We have released the beta 1 version of SMF v2.1.
This means that people are going to install it. :D
That is excellent. We appreciate everyone who installs the software -- most especially during the beta phase, because - although we have been testing the alpha version for a while, and fixing the issues that we discovered, wide spread use in many different environments is certain to expose things that need adjustment. That's what Beta versions are intended for!
A few things that you should keep in mind, though.
- We do not recommend that you install 2.1 beta 1 into a production environment. As a matter of fact, we actively recommend that you do NOT do that.
- We have opened this board for people to discuss questions and issues with the 2.1 installation and upgrade.
- This is a beta... that means that there ARE still "bugs". We know that. This means that we may respond to your question or report with "yes, that is a known issue".
- We are NOT taking "feature requests" for 2.1 in this spot. There is a separate board for those requests.
- As always - THERE WILL BE NO DATES DISCUSSED.
And once again, thank you for participating in the beta testing and the overall process of helping to make the next version of SMF be an incredible product.
- You can find the latest version of 2.1 on github here (https://github.com/SimpleMachines/SMF2.1). Please remember that SMF 2.1 requires PHP 5.4 or newer to run. Don't know what version you have? phpinfo() is your friend (http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/What_is_a_phpinfo()_file)
- The easiest way to download SMF 2.1 is via the Download Zip link on the right hand side, here (https://github.com/SimpleMachines/SMF2.1/archive/release-2.1.zip).
- Once you have downloaded the zip you need to extract it, just like you would if you were installing or upgrading the current version of SMF.
- Once you have extracted the zip, you need to find (and move) a few files to make the install work.
- Open the "other" folder.
- Inside you will find the install.php script, the install sql files, and the Settings.php files (or the upgrade.php and upgrade .sql files).
- These need to be copied out of the other folder and into the main folder where you can find the "Sources" and other folders.
- Before you can do the install there is one more thing that needs to be done: copy Settings.php and paste it in the same folder but named "Settings_bak.php".
- The next step is to carry out the installation or upgrade. It can be installed on a live server as many have done or you can install it on a localhost server like wamp, xamp etc.
- Copy or upload the 2.1 files you have to your server
- Once the files are uploaded or copied, it is now time to carry out the installation or upgrade.
- Just run the install.php file or upgrade.php file, which will lead you through the installation or upgrade just like you have done in SMF 1.1 or SMF 2.0.
- For more details on the installation process take a look at Installing SMF (http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Installing) on the wiki.
- For more details on the upgrade process take a look at Upgrading SMF (http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Upgrading) on the wiki.
Once you have SMF 2.1 running you can now look in more detail at what needs to be tested or fixed. On Github you can look at the recent commits here (https://github.com/SimpleMachines/SMF2.1/commits/release-2.1) and see what the developers and contributors have committed to SMF. Based on these commits you can get a good idea of what has recently changed.
Create a few accounts on your new install and start doing any type of test with those features you can think of.
If you find an issue or question on how things should work, post your questions in this board or your issues/bugs on github on the issue tracker here (https://github.com/SimpleMachines/SMF2.1/issues).
You can also check the recent updated issues for bugs and pull requests that are being discussed, these are things that can be tested and commented on to give feedback to the developers. The list can be found here (https://github.com/SimpleMachines/SMF2.1/issues?direction=desc&page=1&sort=updated&state=open).