FluxBB

Today we have released FluxBB 1.4.2 This release fixes various minor bugs, as well as a rare bug when upgrading from 1.2 and a critical vulnerability in PHP <= 5.2.13/5.3.2 regarding unserialize().Note: The vulnerability is in PHP and not FluxBB ... [More] itself! If you are running PHP 5.2.14/5.3.3 or later the vulnerability does not affect you, and this upgrade is not critical, though obviously we recommend upgrading anyway Changes since 1.4.1 include:PHP unserialize() vulnerability affects cookie dataUpgrading to utf8_general_ci can cause "identical" usernamesHuge posts can break formattingBlank errors from DBLayer::error() when a transaction failsParameters of extern.php changed from 1.2 to 1.4Reason must be under 65535 bytes when making a reportFluxBB's cache is not updated when used with apc.stat=0Constant PUN_RANKS_LOADED already definedCensor URL in viewtopic.phpNo IP when banning a user without postsLIMIT X,Y is used in various places other than just displaying postsAdd database password confirmation in install scriptLocalization of "New forum"Name for quick reply formFor language pack maintainers:admin_forums.php - new entry: 'New forum'misc.php - new entry: 'Reason too long'post.php - 'Too long message' has changed to accept a parameter specifying the max length instead of being hard-codedmail_templates/rename.tpl - New mail templateAs usual, downloads can be found on the download page and in the download folder. [Less]

Anyone that has been following development of FluxBB will know that in May we changed from SVN to Git, and decided to use Gitorious to host our repository. Over the past couple of months it has become obvious that Gitorious has a few drawbacks - the ... [More] most important of which being uptime. While it's uptime isn't bad, there have been a few occasions when it has been down (including for the past couple of days).As such we have decided to move to GitHub. GitHub is a very similar idea to Gitorious, however has many more projects (including a lot of big names), and dedicated support staff to ensure there is minimal downtime. GitHub also has some nice features which allow announcements of commits on IRC and various other nice features.What do these changes mean to you?Well, if you don't follow development and have never used our Gitorious page or Git repository, nothing at all.If you have used the Gitorious page but not the Git repository, you simply have a new URL to visit: http://github.com/fluxbb/fluxbbIf you have used the Git repository you will need to update it's path. The new URL is:git://github.com/fluxbb/fluxbb.gitIf you are a developer (i.e. have write access) the new URL is:[email protected]:fluxbb/fluxbb.gitIf you need write access on GitHub please register an account and let me know. [Less]

As we have said a few times, the FluxBB community is very important to us. However, we are well aware that some of the actions/decisions since the fork were made without anywhere near enough input from the community. The decision to scrap 1.3 and ... [More] start on 1.4 was a rather confusing decision, which should have been discussed at length with the community. 1.4 itself then took much longer than we had intended, and people were left wondering what was going on. Now that we finally have 1.4 out the door, the question is where we go next.Now I'm not trying to bash myself or other developers here, but my point is in the past the development process has been a bit un-organised and decisions have been made without as much discussion or community input as they should have had. We have been attempting to turn this around by involving the community a bit more, but the next step is to open up the development discussion - allowing everyone to see what is going on, and have their say. To achieve this, I have now made the development board accessible to everyone (except guests), rather than developers only.The development board is where we (the developers) tend to discuss issues that arise during development, and dump our thoughts regarding new features and so on.Additionally I have added a page detailing a few ways in which users can get involved and help out with the development of FluxBB.My hope is that with a more open development process we will be able to make better decisions, and users will be able to understand and appreciate such decisions. Additionally if anyone has been interested in helping out with FluxBB but weren't sure where to start, hopefully it will now be clearer what is going on and how you can help out [Less]

So now that we have 1.4 out the door, it is time to think about what direction we should go in next. However let me emphasise the think part, we still have a number of open tickets relating to 1.4, and various parts of the site itself that still need ... [More] completed.So we really have 2 directions we could go in next, and we wanted to open this up to the community and see what everyone thinks.Incremental approachThe first approach we could consider is an incremental approach. This would mean building on-top of the 1.4 code, with the next release being 1.5. With this approach we could, for example, introduce a templating engine and so forth in version 1.5, allowing us to introduce an extension system in 1.6, and continuing along the 1.x path.Advantages:We already have a base (1.4) to build on.Users are already familiar with the architecture of the 1.x branch.With smaller updates on-top of an existing base we can release faster and more often.Disadvantages:Parts of the existing base are 7 years old and out-dated.In some aspects the existing base isn't very consistent.Releasing more often is good in ways, but in terms of updating modifications etc. it is bad.Total rewriteThe other approach we could take here would be to perform a total rewrite from the ground up, resulting in version 2.0. This could also include a templating engine and extension system, however it would allow us to design around these ideas rather than attempting to include them in an existing architecture.Advantages:Ability to design the architecture around the new features.Can be designed in a more modern way taking advantage of features in PHP5.By laying down guidelines/rules at the start we can be much more consistent.Disadvantages:Getting to a releasable state may take quite a while.A new architecture may confuse users. [Less]

We have just released FluxBB 1.4.1, our first maintenance release of our 1.4 branch. This fixes a few minor bugs as well a an XSS vulnerability in search.php. We also fixed a bug in viewtopic.php with SQLite that rendered the page unusable in some ... [More] cases.In detail, this release fixes:XSS vulnerability in search.phpviewtopic.php unstable in SQLiteUpdate script incorrectly depending on a latin1 connectionInsufficient input validation in admin_users.phpWrong post time in delete.phpCSS issue in Opera 10.6 and ChromeUndefined index notice in post.phpNew BBCodes were not removed from search wordsNumber of rows in database still showed all the rows in the database, not just the FluxBB-related onesNotice error in plugin menuComment typo in example pluginProblems censoring words containing non-latin charactersWe also made some usability enhancements:Only show censoring in moderator menu when moderators are privileged accordinglyDisplay the censoring status (enabled / disabled) on the censoring page for adminsHide incompleted fields in profile pageNicer error messages for signature length limit errorsBecause we had planned more improvements for 1.4.1, which were postponed due to the security issue, there will be a 1.4.2 version fairly soon. This release will also address a bug in the update script that can cause problems if there are multiple users with very similar usernames. Do not forget to make backups of your files and, more importantly, your database, before any upgrade!My personal recommendation for anybody who still hasn't updated their 1.2.* board is to wait for 1.4.2 so that the process of upgrading is simpler and only has to be done once.There are no known security issues in FluxBB 1.2.22.Note: There were some minor changes to the language files which means that all language packs other than the English one have to be updated.As always, you can download the release on the downloads page. A patch file to simplify upgrading a modded installation of FluxBB can be found in the release folder. [Less]

I am pleased to announce the final release of FluxBB 1.4.0. As always, you can download it on the downloads page.Patches are also available. They can be found in the release folder.We believe that after downloading this package you will have the best ... [More] FluxBB version yet.FluxBB 1.4.0 is based on FluxBB 1.2, but adds a bunch of features and improvements, some of which were taken from the legacy 1.3 branch. In detail:Full UTF-8 support.Split / merge topics.Improved unread topics tracking.Improved localization, including a translatable admin interface, language tweaks and date display improvements.SSL support for SMTP.InnoDB support for MySQL(i) databases to make better use of transactions.Improved database layer - more API functions.Flooding protection for reports.Improved performance, especially for large boards.More group permissions and per-group controls.Multiple moderator groups.Improved and more intelligent update script (only does work that's necessary).Parser improvements, not only performance-related.Improved syndication via extern.php.New BBCodes: ins, del, em, heading (h) and lists and support for alternative text for images.New improved styles.IPv6 support.After two beta releases and three release candidates, we feel that FluxBB 1.4.0 should be stable, especially as it is built on the 1.2.* platform, which has indeed proven itself in the past.That leads us to the point that is probably most interesting to most of you: upgrading. As promised, the update script supports upgrading from FluxBB 1.2.*, FluxBB 1.3 Legacy, as well as PunBB 1.2.* and PunBB 1.3.*. While the update script has been tested in all situations we can think of, you should of course make backups of both your forum files and your database before the update. If any issues arise, please let us know.After numerous ups and downs in the last years, we now have a solid foundation we feel we can build our future on.And for that future we are now planning an incremental approach. More about that soon. First, let us rest and party now that FluxBB 1.4 is finally off the ground.Finally I'd just like to say a big thanks to everyone that has contributed to FluxBB 1.4, in particular Smartys for the initial work on adding UTF-8 support to the 1.2 branch, and Franz for writing this post!PS. If I've forgotten anything, please let me know! [Less]

We have now completed the move from SVN to Git There is a bit of a guide to using Git on our wiki, however if anyone has any questions just ask (or Google!).One thing I'd like to ask is that everyone who plans on committing sets up their name and ... [More] email properly in their git client. Ideally you should set this to whatever is listed here (sorry, dev's only!), so that your future commits will match your previous ones.For some reason all the tags didn't import properly, but I've manually retagged most of them (didn't bother with a couple older ones but that shouldn't matter). [Less]

If you're reading this then you have reached our new website Be warned, it is not yet fully completed, so if you do find any bugs or errors, please let us know! Also, if you have any suggestions, we would love to hear those too.

Today we have released FluxBB 1.4-RC3. This addresses a couple of issues which were missed before releasing RC2, and we feel should be tested before a final release.In particular, the changes since RC2 are:Added code to handle updating from a ... [More] 1.3-legacy install which used the MySQL fulltext extension. In general the update script does not handle extensions/modifications, but since the fulltext extension was official and quite widely used we decided it is sensible to support.Fixed a styling issue in the update script when updating from an old install which uses a skin that is no longer available.Fixed a couple more language entries which had colons hardcoded.Fixed an undefined function error.Fixed a styling issue when chosing a non-default style on the install script.As always, the release can be downloaded on the (development release) downloads page. You can also find changed files and patches for the 1.4 beta versions and rc1, rc2 in the release folder.Please report any bugs you may encounter in the Bug reports (1.4) board. [Less]

Today we have released FluxBB 1.4-RC3. This addresses a couple of issues which were missed before releasing RC2, and we feel should be tested before a final release. In particular, the changes since RC2 are: [list=*] [*]Added code to handle updating ... [More] from a 1.3-legacy install which used the MySQL fulltext extension. In general the update script does not handle extensions/modifications, but since the fulltext extension was official and quite widely used we decided it is sensible to support.[/*] [*]Fixed a styling issue in the update script when updating from an old install which uses a skin that is no longer available.[/*] [*]Fixed a couple more language entries which had colons hardcoded.[/*] [*]Fixed an undefined function error.[/*] [*]Fixed a styling issue when chosing a non-default style on the install script.[/*] [/list] As always, the release can be downloaded on the [url=http://fluxbb.org/downloads/dev.php](development release) downloads page[/url]. You can also find changed files and patches for the 1.4 beta versions and rc1, rc2 in the [url=http://fluxbb.org/download/releases/1.4-rc3]release folder[/url]. Please report any bugs you may encounter in the [url=http://fluxbb.org/forums/forum/27/bug-reports-14/]Bug reports (1.4)[/url] board. [Less]