TYPO3 CMS 6.2 final release postponed

Categories: Development, Community Created by Ernesto Baschny
Find out why the final release of TYPO3 6.2 LTS was postponed until March 2014 and what consequences this has.
The unspoken thoughts have been discussed. We have finally decided to postpone the final release of TYPO3 CMS 6.2.0 by three months. The final release of TYPO3 6.2 LTS is now scheduled for 25th March, 2014. It was important for the team to assure themselves in the community that this is the right step. Read more about the motivation behind that, and what will now follow in the so called "Stabilization Phase".

Postponing 6.2 final release

We didn't take this decision lightly. Since we reached the point of having three weeks left until final release, we gathered in the team to discuss what is still missing and where we stand. The calculated effort to solve these crucial blockers easily outweighed the amount of time and manpower we currently have to solve the issues. So we brought the idea of postponing the release into a <link http: forum.typo3.org index.php t>public and fruitful discussion in the TYPO3 Core list also inviting agencies and other developers to participate. Overall the reaction was quite positive. Of course we are aware that postponing a release is not something the TYPO3 Release Team wants to do all the time, as we have successfully had a very tight and well working release cycle (6 months per release). We are also pretty aware of the potential consequences this might have for projects already planned with 6.2 LTS during the next months. Read more about that later on.

Why postponing?

We have some blocking pending issues that we know are not possible to solve within the next three weeks until the original final release. Since we know that the LTS release will be the most used major release since TYPO3 CMS 4.5, we need to make sure that it can hold up with the expectations for the next three years. Concretely, these are the blocking issues:
  • FAL stabilization, usability and API completion
  • Workspaces: Functional Tests in order to tackle the IRRE fixes (we need that to work to be able to use workspaces with tt_content with FAL)
  • Importer / Exporter with IRRE (needed to create T3D distributions with FAL references)
  • Distribution Packages (i.e. the Responsive Package)
  • Performance of the Class-Loader
  • Performance Extbase
  • Performance in general (i.e. TCA etc) for frontend and backend
We have a plan on how to tackle these issues. They will be organized as separate projects with teams and responsibilities. The organization of these task forces will start now and be finalized during a special meeting of the release team that will happen in Stuttgart in the beginning of December.

Besides that we also have to work on important usability and general stability aspects of the product. This is why the phase that begins with the release of beta2 is called the "Stabilization Phase".

What about 4.5 LTS support?

We have promised to keep the LTS overlapping period 12 months, and we will keep that promise. That means support for 4.5 LTS will be extended until March/2015.

What should I do if I already "sold 6.2" to my customer for the next months?

Talk frankly and sincerely to your customer. Also remind that they are using a license-free enterprise level content management system. In this particular case, the benefits outweight the drawbacks. Nobody would have any profit from an unstable "6.2.0" release just now. Some ideas on how to proceed: a) If you already planned to start a 6.2 project during the next few weeks: You can still do that with 6.2 beta3 (by December 17th). It will be as stable as we would have released 6.2.0. The upgrade to 6.2.0 later on will be very smooth. b) if you are afraid of instability, consider starting with 6.1 and then plan a smooth "small upgrade" to 6.2 LTS mid next year. c) if you planned 4.5 to 6.2 upgrades for the end of this year, I would consider the upgrade to 6.2 beta3 if the resources are already bound and if the areas we are still working on are not as critical in the project (i.e. FAL).

What about TYPO3 Neos 1.0 Release?

TYPO3 Neos 1.0 will be released as planned on December 10th. So there is still plenty of reasons to party on that day! Most already planned Release Parties will still happen but now with complete focus on Neos - a product which deserves that special day.

The new Release Plan - Stabilization Phase

The new release plan for 6.2 LTS is now as follows:
  • beta3: 17.12.2013 (one week after the original final release date)
  • beta4: 14.01.2014
  • beta5: 04.02.2014
  • beta6: 25.02.2014
  • beta7: 11.03.2014 (final beta)
  • RC: 18.03.2014
  • Release: 25.03.2014
The exact dates of the Beta might vary depending on reaching certain milestones. We will keep you informed. Up-to-date dates can be always read in our <link http: forge.typo3.org projects typo3cms-v62 wiki>Forge Page.

Community effort

Yes, this project - as you know already - is a community effort. That means that building TYPO3 CMS is done via volunteer effort. Nevertheless there are issues and important blocking projects that currently doesn't seem to attract many volunteers. The CMS team has a budget from the TYPO3 Association to be able to handle "Important Development" and we might need to make use of that for this final phase. We will also appreciate help from the community and from agencies, both in terms of sponsoring and providing developers, testers and reviewers. Get in <link>touch with me if you want to help and provide details on what you are able to offer.