Midgard2 9.03.0 RC2 released

Lodz, April 22nd 2009 -- The Midgard Project has released the second Release
Candidate of Midgard2 9.03 "Vinland" - the new  generation of the
Midgard content
repository.

## About this release

Midgard2 9.03 is targeted at web framework and desktop developers.
It provides a comprehensive set of content repository APIs that can be
used to build replicated information applications that share their
information using a common storage layer and replication tools.

Vinland series of Midgard2 is not intended to act as a content
management system, and so no CMS tools are shipped with the release.
Midgard2 Vinland however can be used to build a CMS, or to refactor
existing CMS tools to work with a repository-centric model.

In this release we provide Content Repository API bindings for the
following programming languages: C, Python, PHP and Objective-C.
D-Bus signals are used to inform different Midgard2 applications about
things happening in the repository, enabling for example a PHP website
and a Python background process to communicate with each other.

## Midgard2

Midgard2 is a content reporitory. It provides an object-oriented and
replicated environment for building data-intensive applications.

Midgard's philosophy includes building on top of a well-known and
supported GNOME libraries like glib and libgda on the system end, and
connecting with popular programming languages like PHP and Python. Data
storage can utilize SQLite with desktop and mobile applications, or a
database server like MySQL or Postgres for web application storage.

The Midgard2 platform enables developers to define a storage structure
once and use it on both web and desktop applications, with the
possibility of easy data replication between the two.

Read more about Midgard's content repository approach:

* <http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/midgard2_at_fscons-your_data-ev...>
*
<http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/midgard_and_jcr-a_look_at_two_c...>
* <http://teroheikkinen.iki.fi/blog/midgard_workshop_at_fscons/>

## New Midgard architecture

### Language independence

Midgard is also language independent and due to its powerful
architecture has proven as stable, secure and flexible solution
implemented in various environments:

* PHP5 extension for web application and CMS development
* Python module for desktop application and background process development
* Mono module for desktop application and background process development
in C#

### Database independence

The Midgard 1.x was heavily coupled with the MySQL database. The new
Midgard2 architecture is instead built on top of libgda, the GNOME
database abstraction layer. This enables Midgard to be used with various
storage engines, including:

* MySQL
* Postgres
* SQLite
* Microsoft SQL Server
* Oracle
* DB2

### Built-in replication and metadata

All Midgard objects are automatically equipped with a consistent set of
metadata properties that can be used for access control and workflow.

In addition, Midgard provides an API for serializing and unserializing
stored objects in XML format that can be used for replicating data
between different systems. The replication architecture can be used for
staging/live web environments or mobile applications that synchronize
between each other or a web back-end.

# Planned for next Midgard2 releases

* Midgard MVC, an elegant PHP MVC framework written for Midgard2

# Midgard resources

* [Download page and changelog for latest release][1]
* [Bug reporting][2]

## User and developers support:

 * [Users' forum][3]
 * [Developers' forum][4]
 * IRC: #midgard on irc.freenode.net

## About Midgard

The Midgard Framework development started in 1997 and it was initially
released as free software in May 1999. Midgard Project has since
gathered an active user and developer community, powering thousands of
web sites ranging from simple organizational intranets to large
community portals.

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 has
been supported by several commercial and governmental entities including
the European Union and the Swedish Internet Foundation.

Midgard is free software available under the GNU LGPL license.

## Contacts

Piotr Pokora, Midgard release manager
piotrek.pokora(at)gmail.com

Henri Bergius, Midgard spokesman
henri.bergius(at)iki.fi

The Midgard Project
<http://www.midgard-project.org>

[1]: http://www.midgard-project.org/download/9-3/
[2]: http://trac.midgard-project.org/report
[3]: http://www.midgard-project.org/discussion/user-forum/
[4]: http://www.midgard-project.org/discussion/developer-forum/