[opencms-dev] OpenCms 7 RC 1 available

[Alexander Kandzior]

Hi all,

development of OpenCms has reached another milestone as the first release
candidate (RC) of OpenCms 7 is now available. 

OpenCms 7 RC 1 is available since yesterday evening from CVS, and we will
make it available as a download from opencms.org until then end of the week.
The CVS tag is "build_7rc_1".

I invite everyone to download, install and try out OpenCms 7 RC 1. 

We are most interested in feedback regarding backwards compatibility to
OpenCms 6.2, since we want to improve the 7 API to be as compatible as
possible. In the development process of OpenCms 7, several API methods where
refactored - please let me know what methods from version 6.2 we should put
back in the API, these will then be marked as deprecated.

Features of the OpenCms 7 RC 1 release:

* The internal link management has been greatly improved.
* If files (or folders) are moved / renamed, all links to these files are
now 
  kept intact.
* Deleting a resource that is linked by other resources does now display a 
  warning / confirmation dialog.
* The new "Content Relationship Engine" (CRE) allows defining 
  arbitrary relations between OpenCms resources.
* Native support for WebDAV access to the OpenCms VFS has been added.
* Publishing of resources is now done using a queue, so a user can 
  continue to work after publishing has started.
* The concept of "Organization Units" (OUs) has been added to the 
  internal user management.
* System permissions are now based on a comlete new set of "Roles".
* It is now possible to delegate management of users / groups in OUs 
  to Sub-Administrators.
* A "switch user" (su) function for Administrators in the OpenCms 
  Workplace is now available.
* Many usability improvements for the OpenCms Workplace have been 
  made, especially concerning the handling of other users locks.
* Many dialogs in the OpenCms Workplace are more responsive because of 
  the use of Ajax technologies.
* The context menus in the Workplace are now cascading and can be 
  configured individually based on the users permissions.
* A new "Undelete" function is available on the context menu
  to restore deleted resources, including complete deleted subtrees.
* The full text search has been greatly improved so that individual 
  resource properties or fields from XML content can be searched 
  directly.
* A "time warp" feature in the Workplace now allows users to view 
  resources with date expired / date released settings.
* Auto correction for structured XML contents now allows changes to 
  the XML schema of existing resources.
* A configurable search tool is now available for content managers in 
  the Workplace.
* A permalink handler for resources is available for external 
  references in case a resource is moved or renamed.
* Link management support has been added in editors for standard HTML 
  tags 'area', 'object' & 'embed'.
* The core database structure has been optimized.
* JSP 2.0 and Servlet 2.4 are now used by default. 

Please note that this feature list of OpenCms 7 is subject to change until 
we reach the "Release Candidate 2" stage (please see below). Keep in mind 
that most development on OpenCms 7 is sponsored by customers. That means 
some features may be dropped and other features may be added until the 
feature freeze. 

OpenCms 7 release plan:

The second and final public release will be OpenCms 7 RC 2, available 
June 6, 2007. This version will contain bug fixes and the final and stable 
core API for version 7. It will also contain the first version of an update 
wizard for version 7. The goal is to be able to update all released stable 
OpenCms 6.0 and 6.2 versions to OpenCms 7 using this update wizard. This 
release will also mark the beginning of the "feature freeze" period, which 
means no new features will be added to the core after the OpenCms 7 RC 2 
release.

OpenCms 7.0 final will be released July 4, 2007. Compared to the RC 2 
version, we expect no changes except fixes for bugs or other issues that 
have been found in the RC 2 release. This version will also contain the 
final and tested version of the update wizard. 

Please note that this feature list and release plan for OpenCms 7 comes 
without any warranty and it is subject to change without notice. Updates 
will be published on the OpenCms website and the opencms-dev mailing list. 

Kind Regards,
Alex.

-------------------                                                      
Alexander Kandzior                                                        

Alkacon Software GmbH  - The OpenCms Experts

http://www.alkacon.com - http://www.opencms.org