This bug fix release has been made available for download to address a number of issues that have been raised after the release of bbPress 1.0 including a security issue where multiple users could be registered with the same email address.
This is a recommended update for all users of bbPress 1.0. These issues do not affect users of bbPress 0.9.
That’s right, bbPress 1.0 finally hits the tubes!
After many months in alpha, beta and release candidate status, bbPress 1.0 final is now available for download.
Thanks to the many testers who contributed so much important feedback during the pre-release period, going way back to 1.0 alpha 1.
This release offers many usability improvements, based on making bbPress more approachable for adopters who are accustomed to WordPress. To that end bbPress 1.0 now has a similar administration interface to WordPress and uses similar descriptions and names where appropriate. bbPress also behaves more like WordPress when it comes to things like automatically generating your .htaccess file when setting up permalinks.
Here are a few of the improvements over the 0.9 series:
If you are upgrading from any earlier release to 1.0 then you absolutely should backup all you files and database before doing so. You also may need to make minor adjustments to your templates. Before upgrading, disable all plugins.
bbPress 1.0 is named “Bechet” (pronounced beh-shay) after the pioneering jazz saxophonist Sidney Bechet.
After the release of 1.0-RC-2 there was a lot of great feedback both in the support forums and on Trac. Some new issues came up around WordPress integration, caching and SQL query performance which were simply too important to leave out of the final 1.0 release.
After taking careful aim at these issues I’ve decided to make one last release candidate available. There is still a little cosmetic work to do in the admin area, but you will find a few new improvements there too, like better handling of .htaccess auto-generation and full timezone support, including automatic daylight savings switching.
1.0-RC-3 is available now from the download page.
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.
Many people have already noticed that Automattic has soft launched TalkPress. TalkPress was mentioned and explained some time ago in the bbPress forums, but there is no harm in restating our intentions here.
It has been public for a while that Automattic was going to launch a hosted forum service based on bbPress and the decision was made early on to not call it bbPress.com for three reasons.
The last reason is fairly conclusive.
So the name TalkPress was chosen. As a joke we put up a phpBB forum at TalkPress.com for a while, which we all found quite amusing until it got heavily spammed, so down that came!
In the meantime we have been preparing bbPress to accommodate many of the needs that this new service would require, specific functionality has included preparing bbPress to handle the huge user tables of WordPress.com – some of this work is already available to bbPress users (even if it’s only really useful if you have millions of users).
The architecture behind WordPress.com demanded that we make bbPress play nice with the HyperDB extension for WordPress. This neat database load-balancing and redundancy tool is now fully compatible with bbPress. So if you want to run your bbPress site with redundant MySQL databases in multiple datacenters then that’s possible now too. bbPress now has a pretty enviable set of advanced options for MySQL connectivity.
Finally, the secret sauce of TalkPress.com is an extension called “bbPress Channels”. bbPress Channels does for bbPress what WordPress MU does for WordPress, except that it is a single file that is simply included in a standard bbPress install rather than being a complete fork of bbPress.
I call it an extension, because strictly speaking it isn’t a plugin. Some of you may have noticed the “BB_CHANNELS_INCLUDE” constant floating around in bb-settings.php, this is where that file gets included. The bbPress Channels code is not ready for release yet, but it will be released as open source code at a later date.
TalkPress itself is not open for public signup at this stage. Currently we are bringing on a few “VIP” partners so that we can run-in the platform in a more controlled way. The pioneers on the service are Time Inc. who are incorporating a TalkPress forum into their Health.com website. I’m happy to report back to the bbPress community that TalkPress (and thus bbPress) withstood their rigorous security testing with flying colours. This testing incorporated, amongst other things, comprehensive XSS and SQL injection tests.
As for bbPress, some movement has occurred in the priorities leading up to a final 1.0 release. Some of the more fundamental changes that were planned are being put on the back-burner so that these aims can be achieved:
This means that some things, like the planned re-factoring of the rewrite methods, are being postponed until some future version or even removed from the radar completely.
The next Alpha version of bbPress is imminent and will likely be the last bbPress 1.0 Alpha version. From there we will move into Beta and hopefully quite quickly through to Release Candidates for 1.0 in the next couple of months.
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.
