Continue development on 1.4.1!

[squirrelmail.git] / doc / ReleaseNotes / 1.4 / Notes-1.4.0.txt

/*****************************************************************
 * Release Notes: SquirrelMail 1.4.0                             *
 * The "Long Time Coming" Release                                *
 * 3 April 2003                                                  *
 *****************************************************************/

In this edition of SquirrelMail Release Notes:
   * All about this Release!
   * A note on PHP 4.3.x
   * Major updates
   * A note on plugins
   * Reporting my favorite SquirrelMail 1.4 bug

All about this Release!
=======================

This is the first release of our new 1.4.x-series which is officially
labeled STABLE! We've been through a long development trajectory
which has resulted in this version. The big plusses of 1.4 over the
previous 1.2.x series are enhanced stability, better compatibility
with a wide range of mail/websystems, more features and less bugs.
See the Major Updates section of this file for more.


A note on PHP 4.3.x
===================

While the developers realize that PHP 4.3.x is the "latest and greatest"
version of PHP to be available, SquirrelMail has not been extensively
tested with it. We currently believe that SquirrelMail should work on
PHP 4.3.x but we lack the experience with this new version to be
absolutely sure. If you want to be safe, or experience problems, you may
want to downgrade to PHP 4.2.x.


Major updates
==============

The 1.4.0 series (as a result of 1.3 developent series) brings:

* A complete rewrite of the way we send mail (Deliver-class),
  and of the way we parse mail (MIME-bodystructure parsing).
  This makes SquirrelMail more reliable and more efficient
  at the same time!
* Support for IMAP UID which makes SquirrelMail more reliable.
* Optimizations to code and the number of IMAP calls; SquirrelMail
  is now a very scalable webmail solution.
* Support for a wider range of authentication mechanisms.
* Lots of bugfixes, some new features and a couple of UI-tweaks.


A note on plugins
=================

There have been major plugin architecture improvements. Lots of plugins
have not yet been adapted to this. Plugins which are distributed with
this release (eg. in the same .tar.gz file) should work. Plugin authors
will need some time to adapt their plugins, so quite some plugins 
might not work.

So if you have ANY problem at all, first try turning off all plugins.
If one plugin seems to be the culprit, contact the author to see if
a 1.4.x version is underway.


Reporting my favorite SquirrelMail 1.4 bug
==========================================

We constantly aim to make SquirrelMail even better. So we need you to
submit any bug you come across! Also, please mention that the bug is
in this 1.4.0 release, and list your IMAP server and webserver details.

   http://www.squirrelmail.org/bugs

Thanks for your cooperation with this. That helps us to make
sure nothing slips through the cracks. Also, it would help if
people would check existing tracker items for a bug before reporting
it again. This would help to eliminate duplicate reports, and
increase the time we can spend CODING by DECREASING the time we
spend sorting through bug reports. And remember, check not only OPEN
bug reports, but also closed ones as a bug that you report MAY have
been fixed in CVS already.

If you want to join us in coding SquirrelMail, or have other
things to share with the developers, join the development mailinglist:

   squirrelmail-devel@lists.sourceforge.net


About Our Release Alias
=======================

This release is labeled the "Long Time Coming" Release.
I think you can figure out the meaning behind this yourself.


                  Happy SquirrelMailing!
                    - The SquirrelMail Project Team