We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of WordPress 4.9.8.  This maintenance release fixes 46 bugs, enhancements and blessed tasks, including updating the Twenty Seventeen bundled theme.

Following are the highlights of what is now available.

“Try Gutenberg” callout

Most users will now be presented with a notice in their WordPress dashboard. This “Try Gutenberg” is an opportunity for users to use the Gutenberg block editor before it is released in WordPress 5.0.

In WordPress 4.9.8, the callout will be shown to the following users:

• If Gutenberg is not installed or activated, the callout will be shown to Admin users on single sites, and Super Admin users on multisites.
• If Gutenberg is installed and activated, the callout will be shown to Contributor users and above.
• If the Classic Editor plugin is installed and activated, the callout will be hidden for all users.

You can learn more by reading  “Try Gutenberg” Callout in WordPress 4.9.8.

Privacy fixes/enhancements

This release includes 18 Privacy fixes focused on ensuring consistency and flexibility in the new personal data tools that were added in 4.9.6, including:

• The type of request being confirmed is now included in the subject line for all privacy confirmation emails.
• Improved consistency with site name being used for privacy emails in multisite.
• Pagination for Privacy request admin screens can now be adjusted.
• Increased the test coverage for several core privacy functions.

This post has more information about all of the issues fixed in 4.9.8 if you’d like to learn more.

Download WordPress 4.9.8 or venture over to Dashboard → Updates and click “Update Now.” Sites that support automatic background updates are already beginning to update automatically.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to WordPress 4.9.8:

1naveengiri, Aaron D. Campbell, Aaron Jorbin, Abdullah Ramzan, alejandroxlopez, Allen Snook, Andrea Fercia, Andrew Ozz, Andrew Taylor, Arun, Ayesh Karunaratne, Birgir Erlendsson (birgire), Birgit Pauli-Haack, BjornW, Boone Gorges, Brandon Kraft, Burhan Nasir, Chetan Prajapati, Chris Lema, Corey McKrill, Daniel Bachhuber, Daniel James, David Herrera, Dion Hulse, Dominik Schilling (ocean90), dontstealmyfish, dyrer, Felipe Elia, Felix Arntz, Fernando Claussen, Gareth, Garrett Hyder, Gary Pendergast, Gennady Kovshenin, GM_Alex, Heather Burns, Ian Dunn, ibelanger, imath, Jb Audras, Jeremy Pry, JJJ, Joe McGill, Joen Asmussen, John Blackbourn, Jonathan Desrosiers, Jonny Harris, Josepha, JoshuaWold, Joy, jrf, K. Adam White, khaihong, kjellr, Konstantinos Xenos, laurelfulford, lbenicio, Leander Iversen, leemon, macbookandrew, Marius L. J., Matias Ventura, Mel Choyce, mensmaximus, mermel, metalandcoffee, michelleweber, Milan Dinić, Muhammad Kashif, Naoko Takano, Nathan Johnson, Ov3rfly, palmiak, Paul Biron, Prashant Baldha, PressTigers, programmin, Rafsun Chowdhury, redcastor, Robin Cornett, Sergey Biryukov, Simon Prosser, skoldin, spyderbytes, Subrata Sarkar, Sébastien SERRE, Tammie Lister, tharsheblows, Thomas Patrick Levy, timbowesohft, Timothy Jacobs, Tobias Zimpel, Tor-Bjorn Fjellner, Towhidul Islam, Usman Khalid, warmlaundry, William Earnhardt, Yui, and YuriV.

With WordPress 5.0 coming closer, there’s lots of work going on all across the project. Read on to learn about how we progressed in July.

---

Release of WordPress 4.9.7

On July 5, WordPress 4.9.7 was released,  fixing one security issue and 17 other bugs across the platform.

While this is a minor release, incremental fixes are essential to keep WordPress running smoothly. Everyone is encouraged to update as soon as possible and to make sure that automatic updates are switched on.

Would you like to get involved in building WordPress Core? Follow the Core team blog and join the #core channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.

The New WordPress Editor

In the upcoming minor release of WordPress, 4.9.8, a new section in the dashboard will feature Gutenberg, the upcoming content editor for WordPress.

While the official release of Gutenberg is scheduled for the coming months, you can already install it as a plugin to test it out right now. Additionally, a brand new demo page is now available — play around with the many features the editor has to offer, without installing it on your own site.

Would you like to help build or test Gutenberg? Follow the Core team blog and join the #core-editor channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.

Page Design Updates on WordPress.org

Bit by bit we’re refreshing the design of WordPress.org. The latest pages to get a new treatment have been the Download page and user profiles.

The Meta and Design teams worked hard to make these new designs a reality, with notable contributions from @melchoyce, @obenland, @mapk, and @kjellr. The new designs enhance the overall look of the site and provide more relevant information to those searching.

Would you like to get involved in the design refresh? Follow the Meta and Design team blogs and join the #meta and #design channels in the Making WordPress Slack group.

The First WP-CLI Hack Day

On Friday July 20, the WP-CLI team held their first hack day — a global event encouraging people to contribute to the official command line tool for WordPress.

Run by @schlessera, the event  was a great success. Twelve pull requests were  merged and another 13 submitted. It also included a video chat to give all contributors a space to meet each other and connect directly.

Would  you like to get involved in contributing to WP-CLI? Follow the team blog and join the #cli channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.

---

Further Reading:

• The WordPress Foundation is looking for local community organizers to run introductory open-source workshops in 2018.
• @chanthaboune compiled updates for the last quarter from the contribution teams all across the WordPress project.
• In a great move for internationalization, the WordPress Mobile Apps now support right-to-left languages.
• WordCamp events can now accept payment via Stripe — PayPal remains an alternative option.
• The WP-CLI team will soon release v2.0 of the official WordPress command line tool.
• The Fields API project in WordPress Core is looking for a new lead to drive it forward.
• In WordPress 4.9.8, it will  be possible for developers to fully register the meta fields used by their plugins and themes.
• After many years of hard work, v1.0.0 of the WordPress Coding Standards for PHP_CodeSniffer has been released.
• The Mobile team is looking for people to help test v10.6 of WordPress for iOS.

If you have a story we should consider including in the next “Month in WordPress” post, please submit it here.