Rails 2.3 is almost ready for release, but this package is so stock full of amazing new stuff that we’re making dutifully sure that everything works right before we call it official.

So please help us do thorough testing of this release candidate. Lots of the underpinnings changed. Especially the move to Rack. So we need solid testing and will probably have a slightly longer than average release candidate phase to account for that.

But boy will it be worth it. This is one of the most substantial upgrades to Rails in a very long time. A brief rundown of the top hitters:

Templates : Allows your new skeleton Rails application to be built your way with your default stack of gems, configs, and more.

: Allows your new skeleton Rails application to be built your way with your default stack of gems, configs, and more. Engines : Share reusable application pieces complete with routes that Just Work, models, view paths, and the works.

: Share reusable application pieces complete with routes that Just Work, models, view paths, and the works. Rack : Rails now runs on Rack which gives you access to all the middleware goodness.

: Rails now runs on Rack which gives you access to all the middleware goodness. Metal : Write super fast pieces of optimized logic that routes around Action Controller.

: Write super fast pieces of optimized logic that routes around Action Controller. Nested forms: Deal with complex forms so much easier.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve put together a complete guide for the Rails 2.3 release notes with much more information.

You can install the release candidate with:

gem install rails --source http://gems.rubyonrails.org

Enjoy, report the bugs, and let’s get Rails 2.3 final out the door soon.