Commentail 0.2.0 Beta

Commentail 0.2.0

Beta · 19 October 2026 · MIT

This release adds reusable recent-comment lists, four languages, HTML email
presentation and database optimizations. It retains the 0.1.1 framework bounds.
The version number is 0.2.0; the package remains classified as Beta.

Changes since 0.1.1

• Use commentail_recent to select published comments across the current Site or
  one Page, limit the count, include/exclude replies and render your own markup.
  Selection respects visitor access and hidden discussions. Results contain
  presentation fields, not private ORM objects. Never share-cache this output.
• Add German, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese across the public UI,
  moderation/settings and all five email types, alongside English and Russian.
  Queued mail uses the recipient's saved language. Documentation remains English
  and Russian; catalog checks do not replace native-speaker review.
• Include minimal HTML emails with equivalent plain text, host Site names and
  descriptive actions. Revision decisions have distinct wording. Host overrides
  retain precedence; no comment text or tracking assets are added to mail.
• Group Page-editor Comments settings without changing inheritance or when
  settings take effect. Use Wagtail's searchable Page chooser in moderation.
• Batch recent-comment access checks and thread counts, reuse target settings
  and URLs, preload mail relations, narrow cleanup locks and optimize phrase rules.
  Add migration 0014_reading_indexes for publication/thread reads, active
  CAPTCHA lookup and rate cleanup. Include a reproducible synthetic load tool.
• Include the Russian README in the source archive.

Compatibility and verification boundaries

Python 3.12–3.14; Wagtail 7.4.3+ within 7.4 with Django 5.2 or 6.0; Wagtail
8.0.x with Django 5.2, 6.0 or 6.1. File SQLite and PostgreSQL 16 are the declared
CI database matrix. Wagtail 7.4 with Django 6.1 and Wagtail 8.1+ remain outside
scope. This release does not expand stable API or browser/accessibility promises.

The runtime already passed a local 30-combination matrix on SQLite and PostgreSQL
18.6; the performance report gives the workloads,
measurements and limits. These are local synthetic checks, not a promise of
capacity on arbitrary servers. The installed 0.2.0 wheel also passed 314 tests
on each of Wagtail 7.4/Django 5.2 and Wagtail 8.0/Django 6.1 with SQLite and
PostgreSQL 16; each PostgreSQL job skips one SQLite-only plan check. JavaScript
checks (33), Ruff and all shipped translation catalogs passed. Upgrade from the
published 0.1.1 wheel and independent pre/post-upgrade backup restoration passed
on SQLite and PostgreSQL 16, preserving data, existing capabilities and host
configuration, with new writes and local mail verified after restoration.
Email-client/native-language review and host-site acceptance remain separate
from automated checks.

Upgrade from 0.1.1

1. Rehearse on a restored database and keep all rehearsal mail local. Back up the
   database, media, host settings/templates, SECRET_KEY and exact package versions.
   Pause site writes and the Commentail worker for final backup and cutover.
2. In the test environment, install python -m pip install --upgrade commentail==0.2.0.
   If using a downloaded wheel, verify its supplied checksum first.
3. Run python manage.py migrate. Migration 0014_reading_indexes changes
   indexes only; it does not rewrite comments or their state. Standard index
   builds may block writes and require extra disk space. SQLite also rebuilds
   the rate-event table while preserving its rows. Measure migration time
   on representative data and plan a maintenance window for large databases.
4. Run python manage.py check and python manage.py collectstatic --noinput.
   Review HTML and plain-text email overrides together. Existing per-kind paths
   and context remain compatible; shared base.html/button.html are presentation
   helpers. Enable new languages through the host's Django language settings.
5. Check old comments/replies, pending revisions, settings, permissions, tokens,
   subscriptions and queued mail. Exercise new writes and local mail after
   restoring both pre-upgrade and post-upgrade backups independently.
6. Resume production traffic and the worker after the rehearsal and live-site
   integration checks pass. Review restored queues: mail pending in an
   older snapshot may already have been delivered and can be sent again.

Existing widgets need no changes. The new recent-comments tag is opt-in. The
index migration is reversible, but replacing the wheel alone is not a complete
rollback procedure. Restoring an older database discards subsequent writes;
retain a bounded recovery plan. Upgrades from 0.1.0 also need the
0.1.1 upgrade notes.

See installation and restoration,
recent comments,
email overrides,
performance and migration guidance and
version history.