BLUF:

  • We expect Textpattern 4.9.0 to be generally available (GA) from December 2024 at the earliest, though this may change if significant changes are encountered in the alpha, beta or release candidates of PHP in the run up to its general availability.
  • We will release Textpattern 4.9.0 to ensure compatibility with PHP 8.4.0 & MySQL 8.4, add some new features, fix some bugs, and enhance the admin-side user experience.
  • We are testing Textpattern on the alpha, beta and release candidate releases of PHP 8.4.0 prior to its general availability in late November 2024 and will continue to ensure compatibility.
  • We will test the latest Textpattern development code against PHP 8.4.0 on its release, address any late-breaking bugs, and release one or more Textpattern betas for public testing.
  • We are testing Textpattern with the current long term support (LTS) release of MySQL 8.4 and will continue to ensure compatibility.
  • Based on feedback and further testing, we will then move to the Textpattern 4.9.0 general availability release cycle.

This article outlines our release plan for Textpattern 4.9.0, the successor to Textpattern 4.8, plus some information about the Textpattern development roadmap. It covers PHP and MySQL release cycles and the effect they have on Textpattern development.

Textpattern milestones

Textpattern’s current development is focussed on the Textpattern 4.9 release series, which commences with the upcoming release of Textpattern 4.9.0. We will release Textpattern 4.9.0 when we are confident of compatibility with PHP 8.4.0 and MySQL 8.4. We have good confidence of compatibility with MySQL 8.4 since its release in April 2024, and we are continuing to ensure compatibility moving forward with MySQL patch releases.

PHP 8.4

We will ensure that the general availability release of Textpattern 4.9.0 has support for PHP 8.4.

Minor releases of PHP are typically released annually in Q4:

  • PHP 8.1.0 – November 2021
  • PHP 8.2.0 – December 2022
  • PHP 8.3.0 – November 2023
  • PHP 8.4.0 – November 2024 (provisional, according to the PHP 8.4.0 preparation tasks page on the PHP wiki)

PHP releases continue to follow a defined roadmap of alpha, beta and release candidates. After the initial minor release (e.g. PHP 8.3.0), a patch release (e.g. PHP 8.3.1) is typically made available every 4 weeks thereafter. We expect this tradition to continue with the release of PHP 8.4.0.

The reliability of this patch release pattern ensures we have a framework on which we can develop, iterate, optimise and test against the changes made in PHP releases with Textpattern development code. We strive to include performance enhancements and optimisations, while maintaining backward compatibility for supported versions.

Our current testing of Textpattern running atop the alpha releases of PHP 8.4.0 is favourable, and we continue to track overall compatibility on our PHP 8.4 compatibility tracking issue at GitHub.

MySQL 8.4

We will ensure that the general availability release of Textpattern 4.9.0 has support for MySQL 8.4.

MySQL releases are less frequent than PHP, but equally important to Textpattern. The most recent MySQL LTS release series is MySQL 8.4, originally released as MySQL 8.4.0 in April 2024. It is the successor to MySQL 8.0, which is the previous LTS release series released in 2016. At the time of writing, MySQL 8.0 and MySQL 8.4 are supported by the vendor (Oracle).

We expect to have new patch releases of MySQL to test against approximately every two months during its lifecycle, and we continue to update Textpattern core code to ensure compatibility. Our current testing of Textpattern running on MySQL 8.4 is very favourable – you can check our MySQL 8.4 compatibility tracking issue if you’re technically-inclined.

Textpattern 4.9.0 release scope and schedule

Textpattern 4.9.0 will add support for PHP 8.4 and MySQL 8.4. At the time of writing, the PHP 8.4.0 timetable states November 2024 for the GA release. MySQL 8.4 is already generally available. Accordingly, we will release Textpattern 4.9.0 after the November 2024 milestone for PHP 8.4.0.

We expect to prepare multiple beta releases of Textpattern 4.9.0 prior to its general availability release.

In the meantime, we expect to release one or more beta versions of Textpattern 4.9.0 for testing. We have started the preparation process to release the first beta of Textpattern 4.9.0, the details of which can be tracked using our Textpattern 4.9.0 release flight plan at GitHub. This is a living document which is updated regularly, especially as we approach and start the release process.

Depending on the feedback of the beta testing, we will then prepare one or more betas for further test driving. Historically, minor releases of Textpattern have had up to 3 betas and sometimes a release candidate to ensure as many bugs as possible are squashed prior to the general availability release.

We expect to have the first beta of Textpattern 4.9.0 in August 2024.

We will announce each Textpattern beta release here on this blog with a call for testers and feedback. The more bugs we can squash before the production release, the better everyone’s experience will be overall.

What comes after Textpattern 4.9?

We expect to make multiple patch releases in the Textpattern 4.9 series.

When Textpattern 4.0.0 was released in August 2005, it intentionally skipped versions 1 to 3. Textpattern creator Dean Cameron Allen was known for his idiosyncrasies, and so skipping a few version numbers right out of the gate was standard operating procedure for him. For nearly twenty years we’ve kept that ‘version 4’ moniker across 50+ alpha, beta, release candidate, and general availability releases of Textpattern. We adhered to semantic versioning within the bounds of backwards compatibility. We’ve used some creative ways to keep our pledge of making Textpattern upgrades as painless as possible.

After Textpattern 4.9 we’re retiring the ‘4’: the next big thing is Textpattern version 5.

We expect to focus on Textpattern 5 when we’re confident Textpattern 4.9 is in great shape.

For now, our focus is on Textpattern 4.9. When that focus switches to Textpattern 5, we will let you know our intentions.

We have opened a forum discussion thread for your Textpattern 5 ideas & feature requests and we’d really appreciate your advice on what you’d like to see in Textpattern version 5. If you’d prefer to communicate with us on Github, we’ve opened a discussion in a similar vein.

As a Textpattern user or administrator, you’re in a great position to tell us what could be considered for our next ‘big’ Textpattern release. While we can’t make any promises to specific idea submissions or feature requests, it’s really helpful to know how we can enhance or improve our content management system as we look forward to the next twenty years.

Thank you for your continued interest in Textpattern!