PyroCMS v0.9.8 RC2: On a server near you
Posted at Apr 20, 2010
We have been hard at work with making PyroCMS - the open-source CodeIgniter CMS - more stable. We here on the development team do not know the meaning of the phrase "Feature Freeze" so we have added lots of awesome new features too.
So whats in this new version?
Upgrade system
This is something we should have added a long time ago but never quite got around to. Upgrading PyroCMS so far has always involved opening the UPGRADE file (which has now moved to /docs/UPGRADE) and manually running MySQL queries to update the database with the appropriate schema.
Now, this is all done for you. If you are upgrading from v0.9.8-rc1 you only need to run one query then all upgrades will be done for you. If you are creating a clean install of v0.9.8-rc2 you will never have to manually run any SQL ever again.
The upgrade script is even smart enough to upgrade through several versions, so if you skip a few minor updates it won't fall over when it comes to v1.0.
You can find the upgrade script at http://example.com/upgrade. Don't worry about deleting it, nobody will be able to run it a second time.
New user system
Ion Auth is an open source authentication library for CodeIgniter written by two of the PyroCMS development team and integrated to combine efforts. The old user system for PyroCMS was written over 2 years ago and was a little tatty around the edges, so this upgrade gives us much improved security via advanced encryption algorithms, detailed configuration settings, improved user and group management and is a whole lot more lightweight.
Ion Auth is awesome in PyroCMS because it gives developers a secure, simple API for interacting with user accounts and gives users the peace of mind knowing that their personal information is secure.
Third-party content
Third party content such as modules and themes from other developers - or ones you have created yourself - can now go in a top-level folder named /third_party. This means you can leave the /application folder almost completely alone during upgrades.
Soon when CodeIgniter 2.0 is released (or the development branch becomes stable enough for us to use) we can set this third_party directory up as a "Application Package" meaning you can place helpers, libraries and models in there for use throughout the site. For example, that will be helpful if you are adding a "Facebook" library which could be used in custom widgets, modules or throughout your theme.
Other changes
- Added Login and avigation
- Photos albums have pagination
- Photos have their own comments
- Moved most modules to Form_validation (older Validation is deprectaed in CodeIgniter 2.0)
What to look forward to in v0.9.8? Well to make sure the next release does not take forever we are going to try our hardest to not add any new features into this branch. Anything new we work on will go into v0.9.8.1-dev and v0.9.8 can be released after a good number of bugs have been squashed.
That said, the talented Colin Williams will be having a crack at adding a new default theme in time for the v0.9.8 final release. Should be very tastey indeed!
As always, pester us on Twitter or the GitHub issue tracker with any bugs.
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