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Moodle 2.9

Unsupported Moodle Version
This version of Moodle is no longer supported and will not receive fixes for security risks.
You are encouraged to upgrade to a supported version of Moodle.

Release date: Monday, 11th May 2015

Here is the full list of fixed issues in 2.9.

See our New Features page for a more user-friendly introduction to Moodle 2.9 with screenshots.

If you are upgrading from previous version, make sure to read the Upgrading documentation.

Server requirements​

These are just the minimum supported versions. We recommend keeping all of your software up-to-date.

  • Moodle upgrade: Moodle 2.2 or later (if upgrading from earlier versions, you must upgrade to 2.2.11 as a first step)
  • PHP version: minimum PHP 5.4.4 (always use latest PHP 5.4.x or 5.5.x on Windows - http://windows.php.net/download/), PHP 7 is NOT supported
  • Ghostscript should be installed for pdf annotation.

Database requirements​

Moodle supports the following database servers. Again, version numbers are just the minimum supported version. We recommend running the latest stable version of any software.

DatabaseMinimum versionRecommended
PostgreSQL9.1Latest
MySQL5.5.31Latest
MariaDB5.5.31Latest
Microsoft SQL Server2008Latest
Oracle Database10.2Latest

Client requirements​

Browser support​

BrowserMinimum versionRecommended versionNotes
Google Chrome30.0Latest
Mozilla Firefox25.0Latest
Apple Safari6Latest
Microsoft Internet Explorer9LatestVersion 10 is required for drag-and-drop upload of content from outside the browser into Moodle

Major features​

One of the biggest project was improvements in Navigation and Users pages, see also MDL-45774. It includes:

User interface improvements​

  • MDL-43996 - Drag and drop image into Atto editor inserts it as a file
  • MDL-19670 - Teacher can post the same forum question to all groups at once
  • MDL-47172 - "You have assignments that need attention" in the course overview block displays relevant information for teachers
  • MDL-48933 - Ajax interface for messaging
  • MDL-23296 - Provide search function for Server files area in the file picker
  • MDL-48937 - Don't show the category in the breadcrumb if there is only one category
  • MDL-26226 - Section names in the navigation can link to the sections
  • MDL-49694 - Overview report shows the full course name
  • MDL-47527 - Allow access to overview report for users who can view all grades
  • MDL-36009, MDL-46662 - Grader report accessibility improvement
  • MDL-47562 - UI Fixes and improvements for SingleView report
  • MDL-47434 - Do not display 'General' section in navigation block if it's empty

Course creation improvements​

  • MDL-10405 - Added button to quickly delete a whole section on the course homepage
  • MDL-31500 - Allow backup and restore on the front page
  • MDL-5583 - Fields in database module can be set as required
  • MDL-28526 - Glossary can export/import embedded images and attached files
  • MDL-49006, MDL-49101 - Removed default requirement of activity description and substituted with a single setting
  • MDL-13831 - Grade to pass can be set by editing activity without going to gradebook
  • MDL-46960 - Completion status is updated immediately for student when activity is graded
  • MDL-27074 - Display group name for group events in the calendar
  • MDL-48969 - New activity results block
  • MDL-18177 - Add option to choose whether groups and/or groupings are included in a back up
  • MDL-20053 - Database activity: create ##userpicture## tag to allow the user's profile picture to be displayed
  • MDL-49543 - Add a WYSIWYG field to Badges which is displayed on the criteria page
  • MDL-46416 - Possible to change / remove picture from group
  • MDL-49687 - Adding a single person to multiple groups at the same time
  • MDL-21724 - The course edit page needs a way to redirect to some page other than the main course page after saving
  • MDL-47628 - When grouping is selected for the activity display a button to quickly create access restriction (helps users who were used to groupmembersonly)
  • MDL-23178 - Allow indenting again for activities in the Main Menu block
  • MDL-46238 - Add a simple way to go back from enrol/users.php page to the course

Administrator features​

  • MDL-15187 - Assign global roles using CSV upload
  • MDL-30937 - Backup report again links to the individual course backup summaries
  • MDL-32547 - Configure temporary file deletion, to avoid moodledata/temp/backup filling up the filesystem
  • MDL-49684 - Replace custom Moodle timezone stuff with standard PHP date/time code
  • MDL-25763 - CLI version of admin/replace.php
  • MDL-44874 - Per-request temp directories
  • MDL-46064 - Drop support for MyISAM
  • MDL-49298 - Make tgz backups standard
  • MDL-47834 - New option for restriction of concurrent logins in managing authentication
  • MDL-47800 - Logout user when somebody changes their password
  • MDL-47830 - Add password rotation restrictions
  • MDL-48559 - Web CRON should be disabled by default
  • MDL-48080 - Never send mail to domains ending in .invalid
  • MDL-48595 - Log exports no longer fails because of memory limit
  • MDL-28513 - Allow specification of admin user email in CLI installer
  • MDL-49842 - Allow specification of front page summary in CLI installer
  • MDL-47803 - New page that shows all browser sessions of current user
  • MDL-34684 - New health check to detect incorrect category path order and/or missing parent categories
  • MDL-48493 - Automatically detect the plugin type when installing from ZIP
  • MDL-48894 - Site registration page states if site is registered
  • MDL-18183 - Option to verify peer and host of MNet peer using HTTPS

Files and repositories​

Authentication, enrolments and access​

  • Several improvements to meta enrolments, such as: populate groups from courses MDL-17929, sorting courses alphabetically MDL-35696, button to quickly add a new method MDL-49439
  • MDL-26017 - Keyholder capability in self-enrolment plugin
  • MDL-20365 - Salted Crypt passwords option for external database authentication
  • MDL-49380 - Chose "Create new group" when synchronising cohort enrolment with a group
  • MDL-49677 - Improvement of Custom welcome message in self-enrolment plugin
  • MDL-43415 - Custom profile fields should be syncable with external DB auth
  • MDL-49638 - reCAPTCHA should be moved below custom profile fields during self registration

Quiz​

  • MDL-40988 - Add section headings to quiz
  • MDL-40992 - Option for teachers to allow students to redo a finished question within a quiz attempt
  • MDL-40990 - Teachers can require students to complete Question 1 before they can see Question 2
  • MDL-25721 - The question bank can be sorted by date
  • MDL-348 - Printer-friendly option for quizzes
  • MDL-6340 - force unique/unseen questions in retakes
  • MDL-35280 - quiz_reset_userdata does not have an option to remove user/group overrides
  • MDL-48898 - Quiz time period setting should use admin_setting_configduration

Lesson​

  • MDL-48803 - support for groups
  • MDL-48715 - moving "time spent" from prerequisite to the proper completion rule
  • MDL-43387 - UI for grading essays
  • MDL-48244 - Lessons with no questions show completed after the first page is viewed
  • MDL-47587 - Make progress bar available on the very last page of a lesson.
  • MDL-49642 - Give time/date extensions to users and groups in lesson
  • MDL-40286 - non-editing teacher should see Grade analysis in Lesson
  • MDL-48473 - Lesson shortanswer question: add fill in the blank option
  • MDL-48984 - Lesson content page jump descriptions, numerical and shortanswer questions answers allow rich html but should be plain text
  • MDL-18553 - Removing grade info from lesson pages if lesson grade is 0
  • MDL-26689 - in order to prevent interactivity references from being broken move the "Dependent on" feature to the completion/availability subsystem
  • MDL-49183 - Page creation, update and delete events added
  • MDL-48883 - Content page viewed, Question page viewed and Question page answered events added

Other modules​

  • MDL-48221 - Make forum subscription combinations less confusing with different combinations
  • MDL-48822 - Find last visual post in a discussion
  • MDL-46755 - Allow teachers to configure the number of discussions displayed using the social course format
  • MDL-49069 - Ability to specify default values for Forum RSS
  • MDL-48159 - For users without group prevent submissions instead of using "Default team" in group assignments
  • MDL-47777 - Convert assignment maximum files per submission maximum to global setting
  • MDL-45848 - Possible to assign Marker on a marking guide or rubric assignment without giving a grade
  • MDL-49220 - Allow preview of Choice options before activity is opened for submission
  • MDL-34375 - Choice module should display information in "Course overview" block
  • MDL-43770 - Exclude inactive users' responses from Choice report (with an option to include)
  • MDL-32285 - Added "Continue" button under Error notification message (IMS CP)
  • MDL-49730 - Workshop: use full page width when displaying contents
  • MDL-36874 - Text navigation for Books
  • MDL-49563 - Allow glossary entry to be updated from glossary navigation

Various​

  • MDL-46763 - Save user images as JPEG if uploaded in that format.
  • MDL-48760 - MathJax library updated to 2.5
  • MDL-47232 - Course completion: "Activities to be completed" should not require passing grade
  • MDL-48437 - Make Visible/All groups selector show own groups first
  • MDL-47501 - Add an indication that the grade letters have been overridden
  • MDL-47159 - Link plugin in Atto should add 'http://' prefix when necessary
  • MDL-9443 - Run *.xhtml file through the text filters
  • MDL-48616 - Add Macrons in Atto character map
  • MDL-46665 - ID number filter added to Browse list of users
  • MDL-48499 - Show which users have not received messages in bulk messaging
  • MDL-49333 - Return additional information in WebService core_get_site_info

Security issues​

  • MSA-15-0018 Quiz manual-grading is an XSS risk, but does not declare that
  • MSA-15-0019 Possible phishing when redirecting to external site using referer header
  • MSA-15-0020 User fullname disclosure through account confirmation link
  • MSA-15-0021 Any authenticated user can subscribe to site-wide event monitor rules
  • MSA-15-0022 Potential XSS risk when returning text entered by student from Web Services
  • MSA-15-0023 Suspended user is able to login when confirming email
  • MSA-15-0024 User with suspended enrolment can see sections in the navigation tree
  • MSA-15-0025 Capability to manage own files is not respected in Web Services

For developers​

  • MDL-49163 - Support for calling webservice functions directly from JavaScript. Developer docs: AJAX
  • MDL-49152 - Support for implementing renderers as mustache templates (php and JavaScript). Developer docs: Templates
  • MDL-44874 - A new per-request directory API has been added, and should be used instead of make_temp_directory wherever possible.
  • MDL-49604 - Support for in browser caching (localstorage) of strings and templates
  • MDL-49650 - Template Library - tool for displaying templates in the current theme
  • MDL-48887 - New auth hook to intercept code before login page is shown.
  • MDL-48177 - Allow plugin environment checks to work without defining explicit versions of Moodle
  • MDL-46728 - WOFF2 fonts are supported in themes.
  • MDL-39752, MDL-49456 - Behat tests runs in parallel
  • MDL-49163 - Unified Ajax script handler. Developer docs: AJAX
  • MDL-27548 - The comments table contains the component
  • MDL-49269 - Add an AMD log module
  • MDL-49534 - Delete pear/HTTP/WebDav
  • MDL-48212 - Introduces a new class \core\message\message that should be used instead of \stdClass for creating messages.
  • MDL-37477 - html_table API supports caption tag
  • MDL-49643 - Deprecate inconsistent API to extend the navigation by local plugins
  • MDL-49361 - Ability to provide alternate strings manager
  • MDL-44642 - Implemented backend to keep session alive
  • MDL-45725 - User preferences for flexible tables can be set persistent across sessions
  • MDL-49306 - When copying block instances the instance data is also copied
  • MDL-47915 - Theme layout "embedded" uses id='page-content' rather than 'content' to be consistent with other layouts
  • MDL-48212 - Implement new message api to support specific text only on a given handler
  • MDL-49262 - Delete the yui versions of the bootstrap plugins
  • MDL-40864 - Use div.logo instead of a.logo in Bootstrapbase / Clean / More home links
  • MDL-48160 - For theme developers: changes to block region layouts when coded for RTL

Translations​