Compare Versions - paper_trail

17.0.0

17.0.0 (2025-10-24)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

rails generate paper_trail:install now accepts an argument for custom versions table, e.g. rails generate paper_trail:install CommentVersion created comment_versions table
rails generate paper_trail:update_item_subtype now supports custom version classes via --version-class-name option, e.g. --version-class-name=CommentVersion

Fixed

None

Dependencies

Drop support for Rails 6.1, which [reached EoL on 2024-10-01][2]
Drop support for Rails 7.0, which [reached EoL on 2025-04-01][2]
Add support for Rails 8.1
Drop support for Ruby 3.0, which [reached EoL on 2024-04-23][3]
Drop support for Ruby 3.1, which [reached EoL on 2024-03-31][3]

16.0.0

16.0.0 (2024-11-08)

Breaking Changes

#1478 Do not allow multiple has_paper_trail definitions for models. Previously, when has_paper_trail was called on a parent and a child from STI, then possibly multiple version records will be created per event (create, destroy etc).

Added

#1498 - Rails 8.0
#1422 - Add version_error_behavior config config option to control error handling when creating/updating/deleting Version records.

Fixed

None

15.2.0

15.2.0 (2024-09-07)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1485 - Rails 7.2
#1457 - Change versions table layout (migration generator template) for performance

Fixed

None

15.1.0

15.1.0 (2023-10-22)

Breaking Changes

None

Fixed

None

Dependencies

Add support for Rails 7.1
Add support for Ruby 3.2

15.0.0

15.0.0 (2023-08-06)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1416 - Adds a model-configurable option synchronize_version_creation_timestamp which, if set to false, opts out of synchronizing timestamps between Version.created_at and the record's updated_at.

Fixed

#1422 - Fix the issue that unencrypted plaintext values are versioned with ActiveRecord encryption (since Rails 7) when using JSON serialization on PostgreSQL json columns.
#1414 - When generating the migration, the version table will use uuid as primary key type if --uuid flag is specified.

Dependencies

Drop support for Rails 6.0, which [reached EoL on 2023-06-01][2]
Drop support for Ruby 2.7, which [reached EoL on 2023-03-31][3]

14.0.0

14.0.0 (2022-11-26)

Breaking Changes

#1399 - Same change re: YAML.safe_load as in 13.0.0, but this time for Rails 6.0 and 6.1.
- This change only affects users whose versions table has object or object_changes columns of type text, and who use the YAML serializer. People who use the JSON serializer, or those with json(b) columns, are unaffected.
- Please see doc/pt_13_yaml_safe_load.md for details.
#1406 - Certain [Metadata][1] keys are now forbidden, like id, and item_type. These keys are reserved by PT.
- This change is unlikely to affect anyone. It is not expected that anyone uses these metadata keys. Most people probably don't use PT metadata at all.

Dependencies

Drop support for Rails 5.2, which reached EoL on 2022-06-01
Drop support for Ruby 2.6, which reached EoL on 2022-03-31
Drop support for request_store < 1.4

Added

None

Fixed

#1395 - Fix incorrect Version#created_at value when using PaperTrail::RecordTrail#update_columns
#1404 - Delay referencing ActiveRecord until after Railtie is loaded
Where possible, methods which are not part of PaperTrail's public API have had their access changed to private. All of these methods had been clearly marked as @api private in the documentation, for years. This is not expected to be a breaking change.

13.0.0

13.0.0 (2022-08-15)

Breaking Changes

For Rails >= 7.0, the default serializer will now use YAML.safe_load unless ActiveRecord.use_yaml_unsafe_load. This change only affects users whose versions table has object or object_changes columns of type text, and who use the YAML serializer. People who use the JSON serializer, or those with json(b) columns, are unaffected. Please see doc/pt_13_yaml_safe_load.md for details.

Added

None

Fixed

None

12.3.0

12.3.0 (2022-03-13)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1371 - Added in_after_callback argument to PaperTrail::RecordTrail#save_with_version, to allow the caller to indicate if this method is being called during an after callback. Defaults to false.
#1374 - Added option --uuid when generating new migration. This can be used to set the type of item_id column to uuid for use with paper_trail on a database that uses uuid as primary key.

Fixed

#1373 - Add CLI option to use uuid type for item_id when generating migration.
#1376 - Create a version record when associated object is touched. Restores the behavior of PaperTrail < v12.1.0.

12.2.0

12.2.0 (2022-01-21)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1365 - Support Rails 7.0
#1349 - if: and unless: work with touch events now.

Fixed

#1366 - Fixed a bug where the create_versions migration lead to a broken db/schema.rb for Ruby 3

Dependencies

#1338 - Support Psych version 4
ruby >= 2.6 (was >= 2.5). Ruby 2.5 reached EoL on 2021-03-31.

12.1.0

12.1.0 (2021-08-30)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1292 - where_attribute_changes queries for versions where the object's attribute changed to or from any values.
#1291 - where_object_changes_to queries for versions where the object's attributes changed to one set of known values from any other set of values.

Fixed

#1285 - For ActiveRecord >= 6.0, the touch callback will no longer create a new Version for skipped or ignored attributes.
#1309 - Removes item_subtype requirement when specifying model-specific limits.
#1333 - Improve reification of STI models that use find_sti_class/sti_class_for to customize single table inheritance.

12.0.0

12.0.0 (2021-03-29)

Breaking Changes

#1281 Rails: Instead of an Engine, PT now provides a Railtie, which is simpler. This was not expected to be a breaking change, but has caused trouble for some people:
- Issue with the deprecated autoloader = :classic setting (https://github.com/paper-trail-gem/paper_trail/issues/1305)
Rails: The deprecated config.paper_trail configuration technique has been removed. This configuration object was deprecated in 10.2.0. It only had one key, config.paper_trail.enabled. Please review docs section 2.d. Turning PaperTrail Off for alternatives.

Added

where_object_changes_from queries for versions where the object's attributes changed from one set of known values to any other set of values.

Fixed

#1281 Rails: Instead of an Engine, PT now provides a Railtie, which is simpler.
Expand kwargs passed to save_with_version using double splat operator - Rails 6.1 compatibility
#1287 - Fix 'rails db:migrate' error when run against an app with mysql2 adapter

Dependencies

Drop support for ruby 2.4 (reached EoL on 2020-03-31)

11.1.0

11.1.0 (2020-12-16)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1272 - Rails 6.1 compatibility

Fixed

None

11.0.0

11.0.0 (2020-08-24)

Breaking Changes

#1221 If you use the experimental association-tracking feature, and you forget to install the paper_trail-association_tracking gem, then, when you call track_associations= you will get a NoMethodError instead of the previous detailed error. Normally the removal of such a temporary warning would not be treated as a breaking change, but since this relates to PT-AT, it seemed warranted.
VersionConcern#sibling_versions is now private, and its arity has changed.

Added

None

Fixed

#1242 - Generator make wrong migration for Oracle database
#1238 - Query optimization in reify
#1256 - Skip version for timestamp when changed attributed is ignored via Hash

Dependencies

Drop support for rails <= 5.1, which [reached EOL when 6.0 was released][2]
Drop support for ruby 2.3 (reached EOL on 2019-04-01)

10.3.1

10.3.1 (2019-07-31)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

None

Dependencies

#1213 - Allow contributors to install incompatible versions of ActiveRecord. See discussion in paper_trail/compatibility.rb

10.3.0

10.3.0 (2019-04-09)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1194 - Added a 'limit' option to has_paper_trail, allowing models to override the global PaperTrail.config.version_limit setting.

Fixed

#1196 - In the installation migration, change versions.item_id from 4 byte integer to 8 bytes (bigint).

10.2.1

10.2.1 (2019-03-14)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#1184 - No need to calculate previous values of skipped attributes
#1188 - Optimized the memory allocations during the building of every particular Version object. That can help a lot for heavy bulk processing. In additional we advise to use json[b] DB types for object and object_changes Version columns, in order to reach best possible RAM performance.

10.2.0

10.2.0 (2019-01-31)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

Support ruby 2.6.0
#1182 - Support rails 6.0.0.beta1

Fixed

#1177 - Do not store ignored and skipped attributes in object_changes on destroy.

Deprecated

#1176 - config.paper_trail.enabled

10.1.0

10.1.0 (2018-12-04)

Breaking Changes

None

Deprecated

#1158 - Passing association name as versions: option or Version class name as class_name: options directly to has_paper_trail. Use has_paper_trail versions: {name: :my_name, class_name: "MyVersionModel"} instead.

Added

#1166 - New global option has_paper_trail_defaults, defaults for has_paper_trail
#1158 — Add the ability to pass options, such as scope or extend: to the has_many :versions association macro.
#1172 - Support rails 6.0.0.alpha

Fixed

None

10.0.1

10.0.1 (2018-09-01)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#1150 - When PT-AT is not loaded, and someone sets track_associations = false, it should warn, not raise.

10.0.0

10.0.0 (2018-09-01)

PT 10 tackles some tough issues that required breaking changes. We fixed a rare issue with STI, and saved major disk space in databases with tens of millions of version records. Special thanks to @lorint and @seanlinsley, respectively.

Breaking changes affecting most people

#1132 - Removed a dozen methods deprecated in PT 9. Make sure you've addressed all deprecation warnings before upgrading.

Breaking changes affecting fewer people

db9c392d - paper_trail-association_tracking is no longer a runtime dependency. If you use it (track_associations = true) you must now add it to your own Gemfile. See also PT-AT #7
#1130 - Removed save_changes. For those wanting to save space, it's more effective to drop the object column. If you need ultimate control over the object_changes column, you can write your own object_changes_adapter.

Breaking changes most people won't care about

#1121 - touch now always inserts null in object_changes.
#1123 - object_changes is now populated on destroy in order to make where_object_changes usable when you've dropped the object column. Sean is working on an optional backport migration and will post about it in #1099 when he's done.

Added

#1099 - Ability to save ~50% storage space by making the object column optional. Note that this disables reify and where_object.

Fixed

#594 - A rare issue with reification of STI subclasses, affecting only PT-AT users who have a model with mutliple associations, whose foreign keys are named the same, and whose foreign models are STI with the same parent class. This fix requires a schema change. See docs section 4.b.1 The optional item_subtype column for instructions.

9.2.0

9.2.0 (2018-06-09)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1070 - The experimental associations tracking feature has been moved to a separate gem, paper_trail-association_tracking. PT will, for now, have a runtime dependency on this new gem. So, assuming the gem extraction goes well, no breaking changes are anticipated.
#1093 - PaperTrail.config.object_changes_adapter - Expert users can write their own adapter to control how the changes for each version are stored in the object_changes column. An example of this implementation using the hashdiff gem can be found here: paper_trail-hashdiff

Fixed

None

9.1.1

9.1.1 (2018-05-30)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#1098 - Fix regression in 9.1.0 re: generator --with-associations

9.1.0

9.1.0 (2018-05-23)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1091 - PaperTrail.config.association_reify_error_behaviour - For users of the experimental association tracking feature. Starting with PT 9.0.0, reification of has_one associations is stricter. This option gives users some choices for how to handle the PaperTrail::Reifiers::HasOne::FoundMoreThanOne error introduced in PT 9. See README section 4.b.1. "Known Issues" for more details.

Fixed

None

9.0.2

9.0.2 (2018-05-14)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#1084 The touch callback (added in 9.0.0) now inserts the correct value into the versions.object column.

Other

Stop testing against rails 5.0, which reached EoL on 2018-04-15, when 5.2 was released, per the rails maintenance policy

9.0.1

9.0.1 (2018-04-23)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#1076 Add save_with_version, a replacement for deprecated method touch_with_version. Not exactly the same, it's a save, not a touch.
#1074 PaperTrail.request do ... end now returns the value the given block.

Fixed

None

9.0.0

9.0.0 (2018-03-26)

Breaking Changes, Major

#1063 - touch will now create a version. This can be configured with the :on option. See documentation section 2.a. "Choosing Lifecycle Events To Monitor".
Drop support for ruby 2.2, whose EoL is the end of March, 2018
PaperTrail now uses frozen_string_literal, so you should assume that all strings it returns are frozen.
Using where_object_changes to read YAML from a text column will now raise error, was deprecated in 8.1.0.

Breaking Changes, Minor

Removed deprecated Version#originator, use #paper_trail_originator
Using paper_trail.on_destroy(:after) with ActiveRecord's belongs_to_required_by_default will produce an error instead of a warning.
Removed the warn_about_not_setting_whodunnit controller method. This will only be a problem for you if you are skipping it, eg. skip_after_action :warn_about_not_setting_whodunnit, which few people did.

Deprecated

#1063 - paper_trail.touch_with_version is deprecated in favor of touch.
#1033 - Request variables are now set using eg. PaperTrail.request.whodunnit= and the old way, PaperTrail.whodunnit= is deprecated.

Added

#1067 - Add support to Rails 5.2.
#1033 - Set request variables temporarily using a block, eg. PaperTrail.request(whodunnit: 'Jared') do .. end
#1037 Add paper_trail.update_columns
#961 - Instead of crashing when misconfigured Custom Version Classes are used, an error will be raised earlier, with a much more helpful message.
Failing to set PaperTrail.config.track_associations will no longer produce a warning. The default (false) will remain the same.

Fixed

#1051 - touch_with_version should always create a version, regardles of the :only option
#1047 - A rare issue where touch_with_version saved less data than expected, but only when the update callback was not installed, eg. has_paper_trail(on: [])
#1042 - A rare issue with load order when using PT outside of rails
#594 - Improved the error message for a very rare issue in the experimental association tracking feature involving two has_one associations, referencing STI models with the same base class, and the same foreign_key.

8.1.2

8.1.2 (2017-12-22)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#1028 Reifying associations will now use base_class name instead of class name to reify STI models corrrectly.

8.1.1

8.1.1 (2017-12-10)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#1018 Serializing postgres arrays

8.1.0

8.1.0 (2017-11-30)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#997 Deprecate where_object_changes when reading YAML from a text column

Fixed

#1009 End generated config/initializers/paper_trail.rb with newline.

8.0.1

8.0.1 (2017-10-25)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#1003 - Warn when PT cannot be loaded because rails is not loaded yet.

8.0.0

8.0.0 (2017-10-04)

Breaking Changes

Drop support for rails 4.0 and 4.1, whose EoL was 2016-06-30
Drop support for ruby 2.1, whose EoL was 2017-04-01
#803 - where_object_changes no longer supports reading json from a text column

Added

None

Fixed

#996 - Incorrect item_type in association reification query

7.1.3

7.1.3 (2017-09-19)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#988 - Fix ActiveRecord version check in VersionConcern for Rails 4.0

7.1.2

7.1.2 (2017-08-30)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#985 - Fix RecordInvalid error on nil item association when belongs_to_required_by_default is enabled.

7.1.1

7.1.1 (2017-08-18)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

Stop including unnecessary files in released gem. Reduces .gem file size from 100K to 30K.
#984 - Fix NameError suspected to be caused by autoload race condition.

7.1.0

7.1.0 (2017-07-09)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#803 Deprecate where_object_changes when reading json from a text column
#976 PaperTrail.whodunnit accepts a Proc

Fixed

None

7.0.3

7.0.3 (2017-06-01)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#959 - Add migration version (eg. [5.1]) to all migration generators.

7.0.2

7.0.2 (2017-04-26)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#932 - PaperTrail.whodunnit now accepts a block.

Fixed

#956 - Fix ActiveRecord >= 5.1 version check

7.0.1

7.0.1 (2017-04-10)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

Generate cleaner migrations for databases other than MySQL

Fixed

#949 - Inherit from the new versioned migration class, e.g. ActiveRecord::Migration[5.1]

7.0.0

7.0.0 (2017-04-01)

Breaking Changes

Drop support for ruby 1.9.3, whose EOL was 2015-02-23
Drop support for ruby 2.0.0, whose EOL was 2016-02-24
Remove deprecated config methods:
- PaperTrail.serialized_attributes?
- PaperTrail.config.serialized_attributes
- PaperTrail.config.serialized_attributes=
Sinatra integration moved to paper_trail-sinatra gem

Added

PaperTrail.gem_version returns a Gem::Version, nice for comparisons.

Fixed

#925 - Update RSpec matchers to work with custom version association names
#929 - Fix error calling private method in rails 4.0
#938 - Fix bug where non-standard foreign key names broke belongs_to associations
#940 - When destroying versions to stay under version_limit, don't rely on the database to implicitly return the versions in the right order

6.0.2

6.0.2 (2016-12-13)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

88e513f - Surprise argument modification bug in where_object_changes
c7efd62 - Column type-detection bug in where_object_changes
#905 - Only invoke logger.warn if logger instance exists

Code Quality

Improve Metrics/AbcSize from 30 to 22
Improve Metrics/PerceivedComplexity from 10 to 9

6.0.1

6.0.1 (2016-12-04)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

Remove rails 3 features that are no longer supported, most notably, protected_attributes.

6.0.0

6.0.0 (2016-12-03)

Now with rails 5.1 support, and less model pollution! About 40 methods that were polluting your models' namespaces have been removed, reducing the chances of a name conflict with your methods.

Breaking Changes

#898 - Dropped support for rails 3
#864 - The model methods deprecated in 5.2.0 have been removed. Use paper_trail.x instead of x.
#861 - timestamp_field= removed without replacement. It is no longer configurable. The timestamp field in the versions table must now be named created_at.

Deprecated

None

Added

#900 - Support for rails 5.1
#881 - Add RSpec matcher have_a_version_with_changes for easier testing.

Fixed

None

5.2.3

5.2.3 (2016-11-29)

Breaking Changes

None

Deprecated

None

Added

None

Fixed

#889 - Fix warning message in instances when a version can't be persisted due to validation errors.
#868 Fix usage of find_by_id when primary key is not id, affecting reifying certain records.

5.2.2

5.2.2 (2016-09-08)

Breaking Changes

None

Deprecated

#863 - PaperTrail.timestamp_field= deprecated without replacement. See #861 for discussion.

Added

None

Fixed

None

5.2.1

5.2.1 (2016-09-02)

Breaking Changes

None

Deprecated

None

Added

None

Fixed

#857 - Fix deserialization of enums written by PT 4.
#798 - Fix a rare bug with serialization of enums in rails 4.2 only when using touch_with_version.

5.2.0

5.2.0 (2016-06-27)

Breaking Changes

None

Deprecated

#719 - The majority of model methods. Use paper_trail.x instead of x. Why? Your models are a crowded namespace, and we want to get out of your way!

Added

None

Fixed

None

5.1.1

5.1.1 (2016-05-31)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#813 - Warning for paper_trail_on_destroy(:after) for pre-releases of AR 5
#651 - Bug with installing PT on MySQL <= 5.6

5.1.0

5.1.0 (2016-05-20)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#809 - Print warning if version cannot be saved.

Fixed

#812 - Issue with saving HABTM associated objects using accepts_nested_attributes_for
#811 - Avoid unnecessary query in #record_destroy
Improvements to documentation

5.0.1

5.0.1 (2016-05-04)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#791 - A rare issue in applications that override warn.
#789 - A potentially common issue, in applications with initializers that use versioned models.

5.0.0

5.0.0 (2016-05-02)

Breaking Changes

#758 - PaperTrail.config.track_associations getter method removed, use track_associations? instead.
#740 - PaperTrail.config.track_associations? now defaults to false
#723 - PaperTrail.enabled= now affects all threads
#556 / #301 - If you are tracking who is responsible for changes with whodunnit, be aware that PaperTrail no longer adds the set_paper_trail_whodunnit before_action for you. Please add this before_action to your ApplicationController to continue recording whodunnit. See the readme for an example.
#683 / #682 - Destroy callback default changed to :before to accommodate ActiveRecord 5 option belongs_to_required_by_default and new Rails 5 default.

Added

#771 - Added support for has_and_belongs_to_many associations
#741 / #681 MySQL unicode support in migration generator
#689 - Rails 5 compatibility
Added a rails config option: config.paper_trail.enabled
#503 - Support for reifying belongs_to associations.

Fixed

#777 - Support HMT associations with :source option.
#738 - Rare bug where a non-versioned STI parent caused changeset to return an empty hash.
#731 - Map enums to database values before storing in object_changes column.
#715 - Optimize post-rollback association reset.
#701 / #699 - Cleaning old versions explicitly preserves the most recent versions instead of relying on database result ordering.
#635 - A bug where it was not possible to disable PT when using a multi-threaded webserver.
#584 - Fixed deprecation warning for Active Record after_callback / after_commit

4.2.0

4.2.0 (2016-05-31)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

#808 - Warn when destroy callback is set to :after with ActiveRecord 5 option belongs_to_required_by_default set to true.

Fixed

None

4.1.0

4.1.0 (2016-01-30)

Known Issues

Version changesets now store ENUM values incorrectly (as nulls). Previously the values were stored as strings. This only affects Rails 4, not Rails 5. See #926

Breaking Changes

None

Added

A way to control the order of AR callbacks. #614
Added unversioned_attributes option to reify. #579

Fixed

None

4.0.2

4.0.2 (2016-01-19)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#696 / #697 Bind JSON query parameters in where_object and where_object_changes.

4.0.1

4.0.1 (2015-12-14)

Breaking Changes

None

Added

None

Fixed

#636 - Should compile assets without a db connection
#589 / #588 - Fixes timestamp for "create" versions

4.0.0

4.0.0 (2015-07-30)

This major release adds JSON column support in PostgreSQL, limited support for versioning associations, various new configuration options, and a year's worth of bug fixes. Thanks to everyone who helped test the two betas and two release candidates.

Breaking Changes

Using a Rails initializer to reopen PaperTrail::Version or otherwise extend PaperTrail is no longer recommended. An alternative is described in the readme. See https://github.com/paper-trail-gem/paper_trail/pull/557 and https://github.com/paper-trail-gem/paper_trail/pull/492.
If you depend on the RSpec or Cucumber helpers, you must require them in your test helper.
#566 - Removed deprecated methods paper_trail_on and paper_trail_off. Use paper_trail_on! and paper_trail_off! instead.
#458 - Version metadata (the :meta option) from AR attributes for create events will now save the current value instead of nil.
#391 - object_changes value should dump to YAML as a normal Hash instead of an ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess.
#375 / #374 / #354 / #131 - Versions are now saved with an after_ callback, instead of a before_ callback. This ensures that the timestamp field for a version matches the corresponding timestamp in the model.
3da1f104 - PaperTrail.config and PaperTrail.configure are now identical: both return the PaperTrail::Config instance and also yield it if a block is provided.

Added

#525 / #512 - Support for virtual accessors and redefined setter and getter methods.
#518 - Support for querying against PostgreSQL's JSON and JSONB column types via PaperTrail::VersionConcern#where_object and PaperTrail::VersionConcern#where_object_changes
#507 - New option: :save_changes controls whether or not to save changes to the object_changes column (if it exists).
#500 - Support for passing an empty array to the on option (on: []) to disable all automatic versioning.
#494 - The install generator will warn the user if the migration they are attempting to generate already exists.
#484 - Support for PostgreSQL's JSONB Type for storing object and object_changes.
#439 / #12 - Support for versioning associations (has many, has one, etc.) one level deep.
#420 - Add VersionConcern#where_object_changes instance method; acts as a helper for querying against the object_changes column in versions table.
#416 - Added a config option for enabling/disabling utilization of serialized_attributes for ActiveRecord, necessary because serialized_attributes has been deprecated in ActiveRecord version 4.2 and will be removed in version 5.0
#399 - Add :dup argument for options hash to reify which forces a new model instance.
#394 - Add RSpec matcher have_a_version_with for easier testing.
#347 - Autoload ActiveRecord models in via a Rails::Engine when the gem is used with Rails.

Fixed

#563 - Fixed a bug in touch_with_version so that it will still create a version even when the on option is, e.g. [:create].
#541 - PaperTrail.config.enabled should be Thread Safe
#451 - Fix reify method in context of model where the base class has a default scope, and the live instance is not scoped within that default scope.
#440 - versions association should clear/reload after a transaction rollback.
#438 - ModelKlass.paper_trail_enabled_for_model? should return false if has_paper_trail has not been declared on the class.
#404 / #428 - model_instance.dup does not need to be invoked when examining what the instance looked like before changes were persisted, which avoids issues if a 3rd party has overriden the dup behavior. Also fixes errors occuring when a user attempts to update the inheritance column on an STI model instance in ActiveRecord 4.1.x
#427 - Fix reify method in context of model where a column has been removed.
#414 - Fix functionality ignore argument to has_paper_trail in ActiveRecord 4.
#413 - Utilize RequestStore to ensure that the PaperTrail.whodunnit is set in a thread safe manner within Rails and Sinatra.
#381 - Fix irb warning: can't alias context from irb_context. Rspec and Cucumber helpers should not be loaded by default, regardless of whether those libraries are loaded.
#248 - In MySQL, to prevent truncation, generated migrations now use longtext instead of text.
Methods handling serialized attributes should fallback to the currently set Serializer instead of always falling back to PaperTrail::Serializers::YAML.

Deprecated

#479 - Deprecated originator method, use paper_trail_originator.

3.0.9

#479 - Deprecated originator method in favor of paper_trail_originator Deprecation warning informs users that the originator of the methods will be removed in version 4.0. (Backported from v4)
Updated deprecation warnings for Model.paper_trail_on and Model.paper_trail_off to have display correct version number the methods will be removed (4.0)

3.0.8

#525 / #512 - Support for virtual accessors and redefined setter and getter methods.

3.0.7

#404 / #428 - Fix errors occuring when a user attempts to update the inheritance column on an STI model instance in ActiveRecord 4.1.x

3.0.6

#414 - Backport fix for ignore argument to has_paper_trail in ActiveRecord 4.

3.0.5

#401 / #406 - PaperTrail::Version class is not loaded via a Rails::Engine, even when the gem is used within Rails. This feature has will be re-introduced in version 4.0.
#398 - Only require the RSpec helper if RSpec::Core is required.

3.0.2

#357 - If a Version instance is reified and then persisted at that state, it's timestamp attributes for update should still get touched.
#351 / #352 - PaperTrail::Rails::Controller should hook into all controller types, and should not get loaded unless ActionController is.
#346 - user_for_paper_trail method should accommodate different types for return values from current_user method.
#344 - Gem is now tested against MySQL and PostgreSQL in addition to SQLite.
#317 / #314 - versions should default to ordering via the primary key if it is an integer to avoid timestamp comparison issues.
PaperTrail::Cleaner.clean_versions! should group versions by PaperTrail.timestamp_field when deciding which ones to keep / destroy, instead of always grouping by the created_at field.
If a Version instance is reified and then persisted at that state, it's source version (model_instance#version_association_name, usually model_instance#version) will get cleared since persisting it causes it to become the live instance.
If destroy actions are tracked for a versioned model, invoking destroy on the model will cause the corresponding version that gets generated to be assigned as the source version (model_instance#version_association_name, usually model_instance#version).

3.0.1

#340 - Prevent potential error encountered when using the InstallGenerator with Rails 4.1.0.rc1.
#334 - Add small-scope whodunnit method to PaperTrail::Model::InstanceMethods.
#329 - Add touch_with_version method to PaperTrail::Model::InstanceMethods, to allow for generating a version while touching a model.
#328 / #326 / #307 - Model.paper_trail_enabled_for_model? and model_instance.without_versioning is now thread-safe.
#316 - user_for_paper_trail should default to current_user.try(:id) instead of current_user (if current_user is defined).
#313 - Make the Rails::Controller helper compatible with ActionController::API for compatibility with the rails-api gem.
#312 - Fix RSpec with_versioning class level helper method.
model_instance.without_versioning now yields the model_instance, enabling syntax like this: model_instance.without_versioning { |obj| obj.update(:name => 'value') }.
Deprecated Model.paper_trail_on and Model.paper_trail_off in favor of bang versions of the methods. Deprecation warning informs users that the non-bang versions of the methods will be removed in version 4.0

3.0.0

#305 - PaperTrail::VERSION should be loaded at runtime.
#295 - Explicitly specify table name for version class when querying attributes. Prevents AmbiguousColumn errors on certain JOIN statements.
#289 - Use ActiveSupport::Concern for implementation of base functionality on PaperTrail::Version class. Increases flexibility and makes it easier to use custom version classes with multiple ActiveRecord connections.
#288 - Change all scope declarations to class methods on the PaperTrail::Version class. Fixes usability when PaperTrail::Version.abstract_class? == true.
#287 - Support for PostgreSQL's JSON Type for storing object and object_changes.
#281 - Rails::Controller helper will return false for the paper_trail_enabled_for_controller method if PaperTrail.enabled? == false.
#280 - Don't track virtual timestamp attributes.
#278 / #272 - Make RSpec and Cucumber helpers usable with Spork and Zeus.
#273 - Make the only and ignore options accept Hash arguments; allows for conditional tracking.
#264 - Allow unwrapped symbol to be passed in to the on option.
#224/#236 - Fixed compatibility with ActsAsTaggableOn.
#235 - Dropped unnecessary secondary sort on versions association.
#216 - Added helper & extension for RSpec, and helper for Cucumber.
#212 - Added PaperTrail::Cleaner module, useful for discarding draft versions.
#207 - Versions for 'create' events are now created with create! instead of create so that an exception gets raised if it is appropriate to do so.
#199 - Rails 4 compatibility.
#165 - Namespaced the Version class under the PaperTrail module.
#119 - Support for Sinatra; decoupled gem from Rails.
Renamed the default serializers from PaperTrail::Serializers::Yaml and PaperTrail::Serializers::Json to the capitalized forms, PaperTrail::Serializers::YAML and PaperTrail::Serializers::JSON.
Removed deprecated set_whodunnit method from Rails Controller scope.

2.7.2

#228 - Refactored default user_for_paper_trail method implementation so that current_user only gets invoked if it is defined.
#219 - Fixed issue where attributes stored with nil value might not get reified properly depending on the way the serializer worked.
#213 - Added a version_limit option to the PaperTrail::Config options that can be used to restrict the number of versions PaperTrail will store per object instance.
#187 - Confirmed JRuby support.
#174 - The event field on the versions table can now be customized.

2.7.1

#206 - Fixed Ruby 1.8.7 compatibility for tracking object_changes.
#200 - Fixed next_version method so that it returns the live model when called on latest reified version of a model prior to the live model.
#197 - PaperTrail now falls back on using YAML for serialization of serialized model attributes for storage in the object and object_changes columns in the Version table. This fixes compatibility for Rails 3.0.x for projects that employ the serialize declaration on a model.
#194 - A JSON serializer is now included in the gem.
#192 - object_changes should store serialized representation of serialized attributes for create actions (in addition to update actions, which had already been patched by #180).
#190 - Fixed compatibility with SerializedAttributes gem.
#189 - Provided support for a configure block initializer.
Added setter method for the serializer config option.

2.7.0

#183 - Fully qualify the Version class to help prevent namespace resolution errors within other gems / plugins.
#180 - Store serialized representation of serialized attributes on the object and object_changes columns in the Version table.
#164 - Allow usage of custom serializer for storage of object attributes.

2.6.4

#181/#182 - Controller metadata methods should only be evaluated when paper_trail_enabled_for_controller == true.
#177/#178 - Factored out version_key into it's own method to prevent ConnectionNotEstablished error from getting thrown in instances where has_paper_trail is declared on class prior to ActiveRecord establishing a connection.
#176 - Force metadata calls for attributes to use current value if attribute value is changing.
#173 - Update link to diff-lcs.
#172 - Save object_changes on creation.
#168 - Respect conditional :if or :unless arguments to the has_paper_trail method for destroy events.
#167 - Fix originator method so that it works with subclasses and STI.
#160 - Fixed failing tests and resolved out of date dependency issues.
#157 - Refactored class_attribute names on the ClassMethods module for names that are not obviously pertaining to PaperTrail to prevent method name collision.