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Joomla 5.1.0 Release Candidate

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Joomla 5.1.0 Release Candidate

The Joomla Project is pleased to announce the availability of Joomla 5.1 Release Candidate for testing.

What is this release for?

There are two main goals for Release Candidates:

  • Providing developers with the basis to test their extensions and reporting any issues well before the final release
  • Allowing users to discover the new features introduced to Joomla 5.1.

For a complete list of known backward compatibility issues for version 5.1, please see Potential backward compatibility issues in Joomla 5.1 on the documentation site.

What is this release NOT for?

This release candidate version of Joomla 5.1 is not suitable for production sites. It is for testing only.

Where to get it?

Download Joomla 5.1 rc1

To always use the latest build of Joomla 5, we invite you to use the nightly build packages (updated every night).

To make it easier for newcomers, you can launch a free Joomla 5 website for testing at launch.joomla.org.

When is the final release due?

Joomla! 5.1 (general availability) will be released on or about 16th April 2024. The planned milestones are:

Alpha

  • 28th November 2023 - done
  • 26th December 2023 - done
  • 23rd January 2024 - done
  • 20th February 2024 - done

Beta (Feature Freeze)

  • 5th March 2024 - done
  • 19th March 2024 - done

Release Candidate (Language Freeze)

  • 2nd April 2024 - this release

Stable Release

  • 16th April 2024

Please note that dates may be subject to change depending on the availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control.

What’s new in Joomla 5.1 Release Candidate?

We are firmly committed to making the next generation of Joomla the best. These are the features that have been committed to version 5.1.

  • All changes from 4.4 and 5.0
  • Implement TUF updater (#42799)
  • Heavily improve dark mode (#42986)
  • Implement backend dark mode switch (#42221)
  • Implement a Welcome Tour (#41659)
  • SEO: Add trailing slash behaviour (#42702)
  • SEO: Improve URL behaviour with index.php (#42704)
  • Adding notice to global configuration for additional options in SEF plugin (#42832)
  • Update Jooa11y Accessibility Checker Plugin with latest Sa11y (#42780)
  • Improve Guided Tours with new features for required field handling and support for checkbox / radio / select lists as target (#40994)
  • Add regex validation for fields (#42657)
  • Add schema.org Generic type (#42699)
  • Add schema.org Article type (#42402)
  • Allow custom fields form be manipulates like category form (#42510)
  • Replace bootstrap modal with new dialog in backend for
  • Add main region and better support for modules in Cassiopeia error page (#42719)
  • Joomla Update: Improving error handling when writing files (#41096)
  • Update FontAwesome to 6.5.1 (#42721)
  • Update TinyMCE to 6.8.3 (#42930)
  • Strip attributes from images in HTML mails (#42448)
  • Change type of field "value" in table #_fields_values from text to mediumtext (#42606)
  • Add support for subcategory levels in contacts category view (#41618)
  • Add “New Article” button to blog view (#39506)
  • CLI Improvements
    • Add command to manage Joomla core update channels (#42597)
    • Renaming and improving output of core:update:check (#42594)
    • Improve output of Core Update command (#42601)
    • Update:extension:check command (#42844)
    • maintenance database update db structure (42568)
  • Module conversion to service provider
  • Add toolbar buttons in language installation toolbar to go directly to language management views (#42610)
  • Improve long description output for templates (#42651)
  • Add possibility to sort subform rows with buttons "up" and "down" (#42334)
  • Add rebuild button in Tags (#42586)
  • Improve uninstall of package children extension (#42607)
  • Improve webservices filter (#42519)
  • Improve webservice event classes (#42092)
  • Use generic icon for documents in media manager (#42527)
  • Rewrite com_associations in vanilla JS (#42771)
  • Implementing Event classes for PageCache events (#41965)
  • Fix actionlogs information emails containing HTML links (#40033)
  • Load plugin group when executing batch tasks (#39013)
  • Add Global Setting for Form Layout option to custom fields (#37320)
  • Add SVG support to mod_banners (#41854)
  • Several JS improvements (#42756, #42755, #42776, #42784)
  • Update Code style fixer (#42603)
  • Unit test for WebAsset (#42885)

As it's a release candidate, we now have a language freeze. From now on, no pull Requests touching the language files will be merged unless absolutely necessary (e.g., by fixing a critical bug). We’re two weeks away from a stable release, so the task is now: test, test, test.

We will not include any other new features in the 5.1 branch from now on. But you’re welcome to propose enhancements and fixes for existing features.

What are the plans for Joomla 5.1?

To learn more about our development strategy, please read this article.

How can you help Joomla 5.1 development?

To help ensure the 5.1 release and our major features are “production-ready”, we need your help testing releases and reporting any bugs you may find at issues.joomla.org.

We encourage extension developers to roll up their sleeves, seek out bugs and test their extensions with Joomla 5.1 and communicate their experience.

Where can I find documentation about Joomla 5?

There are some tutorials to help you with Joomla 5. You can find the existing ones, like creating a Plugin or a Module for Joomla 5, namespaces conventions, prepared statements, using the new web asset classes and many more in https://docs.joomla.org/Category:Joomla!_5.x

We encourage developers to help write the documentation about Joomla 5 on docs.joomla.org and manual.joomla.org to help and guide users and other extension developers.

A JDocs page will help developers to see the existing documentation and the documentation still needed.

We invite you to check it regularly, update it and provide the missing content.

Related information

If you are an extension developer, please make sure you subscribe to the extension developer channel https://joomlacommunity.cloud.mattermost.com/main/channels/extension-development-room

Where you can join the community of extension developers.

A Huge Thank You to Our Volunteers!

A big thank you goes out to everyone who contributed to the release!

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