Originally published at: Changes for developers in Nextcloud 14, beta 4 ready for testing - Nextcloud
[caption id=“attachment_4432” align=“alignright” width=“304”] Undo file deletions on Android[/caption]For developers, Nextcloud 14 introduces a series of changes that will impact their apps. Many have already been updated and we’re working with community members to update the over 120 apps on our app store. Besides changes and removal of old API elements, there are of course also new capabilities to be taken advantage off. One of those is an API for file versions and trash, which have been implemented in the upcoming release of our Android app! With the release of Beta 4 today, it is a good time to go over what was added, removed and changed in Nextcloud!
Help test beta 4!
With beta 4 out, we think we've caught most issues. There are a few more we plan to fix before the first release candidate gets published (see issue #10713) and we need your help to find out what else could cause problems!Note that it is impossible to test every possible way in which users use Nextcloud and the main reason Nextcloud 13 has been so reliable is because many community members put in time to test it in their specific situation. If you want to guarantee a reliable, smooth upgrade to Nextcloud 14 for yourself, your best bet is to help us test now, so we can fix problems before the final release!
What is new for admins
Some changes will be visible to system administrators. We already hinted at a number of them in our blog about Swiftv3 support earlier this week and there is more. For one, Nextcloud 14 will support PHP 7.0, 7.1 and 7.2 (#7368) and we are working on supporting the upcoming 7.3 release as well. Other changes:- updated Nginx config: nextcloud/documentation#786
- syslog tag was changed from
ownCloud
toNextcloud
: #10048 - when running
occ maintenance:mode --on/--off
and it was already in this state if will printMaintenance mode already enabled
instead of theMaintenance mode enabled
which was printed always before this change #10070 -
occ upgrade
does not have the option--no-app-disable
anymore (it is used for PHP 7+ anyways already) (#7955) - When using Swift Objectstore as home storage make sure that to set the
bucket/container
parameter. See #8793 -
mail_smtpmode
can no longer be set tophp
. As this option is lost with the upgrade of phpmailer #9791 - log format for exception was improved (no double nested JSON anymore) #8946
- Recovery of encrypted files in case of lost password is now an OCC command instead of in the UI to avoid time-outs. #10718
For developers
There have been many changes, additions and deprecations. New is access to the versioning and trash features through our API, already prompting work for desktop and mobile clients to integrate these functions in upcoming releases. The upcoming Android client release will already support retrieving older versions of files and undo file deletions.There is now support for the new and improved ARGON2I hashing algorithm and Federation 2.0 enables developers to support exchanging calendars, contacts, Talk calls, chat and other content between Nextcloud servers in app releases over the coming months. Below you can find the full list of what’s been added, changed and removed!
Changes
- we will introduce type hinting for scalar types to our public API and fix according to the PHPDoc:
-
AppFramework\Http\Request::getHeader
now really only returns string (and notnull
) anymore (#7813) -
Security\ICrypto::decrypt
now accepts strings only and also returns string only (#7825) -
OCP\AppFramework\Utility\ITimeFactory
is strictly typed now (#7838) -
OCP\IL10N
is strickly types which means that thet
function expects an array (#8497 for a relaxed version
-
Structural changes:
- Structure of the whole nextcloud instance has been revised: #9982
-
with-app-sidebar
not required anymore to open the sidebar only usedisappear
on the sidebar -
svg
classe not required anymore -
with-settings
,with-icon
not needed anymore
- apps that are enabled for groups can now provide public pages, that are available even if a user is not logged in - see #8593
- OCS API method
AddUser
POST:/users
now allow empty password iff email is set and valid #8856 - email texts are not automatically escaped anymore in all cases #8026
Changed available dependencies:
-
$fromMailAddress
will not be available anymore - just define it in your apps dependency container if you need it (#8336)
-
\OCP\Mail
and the email templates got proper type hints: #8614 -
OCP\Authentication\TwoFactorAuth
got typehints and return types: #8981 -
OCP\Migration\IMigrationStep
has two new methods #9167 (covered if the apps use the abstract classSimpleMigrationStep
which is the default) -
OCA.Search
is nowOCA.Search.Core
. New standard for global search #9912 -
EMailTemplate
child classes should use the%$1s
notation for replacements to be future compatible and be able to reuse parameters #10291
Added APIs:
- OCS API got a details endpoint for the user list #8847
- OCS API got a details endpoint for the groups list #8865
Deprecations
A series of API's and pieces of our public interface have been removed. We generally announce plans to deprecate API elements XXX in advanceRemoved from public interface:
- several deprecated functions from
OCP\AppFramework/IAppContainer
(#7839) -
OCP\Config
(#7840) - search function from
OCP\ISearch
(#7842) - formatDate and generateRandomBytes from
OCP\Util
(#7843) - deprecated
OCP
constantes (#7844) - remove deprecated template functions from OCP directly (#7857)
- several deprecated functions from
OCP\Util
(#8783) -sendMail
,encryptedFiles
,getServerHost
,getServerProtocol
,getRequestUri
,getScriptName
- remove deprecated interface
OCP\IHelper
(#8784) - remove deprecated
insertIfNotExist
fromOCP\DB
(#8786) - remove more deprecated methods of
OCP\DB
(#8787) -insertid
,rollback
,isError
- remove some deprecated methods of
OCP\Response
(#8792) - removed deprecated HTTPHelper (#8804)
- removed urlgenerator functions form
OCP\Util
(#8811) - removed deprecated
OCP\Contacts
(#8816) - removed deprecated
OCP\BackgroundJob::registerJob
(#8877) - removed deprecated
OCP\Files::tmpFile
andOCP\Files::tmpFolder
(#8878) - removed deprecated
OCP\JSON
(#8943) - remove deprecated
beginTransaction
,commit
andgetErrorMessage
fromOCP\DB
(#8914) - remove deprecated
OCP\Response
(#8918) - remove deprecated method
OCP\User::getDisplayNames
(#8919) - remove
OCP\Share::resolveReshare
(#8853) - removed deprecated
OCP\DB
(#8985)
Deprecated APIs:
-
OCP\Files
is deprecated #8922 - Setting custom client URLs in a custom
OC_Theme
class is deprecated, settings in config.php should be used #8994 - OCS API
getGroup
method replaced bygetGroupUsers
#8904 - log levels in
OCP\Util
are deprecated and moved to theILogger
interface #9308 -
OCP\AppFramework\Db\Mapper
is deprecated move toOCP\AppFramework\Db\QBMapper
#9444
Internals stuff:
- cleanup of
OC_*
namespace - we removed quite some classes, methods and constants from our internal namespace. If it was used by any app in the App Store we notified the owner of that app. Keep in mind that using the OC_ namespace is not official supported and can break any time without notice. So better not use it in your app. -
OC_Group_Backend
got removed: #8988 -
OC_Response::setStatus
and the constants for status codes have been removed #10009