Kunena 1.6.2 Released!

Introduction

The Kunena Team is excited to announce the release of Kunena 1.6.2. This is a maintenance release for Kunena 1.6 and all users are recommended to upgrade to Kunena 1.6.2 (backup and testing are strongly recommended!).

Since the stable release of Kunena 1.6, the Kunena team has been focused on fixing over 100 bugs; including fixing issues with CSS, router, API, HTML validation, and usability. Official Kunena modules and plug-ins have been updated as well as language translations.

Kunena 1.6 marks a major milestone for the Kunena Project. A long list of open source contributors have committed over 3,000 changes helping make Kunena the leading forum solution for both Joomla 1.5 and 1.6. A long list of new features, various optimizations, and code restructuring have resulted in the most advanced version of Kunena to date.

We continue to put a big emphasis on usability and ease of installation. The installer has been further enhanced to allow for multiple installation and upgrade options. It performs incremental steps to avoid timeouts on slower hosts. It automatically performs actions such as taking the forum offline during the installation or upgrade and re-enables it after completing the install.

Kunena now supports Joomla 1.6 style languages files that are backward compatible with Joomla 1.5. Multiple languages are included in the base install packages and more will be available soon. They can also be installed separately. Kunena 1.6 support multiple languages installed on a single system and, together with Joomla, allows users to select their preferred language.

Templates have now been separated from the underlying code, which allows for version-independent template development. Templates can embed various options that can be set via the included template manager (e.g. avatar position on left, right, top, or bottom in the new default template, Blue Eagle).

The Kunena Team is fully committed to Joomla 1.6 and beyond and a number of modules have been developed to lay the groundwork for future releases of Joomla.

What is New?

The new features in Kunena 1.6.x include:

Improved Language Support:

▪ Included languages: Catalan, Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Taiwanese, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Yugoslavian, new in Kunena 1.6.0: Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese (more to come)

▪ Uses standard Joomla 1.6 language files (backwards compatible with Joomla 1.5.x)

▪ Added support for installable language packs (using the Joomla installer)

New Kunena Template Manager:

▪ Centralized template system with installable templates

▪ New default template Blue Eagle

▪ New auto-blending option (codename: "Skinner") as part of the default template

▪ Example template included, for use as a foundation when creating new templates

▪ Template parameters that allow more freedom for template designers and site administrators

▪ Added support for icon sets allows different button and icon variations

New Integrated Polls Feature:

▪ Allow forum members to setup and participate in polls

▪ Category specific: enable the feature from Category Manager

▪ Global settings to modify the poll behavior

▪ Migrate data from the Kunena 1.5 poll hack

Improved Topic and Post Moderation:

▪ Ability to restore and purge deleted posts within the Trash Manager (backend)

▪ Unapproved or deleted topics and posts can be seen in many views

▪ Delete, restore and approve posts while reading topic

▪ Simplified move, merge and split

▪ Move current or newer posts into another category or (new) topic

▪ Ability to move or delete all posts of a particular user (supports better spam management)

▪ User profile access for moderators even if integrated with JomSocial, CB or others

New User Moderation Features:

▪ Users can be banned directly from their profile

▪ Ban only from the forum (= read only access) or from the entire website

▪ Ban user for a limited time (ban from the forum only)

▪ Allow moderators to share ban reasons and add comments to it

▪ Ban history and show all previous bans on the user's profile page

▪ List banned users in the Ban Manager on the moderator's profile page

New Posting and End User Features:

▪ Multiple attachment support (AJAX-based)

▪ Category subscriptions

▪ New 'Thank you' system for thanking the poster for their message

▪ Users can delete their own messages (configurable by time)

▪ Anonymous Tipping: allow users to post topics in a defined category completely anonymously (no IP, no tracking, totally anonymous)

▪ Google Maps integration - display basic maps inside of posts

▪ New BBCode tags like [article], [attachment], [confidential], [map], [table], [tableau] and others

▪ Enhanced BBCode [quote] with reference to user and post

▪ Selectable date/time format display options for all time displays and independent for tooltips (relative "ago" vs absolute)

Usability Improvements:

▪ Improved RSS features

▪ Color coded categories

▪ Color coded usernames

▪ Code highlighting with Geshi

▪ Many improvements in administrator backend interface

Integration with Other Components:

▪ New integration system that allows easy integration of avatars, profiles and user lists, login and registration, private messaging, activity notifications and basic access control

▪ Integrations included: Alpha UserPoints, Community Builder, JomSocial and UddeIM

New Router and Menu System

▪ Uses Joomla menus to navigate the Kunena component

▪ Easy to build your own custom Kunena menus with Joomla's Menu Item Manager

▪ Option to have categories located outside main forum

▪ Automatic super-routing uses best matching menu item for each page

New Installer:

▪ Step-by-step details of the installation process

▪ Fully automatic migration from Kunena 1.0.x and 1.5.x

▪ Migrate from FireBoard 1.0.0 - 1.0.5 without using external tools

▪ If migration fails, restore from backup or try again

▪ Option to cleanly uninstall Kunena 1.6 completely from your site

Support third party ACL components with Joomla 1.5

▪ Add ACL support with JXtended Access Control

▪ Add ACL support with NoixACL Access Control

▪ Add ACL support with ArtofUser

Other Changes:

▪ Converted from jQuery to MooTools 1.2 for better compatibility

▪ CSS and JavaScript minification using the YUI compressor for faster loading (disabled when debug is turned on)

▪ Uses CSS sprites for faster loading and fewer server hits

▪ Almost all code moved out of templates

▪ Basic API for Joomla modules and plug-ins

▪ Now uses #__kunena prefixed tables instead of #__fb

▪ Use /media/kunena instead of /images/fbfiles for avatars and new attachments

▪ Latest version checking

▪ Basic Joomla 1.6 support

Remember that you can test Kunena 1.6.2 with Joomla 1.6, but the support is not yet complete. For example, the Kunena menu will not be generated and there are some features, that do not work yet in Joomla 1.6. Kunena 1.6.x will be ready for Joomla 1.6 once a final version is released.

System Requirements

Joomla 1.5.20 Minimum Version Required (Mootools 1.2.x)

Kunena 1.6.x no longer uses jQuery and requires MooTools 1.2+. Since the release of Joomla 1.5.20, the Mootools 1.2.4 system plug-in is now included with Joomla 1.5 and this Joomla! contains various fixes on router mecanism. The MooTools plug-in that was included in previous development versions of Kunena is no longer needed. Going forward, Joomla 1.6 will include MooTools 1.2.4 and Kunena is already compatible with this version.

PHP 5.2.3

Kunena 1.6.x requires PHP 5.2.3 or higher. We have also tested it on PHP 5.3.1. In general we currently recommend PHP 5.2.x due to its maturity.

MySQL 5.0.0

Kunena in general and especially version 1.6.x rely on advanced SQL features introduced in MySQL 5.0.x. MySQL 4.x is no longer support even though Joomla 1.5 itself can be run on certain versions of MySQL 4.x. The main difference is the amount of database workload generated by a forum component compared to the basic CMS functionality.

Third party components requirements

If you want running with Kunena 1.6.2, Jomsocial, Community Builer, UddeIm or Alpha User Points, you need to have the following versions of these components to avoid any issues :

▪ Jomsocial 1.6.x

▪ Community Builer 1.2.3

▪ UddeIm 2.1

▪ Alpha User Points 1.5.12

Third party ACL components requirements

If you want use third party ACL components with Kunena 1.6.1 and Joomla! 1.5, you need to use at least the following versions :

▪ NoixACL 2.0.6

▪ JXtended Control 1.0.7

▪ ArtofUser 1.0.5

Downloading Kunena

Find the latest package files here: View Packages

We use the power of JoomlaCode as our main repository for the public SVN. We encourage all users and open source developers to help develop fixes, features and enhancements to the existing code base. If you are interested in contributing, please provide a patch or enhanced branch and we will be happy to consider it for inclusion in the main code branch (quality and feature completeness permitting).

Find the SVN source code repository here: View SVN

The only official Kunena distributions are available from the links above or directly at www.kunena.org. There are currently no officially supported alternative download mirrors supported and users are encouraged to visit www.kunena.org for the latest version of all available Kunena packages.

Compatibility with Third-party Kunena Templates


All the logic has been removed from the template to make it much easier for template designers to create Kunena templates.

Check out the short guide on how to quickly customize a Kunena 1.6 template in just a few minutes: http://www.kunena.org/forum/159-common-questions/53519-the-5-minute-quick-and-dirty-kunena-16-template

More tutorials and instructions are available in the forums to make template for Kunena 1.6.x.

Compatibility with Third-party Kunena Modules


Kunena 1.6.x now provides an updated API for easily creating modules or plug-ins. The Kunena team has created a few new plug-ins and modules which leverage the new API and can be used with Kunena 1.6.x. These extensions can be found in the Kunena Extension Directory: http://www.kunena.org/ked

Installing or Upgrading Kunena

Be sure your setup meets or exceeds the minimum Technical Requirements or the install/upgrade process will fail. If it fails, your data will be left untouched.

To install Kunena, make sure you read our Installation Instructions before beginning. To upgrade Kunena from previous versions (including FireBoard), make sure you read the Upgrade Instructions.

The Kunena installer now handles both installs and upgrades of existing installations without the need for user intervention, manual SQL execution, or migration procedures. It also keeps a detailed log of all Kunena versions installed on your site in order to perform incremental upgrades as necessary. This means that a site administrator doesn't have to worry about complicated installation or upgrade procedures.

We would like to underscore the importance of backups before and after any upgrade process. Never perform an install or upgrade without a full backup.

Credits

An open source project like Kunena requires the dedication and investment of personal time from various contributors. This version of Kunena Forum has been made possible by the following contributors:

▪ fxstein Kunena developer and admin of http://www.starVmax.com/forum/

▪ Matias Kunena developer

▪ severdia - Kunena developer, Joomla Leadership Team Member, and admin of PlayShakespeare.com

▪ xillibit Kunena developer

▪ @quila Kunena contributor

▪ 810 Kunena contributor

▪ alakentu Kunena moderator

▪ LDA Kunena contributor

▪ Rich Kunena moderator

▪ sozzled Kunena moderator

Special thanks go to Beat and the CB Testing team, Cerberus, DTP2, LittleJohn and JoniJnm for significant contributions to Kunena. In addition many members of http://www.Kunena.org have contributed and helped make this a more stable and bugfree version. Our thanks go out to all contributors of Kunena!

Language credits

English translation was made by Kunena Team with many suggestions and corrections from our community. We also like to give special thanks to all our translators, who have worked hard to localise Kunena to their own languages.