Shortly after php 5.1 broke a throng of object oriented php scripts around the world, php 5.2 is about to bring carnage to scripts that rely on output buffers.

The symptom is simple and obvious to anyone who takes a few minutes to look into it: A blatant workflow error destroys variables before the output buffer is flushed. Adding to the insult, the php bug gardeners report that this is not a bug, but a feature.

Anyway, if you've the same problem I had, the fix involves moving the output buffer flush to the shutdown hook where it belongs:

# Fix php 5.2 output buffer problems
# Public domain, use and redistribute at will

if ( !function_exists('ob_end_flush_all') ) :
function ob_end_flush_all()
{
  while ( @ob_end_flush() );
}

register_shutdown_function('ob_end_flush_all');
endif;

'nuff grunting. The following WordPress plugins got an update as a result:

• Admin Menu
• Ad Spaces (obsolete)
• External Links
• Google Analytics

The following plugins were also updated recently:

• Bookmark Me
• Frame Buster
• Newsletter Manager
• Wysiwyg Editor (obsolete)

• BlogPulse link, v.2.1 (obsolete)
• Cosmos link, v.2.1 (obsolete)
• Dofollow, v.2.0
• Fancy excerpt, v.2.5
• Frame buster, v.3.3
• Unfancy quote, v.2.0

WordPress 2.0 is now officially released. So is Semiologic v.3.2.

After extensive testing on my side, it turns out that WordPress 2.0 broke even more plugins, including several in v.3.1 beta. Hence the version skip.

And since WordPress 2.0 might break your favorite plugin, I've bundled a Pro Package version with WordPress 1.5.2 for your convenience.

Whichever you choose, be wary that database upgrades are NOT reversible. DO NOT CONDUCT TESTS ON A PRODUCTION SITE!!!

What's new, at a glance

WordPress v.2.0

• Tweaks and bug fixes
• New post/page edit screens
• Role based user system
• Better performance

Semiologic v.3.2

• Tweaks and bug fixes
• Internationalization ready
• header.jpg, header.swf and header-background.jpg automagic: drop into your theme directory, and voilà
• custom.css samples

Semiologic Pro Package

• Now with icons
• A sell page template
• Ad Space v.2

The new Pro Package

Contains:

• Install instructions for new sites
• Upgrade instructions for existing sites
• Frequently Asked Questions

WordPress Video Tutorials

You absolutely must check this out if you haven't done so already:

http://www.wordpressvideotutorials.com

Semiologic plugin release notes

Ad Space

Updated (v.2.0)

• Clean rewrite as class
• Ad tags, blocks and distributions
• Autoinstall with AdSense Deluxe importer
• Internationalization ready

Admin menu

Updated (v.2.6)

• Fixed problem with gzip
• XHTML valid
• Internationalization ready
• New icons, transparent gifs rather than png
• Admin menu fix on Window machines

BlogPulse Link

Updated (v.2.1)

• Internationalization ready

Cosmos Link

Updated (v.2.1)

• Internationalization ready

External Links

Updated (v.1.5)

• Fixed problem with gzip
• Works on localhost

Extract Terms

Updated (v.2.2)

• Fixed IIS issues
• Fixed php 4 issues

Frame Buster

Updated (v.3.1)

• WordPress 2.0 compatible

Google Analytics

Updated (v.1.1)

• Fixed problem with gzip
• Internationalization ready
• No longer logs admins
• Admin menu fix on Window machines

Opt-in Front Page

Updated (v.2.2)

• Solves the duplicate content issue when used without static front page
• Fixed php 4 issues

Fuzzy Recent Comments

Updated (v.4.2)

• Internationalization ready
• Admin menu fix on Window machines
• Stronger cache cleanup

Fuzzy Recent Posts

Updated (v.4.2)

• Internationalization ready
• Admin menu fix on Window machines
• Stronger cache cleanup

Fuzzy Recent Updates

Updated (v.4.2)

• Internationalization ready
• Admin menu fix on Window machines
• Stronger cache cleanup

Search Reloaded

Updated (v.2.1)

• Fixed php 4 issues
• Fixed a WP2 issue

Smart Link

Updated (v.2.2)

• Fixed problem with emails
• Fixed problem with gzip
• Fixed problem with domains
• Added a few default external handlers (google, yahoo, msn, and wiki)
• Fixed php 4 issues

Static Front Page

Updated (v.2.1)

• Changed the page template handling procedure
• Fixed php 4 issues

Subscribe Me

Updated (v.2.6)

• Internationalization ready
• Admin menu fix on Window machines
• New Google Reader and XML feed icons via James Huff (MacManX)
• Stronger cache cleanup

Semiologic CMS

Updated (v.3.2)

• Tweaks and bug fixes
• Internationalization ready
• Admin menu fix on Window machines
• Sort captions by key in the editor
• header.jpg (or .gif, .png, .jpeg, .swf) autoinstall
• header-background.jps (or .gif, .png, .jpeg) autoinstall
• two custom.css samples
• Fixed php 4 issues
• WP 2 ready
• Stronger cache cleanup

Semiologic CMS (Pro package)

Updated (v.3.2)

• Now with icons
• New advanced archives template
• New advanced links template
• New sell page template

Sidebar Tile

Updated (v.2.3)

• Now using pro package icons
• Internationalization ready
• Admin menu fix on Window machines
• Fixed php 4 issues
• Stronger cache cleanup

• New layouts and skins for the two and three col themes.
• Skin, nav menu and caption editors via slick admin screens for all Semiologic based themes
• Fuzzy recent and subscribe me admin screens to edit what appears in your sidebar
• Many many more changes under the hood (in essence, over 95% of the code has been rewritten and cleaned up)

You'll notice that some features, namely the new theme skin editor, were planned for v.3.1 and got into v.3.0.

Others, namely graphics and the new version of Ad Spaces, were planned for v.3.0 and will only make it into a later version. I've a Pro package update that is planned by the end of December. It might occur earlier depending on when WordPress 2.0 is released.

Anyway… Of interest to Pro package users is the patch version for the pro package. If you are running 2.6.x or 3.0 beta blogs, simply upload the files in the patch.

Detailed changelog:

Semiologic plugins

Ad Spaces

v.1.4 (updated)

• Tweaked to make it more v.3 compatible.
• Takes advantage of the new ad css class.
• v.2 scheduled end of December.

Admin Menu

v.2.5 (new/updated)

• Replaces existing admin menu

Admin Simplified

v.2.2 (updated)

Blogpulse link

v.2.0 (updated)

Cosmos link

v.2.0 (updated)

Dofollow

v.2.0 (updated)

External links

v.1.4 (new/updated)

Extract terms

v.2.0 (updated)

• More flexible API

Terms2posts

v.2.0 (updated)

• Performance increase

Terms2search

v.2.0 (updated)

Terms2tags

v.2.0 (updated)

Fancy excerpt

v.2.0 (updated)

Frame buster

v.3.0 (updated)

Google Analystics

v.1.0 (new)

Opt-in front page

v.2.0 (updated)

Fuzzy recent comments

v.4.0 (updated)

• Now with an admin screen

Fuzzy recent posts

v.4.0 (updated)

• Now with an admin screen

Fuzzy recent updates

v.4.0 (updated)

• Now with an admin screen

Search reloaded

v.2.0 (updated)

• Performance increase

Smart link

v.2.1 (updated)

• More flexible API

Static front page

v.2.0 (updated)

• Now with caching

Subscribe me

v.2.2 (updated)

• Now with Google Reader and an admin menu

Semiologic CMS

v.3.0 (updated)

• New and improved API
• Now with a skin manager
• Now with a nav menu manager
• Now with a caption editor
• Now with send by email links

Archive, calendar, category, link and page tiles

v.2.0 (updated)

Sidebar tile

v.2.1 (updated)

• Now with caching

Unfancy quote

v.2.0 (updated)

Semiologic themes

Semiologic 2 col

v.3.0 (new/updated)

Semiologic 3 col

v.3.0 (new/updated)

Strawberry cream

Discontinued (obsolete).

Don't forget…

The new themes feature a skin switcher and allow you to define a custom.css to override default settings.

• Admin Simplified (obsolete)
• BlogPulse Link (obsolete)
• Cosmos Link (obsolete)
• Dofollow
• Fancy Excerpt
• Frame Buster
• Opt-in Front Page
• Fuzzy Recent Comments (obsolete)
• Fuzzy Recent Posts (obsolete)
• Fuzzy Recent Updates (obsolete)
• Static Front Page (obsolete)
• Subscribe Me
• Sidebar Tile (obsolete)
• Unfancy Quote

• Admin simplified (obsolete), v.2.0 — rewrote as class
• BlogPulse link (obsolete), v.2.0 — rewrote as class, added feed link
• Cosmos link (obsolete), v.2.0 — rewrote as class, added feed link
• Dofollow, v.2.0 — rewrote as class, tweaks
• Fancy excerpt, v.2.0 — rewrote as class, fixes
• Frame buster, v.3.0 — rewrote as class
• Unfancy quote, v.2.0 — rewrote as class

The documention will be updated when I'll be finished updating the plugins, in the next days.