Last modified: 2011-03-09 21:14:51 UTC
when uploading a new version of an image the old image has a tendancy to remain there seem to be two seperate problems behind this. 1: scaled images are not regenerated until a page is re-rendered 2: images stay in cache (squid i presume but i could be mistaken) until forced out of it (using ctrl+refresh). so to replace a scaled image on a page currently the following sequence is needed 1: upload the new image 2: purge the page w/index.php?title=whatever&action=purge to force the new scaled image to be generated 3: ctrl+refresh to force the old thumbnail out of cache. so when an image is updated all pages using it need to be invalidated (same as when editing a template) and the image needs to be purged from cache. Furthermore when regenerating a scaled image the old scaled image needs to be purged from cache. i figured out this sequence based on trial and error and educated guesses but most newbies aren't going to have a clue if and when they run into this issue. shared uploads (commons) further complicate this issue
This is already addressed in MediaWiki 1.5alpha when thumb.php support is enabled. Beta phase of MediaWiki 1.5 will start soon.
Is this resolved?
I think no. There is at least still a problem concerning pictures. When changing an image that is used as thumbnail in a template without reloading the template itself, but only loading a page that uses this template, the new thubnail is not generated and there is no thumbnail displayed at all. e. g. page A uses template {{B}}. B uses [[Image:C.png|100px|foo]. Now C is updated. B is _not_ reloaded. When now loading A there is no thumbnail of C.png visible. As soon as B is reloaded the thumbnail in A is visible again.
