Team Textpattern is pleased to announce the release of Textpattern 4.9.0 beta.2, available for immediate download.
Beta releases are used for testing new features, enhancements and bug fixes before the production-grade release of Textpattern is made available. We appreciate real-world feedback from Textpattern testers, hackers, and enthusiasts. Pending feedback & results from Textpattern 4.9.0 beta.2, we will either work toward an additional beta release or proceed to a release candidate.
Overview
Textpattern 4.9.0 is a feature release with support for PHP 8.4 & MySQL 8.4, new features, security enhancements, improvements and bug fixes.
Textpattern 4.9.0 beta.2 includes changes & fixes made in Textpattern 4.9.0 beta.1 along with improvements & modifications following user feedback, further enhancements to core functionality, and updated third-party libraries that Textpattern uses in its inner workings.
We tracked the release process of PHP 8.4 from the early alpha releases in summer 2024, and we are especially interested in feedback on any warnings or errors with PHP 8.4. Internet hosting organisations are actively deploying PHP 8.4, and its availability will continue to become more widespread.
Textpattern includes changes to add support for MySQL 8.4. MySQL 8.4 is the current long-term support (LTS) release, and accordingly we are keen to hear about any issues arising with Textpattern.
Download Textpattern 4.9.0 beta.2
As with any software update, please ensure you verify working backups of Textpattern sites you are modifying before undertaking any upgrades.
You can download Textpattern 4.9.0 beta.2 from textpattern.com or GitHub. Both locations provide the same files, along with checksums for validating your download.
Most Textpattern site administrators will use the .zip archive. To take advantage of Textpattern’s multi-site capabilities, please download the .tar.gz or .tar.xz archive as they include the necessary extra support files.
We now offer a .tar.xz archive for further byte savings. The unpacked contents of the .tar.xz archive are identical to the .tar.gz archive, but the compression format is more efficient and accordingly the .tar.xz archive is considerably smaller.
From textpattern.com
You can download Textpattern 4.9.0 beta.2 from textpattern.com using the following links,
File download
File download
File download
From GitHub
Changes
There are no headline-grabbing changes since Textpattern 4.9.0 beta.1. Our developers have been working on user interface & user experience enhancements, along with housekeeping tweaks and third-party developer functionality.
There is, however, one major call for translators of German, Spanish and French to please comb through the pophelp packs in those languages. As part of our move towards improving multi-linguality of the admin interface, we have spent some of our generous donations on using CrowdIn’s Machine Learning tools to automatically complete these pophelp packs.
We would be enormously grateful for any feedback on how good the translations are. If the tool has made a reasonable job at translating the text (even if it’s not perfect), please provide feedback so we know if it is worth spending more on completing other language packs. As always, any updates and tweaks (to any language Textpacks or pophelp files) is massively appreciated. Thank you.
A list of changes can be found at GitHub in the Textpattern HISTORY.txt.
Feedback
We are particularly interested in feedback on these areas:
- User experience with Textpattern on MySQL 8.4.
- User experience with Textpattern on PHP 8.4.
- User experience with Textpattern multisite functionality.
- Compatibility and usability with end-of-life’d PHP releases, factoring in the Textpattern system requirements.
- Usability of the new tag attributes (refer to the Textpattern HISTORY.txt for details).
- Any unexpected issues appearing in the front-side of your Textpattern sites.
- Any unexpected issues shown in admin-side Diagnostics.
We have a dedicated support thread for Textpattern 4.9.0 beta.2 feedback where Textpattern users, experts & developers gather and address feedback. We are grateful for all feedback, even a short confirmation that your upgrade(s) completed as expected.
We maintain Textpattern issues at GitHub if you would like further insight into where we’re heading with this release and future work.
Thank you for your interest in Textpattern!
