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MOStlyCE version 3.0 Released
MOStlyCE Important Update
We are proud to bring you MOStlyCE version 3. This represents the first major release for MOStlyCE in several years.
Release Notes:
Upgraded to the latest TinyMCE v3.0 core which was a full rewrite for the project. This includes tons of bug fixes, better cross browser support (Safari too), cleaner code, etc.
Security holes closed and additional security checks added
Resolved outstanding compression and spellchecker issues. They should both be working now in most common browsers/environments.
Added new pagebreak toolbar option which inserts a more visible indicator
Added new dropdown selection lists for images stored under /images/stories and for linking to existing sections, categories, or content
MOStlyCE is now distributed as a single .zip file. There are three parts to the package; the mostlyce mambot, the mostlyce admin component, and the mostlyce frontend component (needed for the new dynamic link list features). All three parts are required for proper functionality of this extension.
Version 2.x of MOStlyCE is now deprecated and version 3 is now recommended for all Mambo 4.6+ users. We encourage you to upgrade to take advantage of the latest developments and increased security (http://secunia.com/advisories/28670/).
See the official doc page (http://docs.mambo-foundation.org/en/?View=entry&EntryID=116) for more information and upgrading tips.
Also in order to manage releases better and keep things a bit cleaner we have created a stand-alone project on the forge for MOStlyCE. You can find that new project page here (http://mambo-code.org/gf/project/mostlyce/). It is still being distributed with the Mambo core, but releases for MOStlyCE that come outside of normal core releases will be found there.
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Release of Mambo 4.5.6 - the end of an era
The Mambo Team announces the final release of the Mambo 4.5.x series of releases. This marks the end of an era for one of the web's most popular Free Open Source Software (FOSS) Content Management Systems (CMS). The enormous success of Mambo 4.5.x led to many forks, some successful, some less so. Mambo 4.5 has been a great CMS, a good framework, and a great school to many of us , says Ozgur Cem Sen, Core Team Leader of Mambo.
We have been overwhelmed with the positive feedback we've received for the Mambo 4.6.x series, initially released over 16 months ago , continues Mr. Sen. We encourage all Mambo users to upgrade to the latest stable release of Mambo 4.6.
During the last several months, the Mambo Team has been working very hard on the upcoming Mambo 4.7, as well as maintaining and doing minor development on Mambo 4.6.x. The Mambo Team also has been discussing Mambo 5. It is time to look forward, and focus our efforts towards growth , says Nicolas Steenhout, Secretary of the Mambo Foundation, Inc.
Project Leader, Chad Auld says that this is both a sad and an exciting time for Mambo. It is always sad to see software reaching the end of development, Chad says, Mambo 4.5 has been with us for many years . He adds, Mambo 4.5's time has passed and Mambo is moving forward to an even better future. With 4.7 getting closer to release and planning under way for Mambo 5.0, we have exciting things coming.
Team Mambo supports those sentiments and wishes to thank everyone who contributed to Mambo 4.5. This is an exciting step forward for Mambo and one which the Team hopes will be supported by the community.
Farewell Mambo 4.5!
What's Changed?
1) Hardened security.
2) Updated mod_templatechooser to improve security.
3) Fixed a small issue with the PDF code.
4) Fixed a PHPMailer issue
5) Fixed login and logout redirection issue.
Mambo 4.5.6 is code named Sunset .
You can download Mambo 4.5.6 from the Mambo Code forge here:
http://mambo-code.org/gf/project/mambo/frs/?action=FrsReleaseView release_id=304 (http://mambo-code.org/gf/project/mambo/frs/?action=FrsReleaseView release_id=304)
While there, you may like to click on the link to the forge sponsors site. Every project hosted on the forge is offered free hosting for the project on BuyHTTP (http://www.buyhttp.com/mambo_hosting.html) and they have some good deals going for Mambo hosting too. Support for our sponsors directly helps the Mambo project. If you have any reminiscences or thoughts to share about the sunset of the Mambo 4.5 branch you can discuss them here: http://forum.mambo-foundation.org/showthread.php?t=9843 (http://forum.mambo-foundation.org/showthread.php?t=9843)
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Mambo 4.6.3 Released!
Team Mambo announces the release of Mambo 4.6.3!
Code name Dylan , this minor version release features a number of security improvements and bug fixes.
These include:
Stability security improvements
Performance improvements
A number of bug fixes
Improved compatibility with 3rd party extensions
Updates to some core extensions
What's New in 4.6.3...
Security Fixes:
*php mailer security fix.
*template chooser security fixes
*XSS fixes in administrator backed
*sample configuration file renamed to configuration.sample.php
Bug Fixes:
*fixed banner manager custom-code bugs
*fixed mambo admin template install problem
*fixed special vs. registered users menu access related problems
*fixed login component redirection
*fixed line breaks in emails in Mambo
*fixed missing links in pathway
*fixed problems with module ordering affecting menus
*fixed an xml parser problem in the installer
*fixed section module problems related to Itemid.
*fixed content editing resulting in overriding the article creator
*fixed incorrect escaping of weblinks' titles, description
Enhancements:
*mostlyce upgraded to 2.4
*mostlydbadmin upgraded to 1.5
*geshi upgraded to 1.0.7.20
*enhanced editor initializing
*enhanced weblinks component, so the target param is not confusing anymore
*updated the sample data so Mambo links will be up-to-date with the recent Mambo sites changes
*Some XHTML compliance work
*added option to block the blocked users in the mass email
*added mosshowhead and some helper classes to select/exclude head tags
*added module buffering
*added the ability to delete superadmins
*added search feature in language manager
*added onAfterStart mambot trigger
*compressed js and css files for improved performance
Mambo 4.6.3, including upgrade files, can be found on the Mambo Code forge here: http://mambo-code.org/gf/project/mambo/frs/ (http://mambo-code.org/gf/project/mambo/frs/)
Because Mambo 4.6.3 is a security and maintenance release we advise everyone using Mambo 4.6 - 4.6.2 to upgrade. If you are not running Mambo 4.6.2 then you should patch up to this version prior to applying this new patch. Upgrade instructions are provided in the patch download - please read the instructions!
Note about Mambo Security.
Each of the security fixes relates to vulnerabilities that have the potential for exploit. There have been no known cases of them actually being exploited and most relate to backend/administrator security weaknesses that would first require someone to be logged into the backend.
A Secunia advisory reported a proof of concept regarding two potential security flaws in 4.6.2 (http://secunia.com/advisories/28133/ (http://secunia.com/advisories/28133/)). Only one of the reported flaws had any potential to insert code and even then, the code could not be executed. The result of extensive testing showed that where a user was using an unpatched version of IE6 it was possible to enter raw text into one form in Mambo 4.6.2. While this would not compromise a site because the script could not actually run, the vulnerabilities in IE6 could result in a small amount of unwanted text appearing below a form.
While this flaw was really a browser flaw (that has been fixed in recent updates to IE6) we blocked the hole that allowed unauthorised text to be inserted.
The Secunia advisory does not relate to Mambo 4.5.5.
While the 4.6.2 security vulnerabilities are low level, we prefer everyone to be running sites that have a high level of protection and the bug fixes, feature and performance improvements make this a very worthwhile upgrade.
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Mambo Foundation President finalist in NZ Open Source Awards
Mambo Foundation, Inc President, Lynne Pope, is a finalist in the inaugural New Zealand Open Source Awards. Selected as one of three finalists for the title of New Zealand's Open Source Ambassador from 130 nominations, Lynne Pope has been nominated for her involvement with the content-management system Mambo, and for setting up a website, Katrina Evacuee Help Centre, at www.disastersearch.org (http://disastersearch.org), to assist victims of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster. Disastersearch, which was formerly named the Katrina Evacuee Help Centre, was built on a base of Mambo 4.5.2 and through the efforts of a large number of volunteer programmers from the Mambo and Joomla! communities evolved to become an application that can be used in any emergency involving the evacuation and relocation of people. It is an ongoing project and continues development under the leadership of both Lynne and her fellow director of Disastersearch Ltd, Dr John Long. John and Lynne are also members of the Mambo core development team. The New Zealand Open Source Awards recognise and promote: * the contributions of New Zealanders directly to open source projects or the promotion of open source generally * exemplary use of open source by New Zealand organisations.Sponsored by Google, Red Hat, Novell, Catalyst IT and a number of local New Zealand organisations, the awards will be presented at a gala function in Wellington, NZ on October 17th, 2007. http://www.nzosa.org.nz/news (http://www.nzosa.org.nz/news)
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QA - the most important "uncool" job around.
Written by: Ozgur Cem Sen, Team Leader, Quality Assurance Release Team - (read an introduction to Cem here) (/content/view/129/28/) From a software developer’s perspective QA is the most boring and unnecessary part of software development. How dare someone check my state-of-art code and tell me that it is not working? Tsk tsk tsk… I cannot name one software developer, who never said that. I have known many, plus I am still one of them – been there, still doing it. In this article, I will be sharing some of my observations on what’s going on with the QA in the large scale Free Open Source Software projects and what we do here at Mambo about this boring thing called QA. Let’s start with the evolution of a big Open Source project. It’s all the trivial stuff; idea is born, a couple of buddies start developing it, initial release goes out, some need is fulfilled, more people start using it, some patches and the second release comes out, couple of other developers join, the community grows, 3rd party folks start making money off the project, new releases come out with more features, more and more people start using the projects, some corporate money flows in, the original developers are the Gods of the source, power struggles start, project forks, some of the key developers quit and start over etc etc etc… Did I mention QA? Not yet. Indeed, I probably cannot, because it was never a part of all that happened above. The Free Open Source World is a very strange place. Since there is no money involved – in most cases – almost everything is driven by commitment. Therefore the human emotion becomes the dominant driver for the projects. I would rate the cool factor as the top rated emotion. If you are a core development team member, you are cool. Now, the rest of the community, millions of other users of your project must bow in front of you, just because you can commit code. Sweet isn’t it. If you’re writing up documentation, you are not cool. If you are translating, you are not cool. If you are testing it you are not cool. Unless you commit code, you are not cool. This must be the main reason that QA teams of big Open Source projects are like deserted islands. Once the software hits the wires for download, the cool does not mean a thing. Quality does. That's why, the QA Release Team at Mambo is in the process of implementing better testing and release processes on top of manual testing, in order to avoid oops, how did I miss that!!! situations. Our new QA Release process is defined with this catchy-phrase – Mambo 4x4 Testing. Mambo 4x4 Testing is: Selenium Based Ant Driven Maven Controlled Cruise Control Powered This new process will allow us to continuously test our software under different environments and conditions. I have to admit, writing the test scenarios is boring , nevertheless I am self assured that the end result will be thrilling. Mambo Open Source CMS has already hit the widely accepted threshold. We are all very well aware of the fact that being a part of this project is not about being cool anymore. It is about being responsible and being able to release an excellent product to our user base and prospective users. This is our responsibility and pledge. If you are interested in being part of this important function in the development cycle of the Mambo CMS, please make yourself known to the Team on the Mambo forums. QA is vital to Mambo and we would appreciate having more skilled people on board to assist with ensuring our code meets the highest standards.
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