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.