Pleroma 2.6.0 release: major updates, fixes, and enhancements for frontend and backend

The latest major release, Pleroma 2.6.0, including several changes, numerous fixes, enhancements, and additions. Among the main breaking changes, it discontinues support for passwords created with crypt(3), a Gnu Social migration artifact. The BBS/SSH feature has been replaced by an external bridge called "sshocial." Additionally, Pleroma's audio scrobbling feature has been deprecated.

The 2.6.0 release also brings enhancements to both the frontend and backend. Frontend improvements include the addition of a quoting feature and better user interface behavior, with issues related to emoji reactions and modal settings behavior resolved. Backend enhancements focus on improved security and new features, such as better protection against unauthorized user media access and prevention of XML entity resolution to mitigate potential vulnerabilities. There are many more that you can review in detail in the official release notes.

To upgrade, users with source installations must acquire new dependencies and recompile Pleroma using the provided commands. All instances must undergo database migrations, with larger migrations requiring scheduled downtime. Users are also encouraged to run VACUUM ANALYZE on their databases. After these changes, a Pleroma restart is mandatory.