Let’s celebrate! The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the release of Joomla 5.2.0 Release Candidate 1
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 5.2.
For a complete list of known backward compatibility issues for version 5.2, please see Potential backward compatibility issues in Joomla 5.2 on the documentation site.
What is this release NOT for?
This release candidate version of Joomla 5.2 is not suitable for production sites. It is for testing only.
Where to get it?
Download Joomla 5.2 Release Candidate 1
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! 5.2 (general availability) will be released on or about 15th October 2024. The planned milestones are:
Alpha
- 28th May 2024 - Done
- 25th June 2024 - Done
- 23rd July 2024 - Done
Beta (Feature Freeze)
- 20th August 2024 - Done
- 3rd September 2024 - Done
- 17th September 2024 - Done
Release Candidate (Language Freeze)
- 1st October 2024 - This one - Use this to help with testing
Stable Release
- 15th October 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 5.2 Release Candidate?
We are firmly committed to making the next generation of Joomla the best. So far, these are the features that have been committed to version 5.2. The following is a non-exhaustive list of features which have already been added:
- A new Article module, combining the features of all existing article modules
- A templating layout for all HTML mails being sent from your site
- Several changes to the routing to improve search engine performance
- Improvements to the Guided Tours, including a “What's new” tour after updates
- In the back-end a Total Items counter above the pagination
- All changes from previous versions
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 5.2 branch from now on. But you’re welcome to propose enhancements and fixes for existing features.
What are the plans for Joomla?
To learn more about our development strategy, please read this article.
How can you help with Joomla 5.2 development?
To help ensure the 5.2 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.
Most of all, we encourage extension developers to roll up their sleeves, seek out bugs and test their extensions with Joomla 5.2 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!
Translations
French: Joomla 5.2.0 Release Candidate
German:
Turkish: Joomla! 5.2.0 Sürüm Adayı