously supported by 327 generous volunteer contributors. Load a Jaco Pastorius playlist on your favorite music service and check out some of their profiles:
Aaron D. Campbell · Aaron Jorbin · abbe · Adam Silverstein · Adil Öztaşer · Ajit Bohra · Alain Schlesser · Alda Vigdís · Alex Concha · Alex Denning · Alex Dimitrov · Alex Kirk · Alex Mills · Alex Shiels · Alexis · Alexis Lloyd · Alexis Soucie · allancole · Allen Snook · alpipego · Andrea Fercia · Andrea Middleton · Andrei Draganescu · Andrei Lupu · Andrew Dixon · Andrew Duthie · Andrew Nacin · Andrew Ozz · Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko · Andrés Maneiro · Andy Fragen · Andy Meerwaldt · Aniket Patel · Anis Charolia · Anton Timmermans · Anton Vanyukov · Antonio Villegas · antonypuckey · arena · Ari Stathopoulos · Aslam Shekh · axaak · backermann1978 · bahia0019 · Bego Mario Garde · Ben Dunkle · Ben Ritner – Kadence WP · Benjamin Intal · Bill Erickson · Birgir Erlendsson · Bodo (Hugo) Barwich · bonger · Boone Gorges · Bradley Taylor · Brandon Kraft · Brent Swisher · Brian Stal · Burhan Nasir · Cathi Bosco · Chetan Prajapati · Chiara Magnani · Chouby · Chris A. a11n · Chris Van Patten · Christoph Herr · Cătălin Dogaru · D.S. Webster · Damon Cook · Dan Foley · Dani Llewellyn · Daniel Bachhuber · Daniel Richards · Daniele Scasciafratte · danieltj · Darren Ethier · Dave Whitley · David Baumwald · David Binovec · David Biňovec · David Herrera · David Marín Carreño · David Newman · David Roddick · David Smith · daxelrod · Debabrata Karfa · dekervit · Denis de Bernardy · Dennis Snell · Derek Herman · Derrick Hammer · designsimply · Dhanukanuwan · Dharmesh Patel · Diane Co · diegoreymendez · Dilip Bheda · Dion Hulse · Dixita Dusara · Dmitrii · Dmitry Mayorov · Dominik Schilling · Drew Jaynes · dsifford · Eduardo Toledo · Ella Van Durpe · Emil Dotsev · epiqueras · Erin ‘Folletto’ Casali · Fabian Kägy · Faisal Alvi · Felix Arntz · Fencer04 · flaviozavan · Franklin Tse · Fuegas · Garrett Hyder · Garth Mortensen · Gary Jones · Gennady Kovshenin · Girish Panchal · gqevu6bsiz · Grzegorz Ziółkowski · Guido Scialfa · GutenDev | Ⓦ ✍㊙ · Hannah Malcolm · Hardik Amipara · Hardik Thakkar · Hendrik Luehrsen · Henry · Henry Wright · Ian Belanger · Ian Dunn · ice9js · Igor Zinovyev · Isabel Brison · Ismail · J.D. Grimes · Jake Spurlock · jakeparis · James · janak Kaneriya · Janki Moradiya · Jarred Kennedy · Javier Villanueva · Jay Upadhyay · Jaydeep Rami · Jaye Williams · Jayman Pandya · jdeeburke · Jean-Baptiste Audras · Jeff Paul · Jeffrey de Wit · Jenny Wong · Jeremy Felt · Jeremy Green · Jeremy Herve · jikamens · jitendrabanjara1991 · Joe Dolson · Joe McGill · Joen Asmussen · Johan Falk · Johanna de Vos · John Blackbourn · John James Jacoby · Jonathan Desrosiers · Jonathandejong · joneiseman · Jonny Harris · jonnybojangles · Joost de Valk · jordesign · Jorge Bernal · Jorge Costa · Jory Hogeveen · Jose Castaneda · josephwa · Josh Feck · Joshua Wold · Joy · jplo · JR Tashjian · Juhi Patel · juliarrr · Juliette Reinders Folmer · Justin Ahinon · K. Adam White · KamataRyo · Karine Do · karlgroves · Katyatina · Kelin Chauhan · Kelly Choyce-Dwan · Kerry Liu · KHAN · Khokan Sardar · killua99 · Kira Song · Kite · Kjell Reigstad · Knut Sparhell · Koji Kuno · Konstantin Obenland · Konstantinos Xenos · laurelfulford · Lena Morita · lkraav · lovingboth · Luke Carbis · Luke Gedeon · Luke Pettway · Maciek Palmowski · Maedah Batool · Maja Benke · Maje Media LLC · Malae · Manzoor Wani (a11n) · Marcin · Marcin Pietrzak · Marco Fernandes · Marco Peralta · Marcus Kazmierczak · Marek Hrabe · Marius Jensen · Mariyan Belchev · Mark D Wolinski · Mark Uraine · markcallen · Markus Echterhoff · Martin Spatovaliyski · Marty Helmick · marybaum · Mathieu Viet · mattcursor · Meet Makadia · Mel Choyce · mheikkila · Micah Wood · Michael · michelleweber · Miguel Fonseca · Miguel Torres · Mikael Korpela · Mike Auteri · Mike Schinkel · Mike Selander · MikeNGarrett · Milan Dinić · Mobin Ghasempoor · Mohadese Ghasemi · Mohammed Saimon · Monika Rao · Morten Rand-Hendriksen · Morteza Geransayeh · Muhammad Muhsin · Mukesh Panchal · Mustafa Uysal · mzorz · Nahid Ferdous Mohit · Naoki Ohashi · Nate Allen · Nayana Maradia · Ned Zimmerman · Neokazis Charalampos · Nick C · Nick Daugherty · Nick Diego · Nick Halsey · Nidhi Jain · Niels de Blaauw · Niels Lange · Nikolay Nikolov · Nilambar Sharma · ninio · nmenescardi · notnownikki · Oliver Sadler · onlanka · pandelisz · ParsMizban · Pascal Birchler · Paul Bearne · Paul Biron · Paul Vincent Beigang · Pedro Mendonça · Peter Booker · Peter Wilson · pfiled · pilou69 · Pranali Patel · Pratik Kumar · Pratik Kumar · Presskopp · psealock · Punit Patel · Rachel Cherry · Rahmon · Ramanan · Rami Yushuvaev · Ramiz Manked · ramonopoly · Riad Benguella · Rinat · Robert Anderson · Rudy Susanto · Ryan Boren · Ryan Welcher · ryanshoover · Sébastien Gastard · Sébastien SERRE · Sachyya · Saeed Fard · Sal Ferrarello · Salar Gholizadeh · Samaneh Mirrajabi · Sami Keijonen · Santiago Garza · Sara Cope · saracup · sarah semark · Scott Arciszewski · Scott Reilly · Sebastian Pisula · Sekineh Ebrahimzadeh · Sergei Predvoditelev · Sergey Biryukov · Sergio Scabuzzo · SergioEstevao · Sharaz Shahid · sharifkiberu · Shashank Panchal · shazdeh · Shital Marakana · sky_76 · Soren Wrede · Stanimir Stoyanov · Stefano Minoia · Stephen Edgar · Steven Word · Subrata Sarkar · Sudar Muthu · Sudhir Yadav · Takayuki Miyauchi · Tammie Lister · Themonic · thomstark · Thorsten Frommen · Thrijith Thankachan · Tim Hedgefield · Tim Wright · Timothy Jacobs · timph · tmatsuur · tmdesigned · tmdesigned · Tobias Zimpel · TobiasBg · tobifjellner (Tor-Bjorn Fjellner) · TomHarrigan · tonybogdanov · Toro_Unit (Hiroshi Urabe) · torres126 · Torsten Landsiedel · Towhidul I Chowdhury · Tracy Levesque · Umang Bhanvadia · Vaishali Panchal · Viktor Szépe · vortfu · vrimill · WebFactory · Weston Ruter · WFMattR · Will West · William Earnhardt · williampatton · Willscrlt · Wolly aka Paolo Valenti · wrwrwr0 · yarnboy · Yoav Farhi · Yui · Zebulan Stanphill · Česlav Przywara
Also, many thanks to all of the community volunteers who contribute in the support forums. They answer questions from people across the world, whether they are using WordPress for the first time or since the first release. These releases are more successful for their efforts!
If you want to learn more about volunteering with WordPress, check out Make WordPress or the core development blog.
Thanks for choosing WordPress!