The questions are starting to be asked by users.
How easy will the upgrade be from 1.5 to 1.6? The answer is, for the
"core" as easy as we can make it, but we have no control over third
party developers.
It follows then that many developers (that includes you template
designers as well) no doubt have many questions. One of those will be
"when do I need to start worrying about moving to the 1.6 platform"?
Well, I'm going to help you answer that one.
Start now!
Joomla 1.6 is now feature frozen. That means we (generally) won't be
changing the database schema and won't be changing the API. I say
generally because there are always bugs that come up that may require
us to repair or retrofit some things, but I'm hoping the instances of
these are low. When Joomla 1.6 hits the RC (Release Candidate) we are
saying that it's stable enough to start putting into production.
With only days passing since the Beta release information is obviously
still scarce about the implications for Joomla 1.6 on extension
developers. I recorded a 2 hour talk on many things the developer
will need to be aware of recently and that will be made publicly
available in a few weeks (or you can catch an exclusive preview at
JandBeyond at the end of this month).
In the mean time there are two places you can look for information on
extensions.
The first is here:
http://docs.joomla.org/What%27s_new_in_Joomla_1.6#Developers
This is an outline of many of the changes that will affect developers.
The second is in the trunk SVN repo. If you checkout the trunk, have
a look in the follow folder:
/tests/_data/installer_packages
In there you will find example extensions that are in the correct
format to install in 1.6.
So let me say again, now is the time to start preparing for the
release of 1.6. Don't wait till 1.6 goes stable - that will be too
late. Why is this important? Because it's going to be much easier to
fix and correct broken things in the release during the beta phase
than after 1.6 goes stable. Beta and RC's are released every 2 weeks
like clockwork. After stable, this frequency reduces to about
monthly. In addition, attention becomes divided between maintaining
1.6 (and 1.5) and firing up the 1.7 development process. There exists
a golden opportunity over the next (probably) two months when you have
the project's almost undivided attention. Use it to your advantage.
Anyway, I thought it appropriate to mention since some people might be
wondering, or worse, be thinking that the best solution is to put off
thinking about 1.6 until the stable version comes out. That's really
too late. And if there is a carrot to be dangled, those that get
involved now will obviously be in the best position to influence how
problems get fixed and by what priority :) Another way of looking at
it is also that if you start now you can be working with your own
customers or community. After 1.6 goes stable, they'll be jumping on
your back for when the 1.6 version is going to be ready. And if you
want to be really mercenary, those getting 1.6 native extensions to
market first are obviously going to have the best traffic early on ;)
Regards,
Andrew Eddie
http://www.theartofjoomla.com - the art of becoming a Joomla developer
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