bbPress

Today we are releasing what will be the final release candidate for bbPress 1.0 before it goes to 1.0 final in a couple of days.

The release is available now from the downloads page.

This release incorporates many bug fixes to BackPress via the final work in the lead up to the release of WordPress 2.8

It also has a surprise in the form of the groundwork for a new admin interface which borrows its look and feel from WordPress. The admin area is currently lacking a lot of design nuance in the content areas, but all the forms and controls are at least functional. Let’s call this the “excuse the mess” release candidate.

Despite the current changes in the admin area this code is now stable enough to use in a production environment, and in fact internally at Automattic we have been doing so for quite some time. Specifically on TalkPress and the BuddyPress.org forums. It’s important that we get as much testing and feedback occurring as possible, so that the final release is as robust as we can make it.

bbPress changes since release candidate 1 are here.

BackPress changes since release candidate 1 are here.

Please file any new issues on Trac.

Yesterday we pushed the first release candidate for bbPress 1.0 out the door. You can grab it from the download page.

Over the next few weeks there will be a (relatively) rapid progression of “RC” releases as we move towards a final release of 1.0

bbPress is almost stable enough to use on a live website, but I can’t recommend that yet. If you want to try it out on your existing data, then I suggest you make a complete copy of your site and then upgrade. If you just want to take a look and see what’s changed then try a fresh install (some independent testing of the installer is always useful).

If you find a problem please report it in Trac so I can get onto it as soon as possible.

Today we are releasing a new version of both bbPress 0.9 and bbPress 1.0-alpha.

The 0.9.0.4 stable release includes a security fix to stop a potential XSS attack on login pages with Internet Explorer 6, so it is highly recommended for all users.

Additionally, the 0.9.0.4 release includes a significant MySQL speed-up fix for front pages and forum pages that was discussed in the forums. Thanks to anotherdan and _ck_ for their efforts on that one.

The 1.0-alpha-5 release also includes the above fixes as well as an important fix to WordPress integration. Namely, automatic synchronisation of user roles should now work as expected.

You can get them both from the download page.

Hot on the heels of 1.0-alpha-3 comes 1.0-alpha-4.

I’d like to say that there are significant differences between the two releases, but this is basically a bug fix release, and more specifically a release to fix one major bug!

Download from the download page is now available.

Today bbPress 1.0-alpha-3 was made available via the download page.

A couple of major improvements include new re-added support for “deep” integration and a new notification system that will report fatal errors in plugins on activation. BackPress is now also up to scratch with the code it borrows from WordPress 2.7, meaning a lot of bug fixes in those files.

I need those that are interested in the “deep” integration with WordPress to do some pretty hefty testing to ensure that it is robust enough to remain as a supported option. Keep in mind that some of the existing login and cookie integration issues remain.

You can view the changes in bbPress between 1.0-alpha-2 and 1.0-alpha-3, as well as the changes that have been made to BackPress between revision 161 and 178.

Hackers out there should note that a lot of filenames have changed in the bb-includes directory.

I’ve pushed out a new stable version today as a fairly major flaw was discovered that affected users of the previous stable release 0.9.0.2

The flaw meant that regular users could not edit their own email address at all via their profile page. Which sounds like it would be something that would take less than 8 months to float to the surface, but there you go.

This release contains some other less important changes as well which you can view here.

The release is recommended for all users of current bbPress 0.9.x versions.

Download bbPress 0.9.0.3 here.

bbPress 0.9.0.2 is available for immediate download. This release includes some small changes and fixes a few bugs, but is first and foremost a security release. The vulnerability is not yet publicly known, but will be soon.

Many thanks go out to Steven J. Murdoch for identifying the issue (CVE-2008-1930) and working with us and WordPress to resolve it.

Note: Those of you with integrated WordPress/bbPress installs should upgrade WordPress first and then will probably have to update the “WordPress database secret” setting in your Settings -> WordPress Integration: Cookies admin panel after upgrading bbPress.

The bbPress team is happy to release bbPress 0.9 for download. This release is important for anyone who integrates bbPress with WordPress and wishes to update to WordPress 2.5.

Primarily this is a compatibility release so that we can continue to provide the same integration levels with WordPress as in the past, however quite a few other improvements have made their way into this version.

Improvements and changes include:

• New installer: 
  • Creates your bb-config.php file for you when possible.
  • Allows for setting up integration with WordPress at install time.
  • Supports languages other than English when language translations are available.
  • Looks pretty.
• Additional RSS feeds for views.
• A “new topics” RSS feed, available on the front-page and on each forum. This feed only returns the first post from each new topic as it is created, instead of all posts.
• More configurable <title> tag available to themes.
• More secure authentication cookies which are compatible with WordPress 2.5
• Passwords now stored using “phpass” hashing library instead of md5. If you still want to store your passwords as md5 for any reason, there is a plugin here which will do that for you.
• A second core theme called “Kakumei Blue”. This theme demonstrates just how little you need to do to start creating a new theme.
• “General” and “WordPress Integration” options configurable via admin interface.
• Built-in support for Gravatars, implemented in a way that makes 3rd-party avatar plugins much easier to author.
• New “Date and time format” and “Date format” options.
• Akismet and Bozo functionalities have been moved to plugins. Akismet key now enterable via an admin interface.
• Removed “replies” querystring argument (?replies=#) from topic links. If you still want that functionality, there is a plugin here which should emulate it.
• Fixes to use of PHP “glob()” function to avoid errors on hosts that don’t support it.
• Moderators can now manage tags by default.
• Fixes to slug incrementing.
• The old “admin_email” setting is now called “from_email”. This is now the email address that emails from your installation appear to come from.
• “No replies” view is now technically “no replies and greater than 2 hours old”.
• Improvements to the export script towards the integration of an upcoming import script.
• RSS feeds now sent as UTF-8
• Full support for slug-based feeds on forum and topic feeds.
• Keymasters can no longer be demoted by non-keymasters.
• Many other smaller bug and typo fixes.

Installation

We have provided updated and more detailed installation and integration instructions in the documentation.

Upgrading

Upgrade instructions are available in the documentation here.

Dedication

bbPress 0.9 is named “Brubeck” after American Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck. In his early career he often performed with saxophonist Paul Desmond, after whom bbPress 0.8 was named. Brubeck has composed a number of jazz standards many of which employ complex rhythms and unusual time signatures.

Due to popular demand we have bundled a bug-fix release for bbPress. 0.8.3.1 (still called “Desmond” I believe) and it is now available for download.

This version is not the latest development release so as to remain as compatible as possible with the current version of WordPress.

The primary reason for the release is to fix some bugs in the MySQLi implementation. We anticipate that MySQLi support will be dropped in the future and to this end we have made MySQL the default extension instead of MySQLi.

A few other fixes and enhancements have also snuck in:

• Deep forum breadcrumbs with thanks to baptiste
• More consistent topic labeling methods – users of the support forum plugin will probably need to upgrade to version 2.3.3
• Some fixes to stop orphaned sub-forums from disappearing from all view
• There is now one of those fancy checkboxes to mark a user as a bozo

A couple of those changes will affect existing themes. If you have questions about adapting your theme to be compatible with the new topic labeling and forum breadcrumb features, then ask over on this forum topic.

A new version is finally here, and ready for download! The biggest news is better search and compatibility with WordPress 2.3, but it also fixes a lot of bugs.

read on…