As usual the first beta release of a version introduces a feature freeze, meaning no new features will be integrated in TYPO3 6.0 after that. The development team will focus only on fixing bugs, streamlining the behaviour of new features in the source code and in the user interface. Some new components like the extension manager or the translation package handling are implemented functionally, but the interface needs improvement.
Four code sprints took place since the last alpha release. Every sprint had a specific topic and scope. Most results are included in TYPO3 version 6.0. A big thanks to all code sprint participants.
Extbase & Fluid
Several new domain models evolved from the Extbase and Fluid code sprint. Most domain models are the foundation of backend extensions that made the switch to Extbase. Extbase received lots of love in the form of bug fixes and additional features like an improved language overlay and sophisticated 'deleted or hidden record' handling. A basic engine to resolve objects of the file abstraction layer is added to Extbase as well.
PHP 5.3 Namespace Support
Namespace support is the most important part of the beta1 release with the highest impact: The whole core switched all class names to PHP 5.3 namespaces. About roughly 1800 class names have been changed. Each of them got a new name, was moved to a new location in the file system and adjusted internally. This masterpiece is supported by a backwards compatibility layer for old class names. Extensions should still be working without any modification. The namespace switch started with a huge patch and was done shortly before this beta1 release. There are still some issues that need to be tackled and it is to be expected that the current snapshot version might run into problems with uncommon setups that were not tested, yet. In general this huge change needs a lot of testing from the community and feedback is - as always - highly appreciated.
New Extension Manager
The extension manager is completely rewritten and streamlined. The new solution is - like all other major rewrites of core extensions - based on Extbase. The interface is simplified to the necessary tasks, managing extensions: update, install and configure. The language package handling module was moved out of the extension manager into the 'lang' extension as an own module. The lang module is still under construction.
New Logging API
The core now contains a shiny new core logging API. It has flexible logging configuration and is easy to use in ones own extensions, with flexible data enrichment and escalation strategies. We're looking forward to a broad core usage. For now, extensions can use and extend the API for own use already.
General Backend Behaviour
While the backend is optically very similar to the versions before, there were lots of smaller improvements for better backend experience. The two top rows of the main modules were swapped, making the top-to-bottom approach more logical. The default page module is now based on a backend layout setting as well and changed its view.
Workspace Improvements
The workspaces module in the backend now is capable of selecting and handling localizations which allows to e.g. only publish all Spanish contents and keep French still in the workspace. The rarely used "percentage of change" value was removed which boosts the loading speed of the module in general.
General Improvements
Tons of smaller features are added to improve behaviour and possibilities of extensions and modules.
- The rootline handling that is used a lot when rendering links was re-written which leads to a performance improvement for complex frontend pages.
- The backend user administration module is substituted with a new implementation based on Extbase and can now handle large amounts of users in a new user interface.
- The cache layer got a new backend for Windows servers.
- The scheduler extension can now be called with the "at" daemon on Unix systems if cron is not available and specific tasks can be forced to be executed on the command line.
- The database API got new handling for native Date and Time database formats.
- TypoScript conditions now allow multiple values that are compared with or. Example: [globalVar = TSFE:id = 10|12|15]
Distributions
The Introduction Package got lots of smaller improvements, extension updates and stabilizations. A reworked, responsive, layout and a switch to the extbased news extension are still in the pipeline.
Adjusted Roadmap
The shift in release dates has an effect on the roadmap for TYPO3 version 6.0. The release date end of October 27, 2012 will be maintained as usual and we will stick to the 6 months release cycle you have come to rely on. The release dates of the next beta release and the release candidates have changed to:
- TYPO3 6.0 beta2: September 18th 2012 (was September 4th 2012)
- TYPO3 6.0 RC1: October 9th 2012 (was October 2nd 2012)
- TYPO3 6.0.0 Final: October 27th 2012 (still the same)
The releaseteam calls on you to test this beta release and all coming beta releases. We need your help to bugfix these releases to come to a grand major new release on October. With this beta release we include the easily installable Introduction Package that let's you test TYPO3 version 6.0 beta1 without having to use one of your clients sites ;)
Download
see <link http: typo3.org download>typo3.org/download/43fa3127b0e30c1d1c198a04cc034343 blankpackage-6.0.0beta1.tar.gz
39dfa51037ddbf34b49ce28d59ae399f blankpackage-6.0.0beta1.zip
3db4713753cde5bac18ea63522a22121 dummy-6.0.0beta1.tar.gz
11164b62ad99e2027d076ca34c1814c0 dummy-6.0.0beta1.zip
345aa5b1d91dadcc989cbef33ab86788 governmentpackage-6.0.0beta1.tar.gz
76e33bceef25a2fbf6fa70d4e5d25084 governmentpackage-6.0.0beta1.zip
d534423d51ad2495313e146de992514b introductionpackage-6.0.0beta1.tar.gz
37a98772e1e95390acc73c41c63cfc8e introductionpackage-6.0.0beta1.zip
86db9b0f5c0844b90e118d1437cbf35c typo3_src+dummy-6.0.0beta1.zip
7fcdaa9c9fa1599e693f26cbb014c6ab typo3_src-6.0.0beta1.tar.gz
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