===============================
Admittedly a few _months_ later than originally intended, Sopel 7.1.0 is ready
to go. We've focused on polish this time around, both in documentation and
features. Lots of little fixes add up to make something good—over 140 pull
requests were merged for this release.
We will now begin work on Sopel 8.0, focusing primarily on
modernization—dropping the end-of-life Python versions that 7.x still
supports—and on unbundling the core plugins so they can be updated separately.
None of these plans are new, but we figured a reminder was in order as it's
been some months since they last came up in Sopel 7.0's release notes!
As always, you can keep up with development and give us feedback on
[GitHub][sopel-github], [IRC][sopel-irc], or [Twitter][sopel-twitter].
**Important note:** Sopel's IRC channel has moved from freenode to Libera Chat
([2072][]). You will find us in `sopel` as always, but at a new network
address: `irc.libera.chat`. At least some of the old guard will remain on
freenode for the foreseeable future, to guide anyone running an older Sopel
version to the new channel (and encourage them to update Sopel, too).
Plugin changes
--------------
* Removed `instagram` plugin, as it was not possible to fix after changes to
the site [[2000][]]
* Merged `etymology` plugin functionality into `wiktionary` plugin [[1178][],
[2064][]]
* admin:
* reply on save [[1913][]]
* add `.chanlist` command to show Sopel's channel memberships [[1961][]]
* adminchannel:
* use `TOPICLEN` if server advertises it [[1956][]]
* allow non-op `.topic` in channels without mode `+t` [[1981][]]
* announce: speed up by sending to multiple channels if the server supports it
[[1859][], [2048][]]
* choose: safely handle formatted choices [[1965][]]
* currency:
* added thousands separator & better handling of small numbers [[1988][]]
* improved error handling [[2053][]]
* updated API endpoints [[1988][], [2060][], [2074][]]
* emoticons: added `.smirk` command & action responses [[1899][]]
* find: accept either `/` or `|` as delimiter, and format replacement text as
**bold** so it's easier to see the correction [[1993][], [2014][],
[2066][]]
* find_updates:
* prepare to handle unstable releases again [[1955][]]
* improve error handling [[2052][], [2056][]]
* ip: querying by nickname is no longer case-sensitive [[1915][]]
* isup: be more specific about what's wrong if the site looks down [[1940][],
[1950][], [2063][]]
* meetbot: tweaked handling of path settings [[1959][]]
* ping: added `.ping` command [[1875][]]
* pronouns: now understands two-word aliases for the full pronoun groups
[[2069][]]
* reddit:
* added handling for `r/all` and `r/popular` [[1763][]]
* fixed incorrect behavior in `r/` and `u/` handling [[1889][]]
* added basic handling for gallery view [[1914][]]
* fixed a floating-point issue [[1987][]]
* fixed grammar [[2025][]]
* remind: added commands to count/forget reminders [[2007][]]
* safety: switched away from obsolete list source [[2012][]]
* tell: strip `` from the start of nicknames [[1994][]]
* tld: rewritten to be more robust [[1939][], [1949][], [1968][],
[1970][], [1985][], [2076][]]
* url:
* tweaked to improve reliability of title fetching [[1871][]]
* added a setting to control automatic titles [[1897][]]
* adapted to upstream dependency changes [[1989][]]
* add `.urlexclude`/`.urlallow` commands [[2028][]]
* auto-title now ignores URLs in _any_ other command [[2028][]]
* fixed showing an error when appropriate [[2029][]]
* wikipedia:
* can now fetch section snippets [[1163][]]
* language preferences per-channel and per-nick are now stored in the
database, and manageable with commands [[1916][]]
* xkcd: show latest comic when base URL is linked [[1858][]]
* Built-in plugins' output formats were checked for consistency [[1937][]]
* Improved plugin documentation/help [[1878][], [1952][], [1954][],
[2002][], [2035][]]
* Updated some plugins to use new API features [[1879][], [1892][],
[1894][], [1995][]]
* Minor code style fixes and cleanup [[1856][], [1880][], [1910][],
[1953][], [1960][]]
Core changes
------------
* Sopel's outbound flooding protection is now configurable [[1929][]]
* `core.modes` setting now only assumes `+` if no sign is included in its
value [[1941][]]
* Improved documentation of core configuration settings [[1861][], [1866][],
[2006][]]
* Documented use of environment variables to override parts of Sopel's
configuration [[1901][]]
* Also fixed some broken functionality related to this feature [[1882][],
[1900][]]
* Improved command-line error messages [[2047][]]
* Unexpected settings in config files will now generate warnings [[1973][]]
* Improved SASL handling [[1928][], [1971][], [1976][], [1977][]]
* Change/recover in-use nick; fix `USER` syntax [[1930][]]
* Improved channel mode tracking [[1980][]]
* Improved channel member tracking [[1997][]]
* Reduced log spam from core `MODE` handling logic [[1951][]]
* Refactored the Rule system [[1873][], [1894][], [1904][], [2011][]]
* Reworked IRC connection timeout management [[2041][]]
* Fixed loading callables that should be ignored from plugins [[1936][]]
* Streamlined how the bot generates help text for plugin commands [[2071][]]
* Fixed signal handling (e.g. `^C`) if bot is not connected [[1893][]]
* Fixed crash if a plugin tries to `sys.exit()` [[1943][]]
* Fixed crash if IRC backend is uninitialized and logging to a channel is
enabled [[2020][]]
* Improved scheduled job handling [[1891][], [1927][]]
* Improved test coverage [[1983][], [1984][]]
* Improved test infrastructure [[1905][]]
* Minor code style fixes and refactoring [[1864][], [1890][], [1933][],
[1942][], [1969][], [1998][], [2005][], [2023][]]
API changes
-----------
* Moved plugin decorators to `sopel.plugin`; `sopel.module` is now deprecated
[[1898][], [1906][], [1924][], [1967][]]
* Decorators that are new in Sopel 7.1 or later will appear only in
`sopel.plugin`; `sopel.module` contains only a snapshot of what was
available in Sopel 7.0 and will not be updated
* The old `sopel.module` imports will be removed in Sopel 9.0
* The `intent` decorator is replaced by `ctcp`, and `trigger` objects now have
a `ctcp` property [[1975][]]
* "Intents" were an IRCv3 spec idea that never took off, and the draft specs
for them are now long abandoned
* See [1683][] for the full deprecation and removal plan
* `sopel.tools` functions related to command patterns/regex are now deprecated
[[1944][], [2027][], [2034][]]
* `tools.get_input` is now deprecated [[1872][]]
* `bot.(un)register_url_callback` functions are deprecated [[2049][]]
* These are simply no longer necessary after the Rule system rewrite
* `test_tools` submodule is now deprecated [[2003][]]
* Sopel now provides a `pytest` plugin; use that instead
* The use of whitespace after `$nick` placeholders in plugin rules is now less
confusing [[1920][]]
* Sopel now explicitly supports running plugins' event handlers before/after
core has processed the event [[2018][]]
* Added more tools related to `tools.time.seconds_to_human` [[2026][]]
* Added a warning when plugins use `bot.memory['url_callbacks']` [[2033][]]
* Added `SopelIdentifierMemory` class to `tools` [[1938][]]
* This offers a less error-prone alternative to using a plain `SopelMemory`,
which often requires manually casting user input to the `Identifier` type
* New `plugin.require_bot_privilege` decorator and `bot.has_channel_privilege`
method [[1982][]]
* Added `plugin.find` and `plugin.search` decorators [[1881][]]
* Added `plugin.rule_lazy`, `plugin.find_lazy`, and `plugin.search_lazy`
decorators [[2037][]]
* These are for plugins to define rules that depend on the contents of
Sopel's settings object (`bot.config`)
* `bot.say` now allows even more control over variable-length content via
optional `truncation` and `trailing` parameters [[1958][], [2050][]]
* `bot.trigger` now has a `plain` attribute, containing the received line with
formatting stripped [[1918][]]
* `Channel` objects now contain information about channel modes [[1980][]]
* Added a `BooleanAttribute` setting type [[2044][], [2059][]]
* Use of `ValidatedAttribute` with `parse=bool` is now considered deprecated
so we can remove the monkey-patching in a future release, and will raise a
warning if used
* Added a `SecretAttribute` setting type, and `is_secret` parameter to
`ValidatedAttribute` [[1879][]]
* `plugin.example` now supports running plugin tests with [VCR.py][pypi-vcrpy]
support [[1853][]]
* `bot.isupport` will return an empty `CHANMODES` if unadvertised [[2015][]]
* Make `tools.time` and `tools.web` submodules available with just `from sopel
import tools` [[1948][]]
* Added new optional `warning_in` and `stack_frame` parameters to the
`tools.deprecated` decorator, which now outputs its warning via logging
[[1872][], [2046][], [2058][]]
* `MockIRCServer` methods now block by default [[2065][]]
* Improved documentation for writing & testing plugins [[1923][], [1964][],
[2013][], [2067][]]
* Improved documentation of various Sopel components:
* `bot` [[1857][]]
* `cli` [[1922][]]
* `coretasks` [[2001][]]
* `loader` [[2004][]]
* `plugins` [[1902][]]
* Tweaked documentation styles for easier readability [[1932][]]
* Note: We plan to change the documentation theme entirely for Sopel 8, to
something much more modern
[1163]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1163
[1178]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1178
[1763]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1763
[1853]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1853
[1856]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1856
[1857]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1857
[1858]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1858
[1859]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1859
[1861]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1861
[1864]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1864
[1866]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1866
[1871]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1871
[1872]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1872
[1873]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1873
[1875]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1875
[1878]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1878
[1879]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1879
[1880]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1880
[1881]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1881
[1882]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1882
[1889]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1889
[1890]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1890
[1891]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1891
[1892]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1892
[1893]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1893
[1894]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1894
[1897]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1897
[1898]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1898
[1899]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1899
[1900]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1900
[1901]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1901
[1902]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1902
[1904]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1904
[1905]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1905
[1906]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1906
[1910]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1910
[1913]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1913
[1914]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1914
[1915]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1915
[1916]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1916
[1918]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1918
[1920]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1920
[1922]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1922
[1923]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1923
[1924]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1924
[1927]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1927
[1928]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1928
[1929]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1929
[1930]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1930
[1932]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1932
[1933]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1933
[1936]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1936
[1937]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1937
[1938]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1938
[1939]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1939
[1940]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1940
[1941]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1941
[1942]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1942
[1943]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1943
[1944]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1944
[1948]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1948
[1949]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1949
[1950]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1950
[1951]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1951
[1952]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1952
[1953]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1953
[1954]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1954
[1955]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1955
[1956]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1956
[1958]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1958
[1959]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1959
[1960]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1960
[1961]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1961
[1964]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1964
[1965]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1965
[1967]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1967
[1968]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1968
[1969]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1969
[1970]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1970
[1971]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1971
[1973]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1973
[1975]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1975
[1976]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1976
[1977]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1977
[1980]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1980
[1981]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1981
[1982]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1982
[1983]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1983
[1984]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1984
[1985]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1985
[1987]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1987
[1988]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1988
[1989]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1989
[1993]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1993
[1994]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1994
[1995]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1995
[1997]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1997
[1998]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/1998
[2000]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2000
[2001]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2001
[2002]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2002
[2003]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2003
[2004]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2004
[2005]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2005
[2006]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2006
[2007]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2007
[2011]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2011
[2012]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2012
[2013]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2013
[2014]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2014
[2015]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2015
[2018]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2018
[2020]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2020
[2023]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2023
[2025]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2025
[2026]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2026
[2027]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2027
[2028]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2028
[2029]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2029
[2033]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2033
[2034]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2034
[2035]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2035
[2037]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2037
[2041]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2041
[2044]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2044
[2046]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2046
[2047]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2047
[2048]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2048
[2049]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2049
[2050]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2050
[2052]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2052
[2053]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2053
[2056]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2056
[2058]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2058
[2059]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2059
[2060]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2060
[2063]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2063
[2064]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2064
[2065]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2065
[2066]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2066
[2067]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2067
[2069]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2069
[2071]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2071
[2072]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2072
[2074]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2074
[2076]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2076
[1683]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/issues/1683
[pypi-vcrpy]: https://pypi.org/project/vcrpy/
[sopel-github]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel
[sopel-irc]: ircs://irc.libera.chat/sopel
[sopel-twitter]: https://twitter.com/SopelIRC