We have suffered a couple of days site outage due to our previous generous host (Memenet) suddenly stopping servicing webrequest to b2evolution.net… :-/
I could not contact Memenet by any means for 24 hours so I’ve asked the community for new hosting solutions.
I have to say that response has been great and exceeding my expectations.
You guys rock!!! B)
48 hours and still no news from Memenet, so…
I have the pleasure to announce that this site is now generously hosted by Travis S / Domain51 and that the forums are about to be generously hosted by Jason Murphy.
We may even have a third host completing our new super-strong web hosting farm! :)) (okay it’s not really redundant, but it’s a step in the right direction! ;D)
Finally, I’d like to thank Brian and Memenet for their support during our first 6 months online. This community probably wouldn’t have grown this fast without Memenet providing hosting for the complete website from scratch. :)
b2evolution version 0.8.6.1 (Release Candidate) is now available from the downloads section.
This release is codenamed "Lightning", because it is closely related to "Thunder" :b
It actually includes fixes for all bugs reported since the release of "Thunder" (0.8.6).
These fixes had been made available through CVS but many users have asked for a package release. Here it is. :)
Upgrade is not necessary if you’re not having any problems with 0.8.6, however it is recommended for maximum performance and security.
This is the new *stable* release, following 0.8.2.2. It is also known as the “Thunder” release! :p
You can get it from the downloads section.
The feature set is the same as for previous development versions with a few minor fixes. However, here is a summary of changes since last stable release (0.8.2.2):
- Security has been improved.
- This version has been fully internationalized and several localizations are already included.
- The login/registering system has been rewritten.
- The public interface can now restrict access to protected/private posts based on user login.
- The bookmarklet and sidebar features have been upgraded to full support of evo features. The regular backoffice as well as the Blogger API have also been improved.
- Comment spam prevention (vig-rx syndrome) has been added through the use of a blacklist. This also applies to referrer spam.
- The codebase has undergone heavy refactoring and gained flexibility. The directory structure is now fully configurable.
- Find out more, from the online demo!
Wow I had a funky day! XX(
This morning, as I was thinking about packaging a new b2evolution version, waiting for the storm outside to calm down... after 5 or 6 alerts, my UPS died on me.
How frustrating! This device is supposed to let you work uninterrupted, no matter how bad the thunderstorm is playing with your power supply :> Well... this time it didn't go that way. Thunder, beep, beep, beep, woosh, silence... thunder again, silence... black screen... :(
It seems to be dead... definitely... no matter how much I try to reload the battery and how little power I try to get from it. At least it has served me well for almost 7 years ;) (yeah I checked the fuse too :b it actually still works fine... until you unplug the power :)) )
That was just for starters... the storm didn't stop until 6 pm, the basement and garage got flooded, roads were closed, I got trapped in a commercial zone without a way home were I wouldn't have to drive through 60 centimeters of mud and water... Eventually I found a way around, but of course, everybody was trying to go that way so we got all stuck it a wet dirty muddy traffic jam under the pourring rain with absolutely no news because the radio relays were down... probably hit by the storm too! :no:
Now the weather seems temporarily calmed down and I'm slowly getting dry... but they announced the same fun for tomorrow again... even recommending people do not got to work! XX(
It's going to be a funky autumn I guess... Actually, running a development PC without an UPS this time of the year in this area is almost suicidal. So I'll probably be off during the next storm again, until I get to buy a new UPS.
By the way, this is the perfect opportunity for me to bring to your attention that you can support b2evolution development by donating a few bucks using the Paypal link you can see on the site. :roll: A new UPS costs about $100 / 100€. So even $5 / 5€ will be a significative contribution! ;)
Well anyway, last but not least: when it happens to you and you fry an UPS, remember to dispose it properly, recycling the batteries! Thanks for your attention. :P
There's this other irritating myth about b2evo that says we are "carelessly" integrating hacks.
Would you please "care" to look at the code before relaying that? >:XX
As a matter of fact, as of today, b2evo has integrated as many as 0 (yes, that reads ZERO!) hacks on top of b2 version 0.6.1.
All new features have been developed specifically for b2evo. We are actually considering including some hacks, but we haven't done it yet since we are talking with the authors about merging them in a clean way into the b2evo codebase. That means the author joining the dev team and integrating the hacks in a manner that is everything but "careless".
b2evolution is actually an evolution of the b2 blog software. Thus, a significant part of the codebase is b2 legacy. As of today, b2 legacy is a little less than 50% of the whole b2evolution code.
Every now & then I read these quite irritating remarks about some other b2 forks supposedly being so much better because their authors are planning to rewrite it from ground up someday. :crazy: Duh!
Beyond the intrinsic irony of this statement, I'd like to explain my position about this: I do not believe the usage value of software lies in its codebase!
Actually, I have experimented the rewriting path myself about 12 years ago. I had developed a piece of software working very well with lots of happy users. However, I decided that having written this software in GfA Basic wasn't good enough and rewrote it from ground up in C!
This was an unvaluable move for me to learn the C language (and a couple of other things I wanted to experiment with, like the GEM environment), but regarding the software, the new version - while significantly nicer - never reached the usage value of the previous one.
The product and the users would have benefited much more from me spending all this time adding new features to the existing codebase instead of reimplementing the same ones differently. However, as a developer, I personnaly benefited more from reimplementation.
See how precisely this translates to b2 and its forks?
Now, please give me a break with this rewriting crap! Anyone talking to you about rewriting doesn't actually care about the community but about himself. :lalala: I don't blame that - we work for free - I just don't want it turned into ridiculous "marketing" arguments.
Also, please don't get me wrong: I am not saying the legacy b2 codebase was all clean. The b2evo dev team has actually rewritten more than 50% of it in order to achieve better maintainance. But we don't advertise that. We take far more pride in providing new features on a regular basis. :P