Release News

Joomla! 3.2 Beta1 Released

The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the availability of Joomla! CMS 3.2 Beta1. Community members are asked to download and install the package in order to provide quality assurance for Joomla 3.2. Joomla 3.2 is scheduled for release on or around November 6th, 2013.

A big thank you goes out to everyone that contributed to Joomla 3.2! Joomla 3.2 will be our largest release ever, in terms of bug fixes and new features. Right now we're at about 670 commits since 3.1.5's release with 45 different people contributing to commits (not including testers and other non-coding activities). And best of all is that the new features are awesome!

Joomla 3 is the latest major release of the Joomla CMS, with Joomla 3.2 the third standard-term support release in this series. Please note that going from Joomla 3.1 to 3.2 is a one-click upgrade and is NOT a migration. The same is true is for any subsequent versions in the Joomla 3 series. That being said, please do not upgrade any of your production sites to the beta version as beta is ONLY intended for testing and there is no upgrade path from Beta.

What is this release for?

This is a BETA release, that should only be used on test sites. Beta releases cannot be upgraded.

Extension developers are encouraged to work with this release in order to prepare extensions for the General Availability release of Joomla 3.2, though there shouldn't be any backward compatibility issues. Users are encouraged to test the package for issues and to report issues in the Joomla! issue tracker. Please do not upgrade any of your production sites to the beta version and do not start a new site on beta as beta is ONLY intended for testing and there is no upgrade path from Beta.

Click here to download.

When is the final release due?

Joomla 3.2.0 (general availability) is due to be released on or around 6 November, 2013. The planned milestones are:

11 October - Joomla 3.2 beta to be released for public testing

16 October - Joomla 3.2 beta 2 to be released for public testing

23 October - Joomla 3.2 beta 3 to be released for public testing

30 October - Joomla 3.2 release candidate to be released for public testing

6 November - Joomla 3.2.0 released

Please note that dates may be subject to change depending on availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control.

Which bugs have been fixed in Joomla! 3.2?

Thanks to the hard work of JBS and other volunteers, there have been over 200 bugs squashed since Joomla 3.1.5! For known issues with the 3.2 beta release, see the Version 3.2 Beta FAQ in the documentation site.

What are the new features of Joomla! 3.2?

31266 - GSoC 2013 - Improved Template Manager

31347 - GSoC 2013 - Introducing HTML5 form fields and attributes

31989 - GSoC 2013: Microdata semantics library

GSoC 2013 - Removed Mootools dependencies

Miscellaneous interface improvements from the JUX Code Sprint

32175 - JED info link in extensions installer and 1-click installer of "install from Web" plugin

31436 - *Create a update button to list new Help servers

31757 - Enable PSR-0 Autoloading by Default

31389 - TinyMCE 4.0.7 Update

31774 - Add the Framework DI Container to the CMS

31009 - Add a switch to turn mail sending on/off

30944 - Content versioning for core and third-party components

31800 - Add Joomla Ajax Interface to core

31844 - Rapid Application Framework (Joomla! RAD)

31704 - Two factor authentication for Joomla!

31725 - Joomla multilingual site automatic installer

31727 - Migrate application classes from legacy JApplication to JApplicationWeb

31977 - Component for Post-Installation Messages

31561 - Add support for BCrypt encryption of passwords and rewrite cookie based authentication to use it

30781 - Small changes to jForm and jField to allow for repeatable form elements

30798 - Add logging to Joomla Update

31770 - Update to jQuery 1.10.2 and add jQuery Migrate 1.2.1

What are the other new features of the Joomla! 3 series?

Incorporation of Twitter Bootstrap into a jui media package.

A new responsive administrator template--Isis-- and interface.

A new front end template--Protostar-- built using Twitter Bootstrap

Updated accessible template called Beez3

PostgreSQL Driver. You will be able to run Joomla 3.0 sites using the PostgreSQL database.

PHP Memcached Driver

Use of JFeed for feed management rather than SimplePie

Installation of language packages directly from the extension manager

Guest user group present by default

Saving blank articles allowed

New administrator statistics module

Continued clean up of older unused code, files and database fields and tables and improved standardization of tables.

Improvements to Smart Search

Extensive work on code style standardisation and consistency

Unit testing in the CMS

Updated system tests in the CMS

Multilanguage: adding items associations in remaining core components.

Language Installation tool for the Joomla Installer.

Items associations in multi-language

Allow different update packages for different version dev levels

Tags

Show logs in debug console

Refactor installation to use new application and MVC classes

Add pagination in COM_SEARCH component

Added triggers on save for com_config

What is the status of Joomla! 2.5?

Version 2.5 of the Joomla! CMS is a Long Term Support release and support for it will continue until December 31st, 2014. Joomla 2.5 users do not need to migrate to Joomla 3.0, 3.1, or 3.2.

Will I be able to update directly to Joomla! 3?

Moving to Joomla 3.x from Joomla 2.5 will be a mini-migration not an upgrade, although for the core of Joomla! the migration should be simple. However, it is likely that templates for Joomla 2.5 will need modification to work with Joomla 3 as will many extensions. Always test prior to migrating and consult with the developers of any extensions and templates you use.

What is the status of Joomla! 1.5?

Support for Joomla 1.5 ended in April of 2012 and we continued to support it unofficially until the end of 2012 for medium to high priority security issues.

Does that mean your 1.5 site has suddenly stop working? No, your site will continue to work as it always has (assuming your host hasn't changed anything on their end). However, Joomla’s developers will not be releasing new versions for Joomla 1.5, so you won’t be getting bug fixes or security fixes. For this reason, it’s recommended to migrate from 1.5.

Moving from 2.5 to any Joomla 3 version is relatively simple, since Joomla has made the process easy for newer versions. Unfortunately, moving from 1.5 is not a trivial task. Fortunately, there are several good extensions on the JED that make the process easier and you have a choice of going straight to Joomla 3 or going to 2.5 first. Please consult with their documentation on how to migrate from Joomla 1.5 to 3/2.5.

For most new/migrated sites, the Joomla! 3 series is the preferred series and starting on it avoids a mini-migration from Joomla 2.5 later down the road. Starting on the Joomla 3 series for a new/migrated site, also provides you with longer backward compatible support (with one-click upgrades) than starting a new site on 2.5 right now, because support for 3.x ends at the end of 2016.

How can you help Joomla development?

There are a variety of ways in which you can get actively involved with Joomla! It doesn't matter if you are a coder, an integrator, or merely a user of Joomla!. You can contact the Joomla! Community Development Manager, David Hurley, to get more information, or if you are ready you can jump right into the Joomla! Bug Squad.

The Joomla Bug Squad is one of the most active teams in the Joomla development process and is always looking for people (not just developers) that can help with sorting bug reports, coding patches and testing solutions. It’s a great way for increasing your working knowledge of Joomla, and also a great way to meet new people from all around the world.

If you are interested, please read about us on the Joomla Wiki and, if you wish to join, email Mark Dexter or Nick Savov, our Bug Squad co-coordinators.

You can also help Joomla development by thanking those involved in the many areas of the process. In the past year, for example, over 980 bugs have been fixed by the Bug Squad.

The project also wants to thank all of the people who have taken the time to prepare and submit work to be included in Joomla 3.2 and the new Joomla Framework.

Related information

If you are an extension developer, please make sure you subscribe to the general developer mailing list as this is a place where you can discuss extension development and news that may affect custom development will be posted from time to time.

Following is a list of previous news and information about Joomla and other sites of interest:

A Huge Thank You to Our Volunteers!

This beta release is the result of thousands of hours of work by dozens of volunteers. Thank you so very much for making Joomla the best CMS on the planet!