Our last status update noted that July 1st was the code freeze deadline for new features to get into Drupal 6. While some of the strategic improvements that were close to being ready at that time got committed, we are now focusing on bug fixes, performance improvements, documentation updates and usability improvements.

We would like to encourage all users and developers to download a development tarball and test the old and the new functionality. There are certainly bugs in the code still, and we would like to squash them. Existing bug reports in the issue queue need some review. The patch spotlight page helps you understand how patch reviews work, and how can you help, if you are new to this kind of involvement. On the other hand, if you found a new bug, don't hesitate to open an issue and submit a fix. We are working towards releasing the first beta of Drupal 6.0 in a few weeks, which depends on how well the bug fixes go, so get involved if you'd like to see Drupal 6 released sooner.

After the last status update, we have made the following bigger changes to Drupal 6:

  • Added update module to Drupal 6. This module helps users keep up to date with their modules, which helps prevent security and other kinds of problems.
  • Made it possible to add any type of content into forums, not forum topics only.
  • Added dynamic AHAH submission properties to Forms API, allowing developers to easily develop AHAH components without writing JavaScript.
  • To work better with AJAX/AHAH, we made it possible to reattach behaviours to newly loaded content.
  • Send mails in the language of the user targetted.
  • Split several modules into smaller include files to reduce the footprint of Drupal, resulting in better performance.
  • Moved several theme functions out to tpl.php files for easier PHPTemplate themeing.
  • Themes can now specify/override CSS and JavaScript files in their .info file.
  • Added automatic timezone discovery to user registrations.
  • Changed all 'Submit' titled buttons to more appropriate actions, like 'Save'.
  • Updated our jQuery version to jQuery 1.1.3.1.
  • Fixed several smaller bugs: HTML validity, content permission issues, documentation problems and so on.

As usual, we can't say when Drupal 6.0 will be ready (it's ready when it's ready) but it is estimated that it will not be released before September. During this period, one or more release candidates will be made available. Furthermore, this code freeze should give module maintainers plenty of time to upgrade their contributed modules and contributed themes.

Comments

mfer’s picture

And, plenty of time to upgrade contributed themes....

--
Matt
http://www.mattfarina.com

gábor hojtsy’s picture

Indeed, added the link to the post.

jswaby’s picture

This is my first time testing the dev tar ball, and I have to admit, it's easier than I thought it would be.

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Jason

themegarden.org’s picture

What is status of "MySQL replication" for D6 (http://drupal.org/node/147160 and http://buytaert.net/scaling-with-mysql-replication) ?
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Drupal Themes Live Preview - themegarden.org

dries’s picture

The MySQL replication patch is not part of Drupal 6 (yet) -- it's still stuck in the patch queue waiting for people to help.

dgtlmoon’s picture

What does this mean for contrib modules like CCK etc? are they forced to close all critical bugs before they can release a 6.0 too?
referring to checkbox bug in CCK

http://drupal.org/project/issues/cck (check the critical listing)

dgtlmoon drupal devel and hosting

dries’s picture

Contributed modules, like the CCK, will make a Drupal 6 release at their own pace. However, I'd expect that the CCK developers try to release a Drupal 6 version of the CCK around the same time as Drupal 6 is released.

The reason that the Drupal code freeze takes at least 2 months (guaranteed) is because we want to give all the maintainers of contributed modules enough time to get up to speed with Drupal 6 and to upgrade their projects.

So if you maintain a contributed module, now is the time to start working on a Drupal 6 version.

Walt Esquivel’s picture

Everyone is encouraged to keep the Contributed Module Status current by making updates as needed to the wiki page for respective major releases such as 6.x.

Here is the wiki page for Contributed modules status - version 6.x. Some contributed module maintainers have already added a few comments, but ANYONE that wants to help out the Drupal community by providing status updates on any contributed module(s) is welcome to edit it. Be bold! Thanks in advance.

Walt Esquivel, MBA; MA; President, Wellness Corps; Captain, USMC (Veteran)
$50 Hosting Discount Helps Projects Needing Financing

David Latapie’s picture

Otherwise, much better installation than version: 5: auto clean URL checking, advice for password…

Excellent work :)

David Latapie’s picture

Write a link to the next update in the previous one. To find this one, I had to search through Google with a rather esoteric IRI and counting the ID number.

David Latapie’s picture

I see that HTML+PHP is no more a filter for input formats. I think this is a good thing: filters are supposed to restrict the possibilities, whilst this one empowered the user, so not exactly a “filter”. On the matter of consistency, removing it as you did is a improvement, at least in my opinion.

Thak you for your reading.

Shmee’s picture

While I understand why the php input format was removed, I will miss it. I used it for testing and executing quick code on the fly. It was also helpful in the instance when you didn't want to make a new module, but still needed more then HTML could give you, and I still think it should be available as an option administrators can turn on. Just my opinion.

-Shmee

dvessel’s picture

It was moved to a separate module.

David Latapie’s picture

I think this is this was the bet thing to do. PHP editing is not a filter, but it is still handy.

tatar111’s picture

Yes.

Think. Filozofia i Religia. Or Filozofia i Religia.

ripper2600’s picture

What is name of this module?
Ok.I found it one minute after write this post, it is PHP filter :)
koychev.com

silvasteding’s picture

Hi,

I've installed the latest drupal and activated the php filter module. My problem is that it does not send the proper info to the /includes/theme.inc file which makes the theme return to the default install look, (I mean that the drupal logo shows up and the default theme colors and all that show.) This only happens if you include the ... syntax in the created pages. If anyone else is having the same problem please let me know. I need to use the php filter with drupal 6.2. Even better if anyone has found a way to get the php filter module to work please post the solution.

Ray