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phpBB 3.0 Beta2 released

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Acyd Burn
Consultant
Consultant
Posts: 5830
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2001 8:31 pm
Location: Behind You
Name: Meik Sievertsen

phpBB 3.0 Beta2 released

Post by Acyd Burn »

Hello,

We are pleased to announce the availability of the phpBB3 Beta2 package. With this second beta release we are a great step forward.
There is no update path provided due to a number of extensive database schema changes. Everyone having the first beta installed need to re-install the software. If you do a new installation, please be sure to also remove any remaining files, especially those within the cache folder.

Changes since Beta1

Thanks to our community ~267 bugs were spotted and fixed since the 17th June. We not only received reports about bugs but also opinions about existing features as well as reports for "strange environments". There were also some areas where we did change a lot of functionality due to problems arising during the beta phase, these are for example the bbcode system, multiple dbms support, the server side topic tracking system and the search system. Two noticable bugs we fixed were one causing a lot of unneccessary disk usage and the other resulting in the ACP tabs being misplaced rendering the ACP navigation experience somewhat "useless".
Below are some guidelines regarding the beta as well as the download locations.

Obtaining Support

During the beta phase a minimal level of support will be given. We will provide answers to general setup questions, configuration problems and support for determining common problems mostly related to bugs. We will not support modifications, custom code/style additions or any users using the beta packages within a live environment.

For some support questions we may ask you to re-install the beta, clean tables in the database, purge data or other actions which are not advised to do in a live environment. So please be aware that you are still on your own if you run the beta in such an environment.

Beginning with the release candidates full support will be given.

Updating Beta to RC/Final releases

We may provide update paths for going from the beta releases to the RC and final release, but we may also not provide them. This highly depends on how the beta phase evolves. So please be aware that your test installation will need to be replaced/removed if a new beta is announced.

A full update path will be provided beginning with the Release Candidates.

Missing elements

Within the beta packages we do not include several features. These are the updater and the conversion tool for converting phpBB 2.0.x (and other packages) to phpBB 3.0.x. These might be included with later Betas, but certainly with the first Release Candidate.

Minimum Requirements

phpBB3 has a few requirements which must be met before you are able to install and use it.
  • A webserver or web hosting account running on any major Operating System with support for PHP
  • A SQL database system, one of:
    • MySQL 3.23 or above (MySQLi supported)
    • PostgreSQL 7.x/8.x
    • SQLite
    • Firebird 1.5+/Interbase 7.1+
    • MS SQL Server 2000 or above (directly or via ODBC)
    • Oracle
  • PHP 4.3.3 or above with support for the database you intend to use.
  • These optional presence of the following modules within PHP will provide access to additional features, but they are not required.
    • zlib Compression support
    • Remote FTP support
    • XML support
    • Imagemagick support
The presence of each of these optional modules will be checked during the installation process.

Security

If security issues arise we won't release a new beta immediatly. They will be fixed within the CVS tree and incorporated into the next beta packages. So please be aware that you may be at risk if you run the beta in a live environment while security issues arise. Security issues found should be reported to our security tracker in the usual way.

Translations

We still encourage potential translators to get used to the new language system. During the beta phase we will separately announce the availability of our new language pack management system. This system is now out of planning phase and should be a well received update to the current system.

Please be aware that all language files within the acp directory will change a lot during the beta phase, since we will review them in regard of grammatical correctness as well as adjusting the wording of links.

If you are translating in a team of people, for example on an international support site, beginning with the translation now might not hurt. You may spot things we are able to fix during the beta phase. But also be aware that you might need to keep track of language pack changes on your own. All current active 2.0.x language pack authors will be automatically invited to provide the language pack for their language for 3.0.x if they are willing to do so.

Documentation

An initial quick start guide is available for use with the betas from the link at the end of this message. This documentation will be evolving over the course of the Beta and Release Candidate phases. If you encounter an error in this documentation, please report it to the documentation section of the bug tracker. If something in the documentation is unclear, please use the 3.0 support forum to seek assistance. We will be monitoring this and may make changes to clarify if necessary.

BETA Download/Documentation
Every section above is accessible from the phpBB3 development section.

We wish you all happy testing,
the phpBB Teams.
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