The new patch level is still unfinished. I just have some ideas that need to be saved for its release.

There is a new schema_version number 9 in the SVN trunk that will be included with the next release. There is a corresponding new function in the upgrade script. The install and the upgrade have both been tested on PHP 8.4. The schema upgrade will be optional. The trunk scripts are completely compatible with both schemas 8 and 9.

Schema 9 adds partial support for IPv6 clients. In the past, these client addresses could not be saved in the 15-char fields and would cause various warnings and errors in all versions of XMB. In the previous patch level I started to standardize the member insertion SQL code, and this had the effect of blocking the XMB installer in my IPv6-enabled test environment. Now in schema 8, IPv6 addresses will be set to empty, and in schema 9, IPv6 addresses will be saved as plain text.

As a reminder, the upgrade script will reload all templates and all English strings. If customized, these two areas should be manually backed up with the database, then either exported or merged with the new files.

It's nice to see internal support for features still being worked on. Are there any known potential conflicts with features such as the ip ban functionality so far that need to be made aware of for site admins? :3

Thanks again for the release, it's nice to casually pop my head in every now and again to see what is up. While XMB itself is very much a "relic" of its time thats not necessarily a bad thing when mostly everything else has become too bloated (really it only lacks a plugin hook system and fully responsive templating/more flexible styling, though it's still rather usable despite that)

The IP Banning feature was not upgraded. That feature is still limited to blocking IPv4 clients.

The config.php setting named $ipcheck remains available as a way to block all permissions for IPv6 clients.

There should be no new conflicts. The schema changes were all part of bug fixes.