I'm not sure how to phrase this for RELEASE-NOTES since I'm not sure what it does exactly; does it only affect extension-writers or something? From looking at the code I can't even see how the execution path is ever even followed, except maybe from maintenance scripts.
* Convert "$dbw =& wfGetDB( DB_MASTER );" --> "$dbw = wfGetDB( DB_MASTER );"
* convert "$skin =& $wgUser->getSkin();" --> "$skin = $wgUser->getSkin();"
For the time being have not changed the function definitions of wfGetDB() or User::getSkin() [i.e. they are still both return-by-ref], so as to ensure the interface does not change for extensions [some of which may still be trying to run on PHP4 environments]. However presumably at some point this can be changed too.
Also includes tiny tweak to newlines in parserTests - will show 1 rather than 2 newlines between the "Reading tests from" strings when in quiet mode.
* removing unused local vars
* removing used global declarations
* adding FIXMEs against extract() calls and lines that seem to be using uninitialized variables
* adding some array() declarations.
log entries.
* Also fixed it in the javascript recentchanges.
* Moved the value behind the page title to ensure the columns are still lined up
* Merged both sql patches into one.
* Set the default for both columns to NULL to make it work on edits before the db
update.
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: switch in includes/Parser.php on line 3849
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: ref in includes/Parser.php on line 3818
* Strict Standards: Non-static method OutputPage::setEncodings() should not be called statically in index.php on line 11
* Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in includes/Skin.php on line 888
* Strict Standards: Non-static method Title::newFromURL() should not be called statically in includes/SpecialContributions.php on line 178
* Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in includes/GlobalFunctions.php on line 2054
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: contributions-summary in languages/Language.php on line 764
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: trackbackhtml in skins/MonoBook.php on line 86
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: blockip in skins/MonoBook.php on line 204
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: tagline in skins/MonoBook.php on line 261
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: uselang in includes/SkinTemplate.php on line 1159
* Strict Standards: Non-static method CoreParserFunctions::plural() cannot be called statically in includes/Parser.php on line 2902
* Strict Standards: Undefined offset: 0 in includes/SkinTemplate.php on line 196
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: USE INDEX in includes/Database.php on line 1015
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: image_tests in includes/Parser.php on line 3488
* Strict Standards: Undefined offset: 0 in includes/Parser.php on line 3507
* Strict Standards: Non-static method ChangesList::newFromUser() should not be called statically in includes/SpecialWatchlist.php on line 361
* Strict Standards: Non-static method RecentChange::newFromCurRow() should not be called statically in includes/SpecialWatchlist.php on line 367
* Strict Standards: is_a(): Deprecated. Please use the instanceof operator in includes/Exception.php on line 168
* Strict Standards: Non-static method LogPage::logName() should not be called statically in includes/SpecialContributions.php on line 325
* Strict Standards: ob_end_flush(): failed to delete and flush buffer. No buffer to delete or flush. in maintenance/commandLine.inc on line 191
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: meatball in languages/Language.php on line 234
* Strict Standards: rmdir(/tmp/mwParser-2108164586-images/thumb): Directory not empty in maintenance/parserTests.inc on line 605
* Cleaning out some new temp files left over by parserTests (there were one or two straggler dirs/files that would persist after the test run ended, due to new tests being added over time)
* Strict Standards: Non-static method CoreParserFunctions::special() cannot be called statically in includes/Parser.php on line 2902
* Strict Standards: Declaration of ListUsersPage::preprocessResults() should be compatible with that of QueryPage::preprocessResults() in includes/SpecialListusers.php on line 38
* Strict Standards: Only variables should be passed by reference in includes/SpecialBlockip.php on line 175
* Strict Standards: Skin::include_once(skins/Standard.deps.php) [<a href='function.include-once'>function.include-once</a>]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in includes/Skin.php on line 121
* Strict Standards: Declaration of ApiMain::getResult() should be compatible with that of ApiBase::getResult() in includes/api/ApiMain.php on line 35
* Strict Standards: is_a(): Deprecated. Please use the instanceof operator in includes/WikiError.php on line 63
* Strict Standards: Non-static method WikiError::isError() should not be called statically in includes/SpecialImport.php on line 64
* Strict Standards: Non-static method ImportStreamSource::newFromInterwiki() should not be called statically in includes/SpecialImport.php on line 58<b
* Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in includes/SpecialUndelete.php on line 501
* Strict Standards: Non-static method Image::newFromName() should not be called statically in thumb.php on line 56
* Strict Standards: Non-static method CoreParserFunctions::numberoffiles() cannot be called statically in includes/Parser.php on line 2902
* Strict Standards: Non-static method CoreParserFunctions::statisticsFunction() should not be called statically in includes/CoreParserFunctions.php on line 139
* Strict Standards: Non-static method CoreParserFunctions::isRaw() should not be called statically in includes/CoreParserFunctions.php on line 128
* Strict Standards: Non-static method CoreParserFunctions::grammar() cannot be called statically in includes/Parser.php on line 2902
* Strict Standards: Undefined offset: 1 in includes/SpecialMIMEsearch.php on line 130
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: recentchangeslinked in skins/MonoBook.php on line 184
* Strict Standards: Declaration of DumpNotalkFilter::pass() should be compatible with that of DumpFilter::pass() in includes/Export.php on line 612
* Strict Standards: Declaration of DumpNamespaceFilter::pass() should be compatible with that of DumpFilter::pass() in includes/Export.php on line 665
* Strict Standards: Non-static method ImportStreamSource::newFromUpload() should not be called statically in includes/SpecialImport.php on line 46
* Strict Standards: Undefined offset: 5 in includes/Sanitizer.php on line 396
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: wikidbUserName in includes/SpecialUserlogin.php on line 562
* Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in includes/api/ApiQueryBase.php on line 95
* Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in includes/api/ApiQueryBase.php on line 116
* Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in includes/api/ApiQueryWatchlist.php on line 128
* Strict Standards: Undefined property: stdClass::$rc_id in includes/api/ApiQueryBase.php on line 131
* Strict Standards: Undefined property: stdClass::$rc_last_oldid in includes/api/ApiQueryBase.php on line 164
* Strict Standards: Undefined property: stdClass::$rc_moved_to_ns in includes/api/ApiQueryBase.php on line 285
* Strict Standards: Undefined property: stdClass::$rc_patrolled in includes/api/ApiQueryBase.php on line 176
* Strict Standards: Undefined index: comment in includes/api/ApiFeedWatchlist.php on line 85
* Strict Standards: Undefined offset: 0 in includes/Skin.php on line 302
* Strict Standards: Non-static method User::SetupSession() should not be called statically in includes/SpecialUserlogin.php on line 15
... There are certain to be other things too, so this is not intended to be comprehensive, rather the above just stops most of the notifications I observed.
* removing some unused global declarations.
* removing or commenting out or adding comments for unused local vars.
* Adding one or two local var declarations.
* Declaring $matches array passed to preg_match() / preg_match_all() as array() before using [not required, just have a slight preference for the explicitness].
* remove one or two pass-by-reference function declarations where the value is not modified.
* Adding some braces to if-else blocks.
* In Parser.php, stripstrate is now an object rather than an array as per r17820, so we no longer need ask for a reference to it (as in "$x =& $this->mStripState;"), and in fact it's probably just simpler to get rid of $x altogether.
* Moving some preg regexes from "" quoting to '' quoting to stop static analyzer whinging about bad escape sequences.
... up to "LinksUpdate.php" in the includes/ directory.
* remove require_once() throughout whole code, yet left in few places
* move global functions in HttpUtils, ProxyTools, Credits to class methods
* php5 only: __autoload() now used, combined with class->file map and require()
* move initialization of $wgValidSkinNames to Skin::getSkinNames()
* few more changes that will surely break stuff.
* Move template / squid purging back to onArticleEdit() out of updateArticle()
* Move email notifications from showArticle() to RecentChange::save(), next to the IRC updates
* Use INSERT IGNORE instead of REPLACE for WatchedItem::watch(), avoids breaking notification timestamps for the auto-add on the user talk
