Midgard 1.6.0 beta released

Midgard 1.6.0beta "Five Years" released.

Lodz, May 24th 2004 -- The Midgard Project has released the first beta 
version of the latest 1.6 Midgard Open Source Content Management Framework.

Midgard provides a reliable CMS framework build on top of the LAMP
platform. Midgard's core features include internationalization,
accessibility, scalability and PHP connectivity.


Major features included in this release:

  * Multilang support 
  * PAM support
  * Apache2 module
  * PHP4 module ready to use with Apache1 and Apache2
  * New midgard-data 


  Multilang feature is now easy to use with the new midgard-data package
which allows to create or update databases very easily even for Midgard
beginners.This feature makes Midgard more flexible as it separates metadata 
from the current language of objects.

  PHP4 module may be configured with old Apache or new Apache2. 
Both modules has caching facilities which increase performance and reduce 
requests time. 
These modules have also abilities to work as old apache module which is 
now deprecated and no more supported.

  Midgard-data provides latest Midgard Component Framework - "MidCOM" 1.3, 
and its twenty ready to use components. User-friendly "Aegir" and admin 
interface "Spider" are also included in midgard-data. All Midgard
applications may be easy imported to database with new tool "datagard"
included in this package. Midgard-data also provides YAMP scripts.


Changes from Alpha2 release:

  Beta release has plenty of bugfixes made mostly for Apache2 and PHP4 
modules which makes Midgard easier to configure and install on almost 
all Linux distributions including Mandrake, Red-Hat and Debian, as well
as on Mac OS X.  
  Using datagard tool included in midgard-data is highly recommended 
as it updates database structure for new features like multilang, page
owner and cache fix. Sitegroup support is now mandatory. 


Planned for stable release:

  * Integrate YAMP with datagard
  * Make MidRepository workflow module enabled by default
  * Binary packages for most popular Linux distributions


Download page for latest release:
http://www.midgard-project.org/download/1.6.0.html

Getting started with Midgard:
http://www.midgard-project.org/documentation

Bugs reporting:
http://midgard.tigris.org/issues/reports.cgi

Users and developers support:
Mailing list user@midgard-project.org


About Midgard

The Midgard Content Management Framework was initially released in May
1999, and has since gathered a sizable user and developer community.
Midgard powers thousands of web sites ranging from simple organizational
websites to major portals like New Zealand eGovernment site and
Playbill.

Midgard is being developed by an international team of professionals.
Midgard's development team includes new media designers, system
integrators and content management consultants. Midgard development is
being supported by several commercial and governmental entities
including the European Union.


Piotr Pokora , Midgard Release Manager