While this is going to be the last core release for the year 2011 this is also the last release as you're used to know it.

Today and tomorrow

Today's situation is as follows: With each core maintenance release we also provide a bunch of updates for all the basic extensions. But to be honest: There is (luckily) not that much to fix in the core since it is pretty bullet proven already. But we regularly have to fix issues in the different extensions. So the announced core maintenance release is more a combined release of all the basic extensions and not only a core update. This leads us to some organisational problems: Sticking to the rule that maintenance releases should only include bug fixes and no new features means a slow down in innovation for core and extensions since we always have to release them synchronous.

In the very near future we will change that and we will separate the update cycles as much as possible. In the todoyu extension repository (tER) we will provide "asynchronous" updates of the core and the basic extensions.

What does this mean for me?

First of all we will start to put all the basic extensions to the tER. Additionally we will also put the core itself to the tER. This will happen in the next days and weeks. In a second step we will continue our work as usual: We will regularly provide bug fixes for the core and all the available extensions. But with the changed release concept we are able to deliver bug fixes and improvements for specific modules much faster due to the consequent separation of core and extensions. And additionally we also can implement new features in the extensions without having to release a new core version each time.

In the future you will get bug fixes and new features much faster. You will now longer have to wait to get the updates all at once. You'll get updates on an extension base by using the tER functionalities. This way you can profit from new features and innovations much quicker than ever before. And last but not least. Using the tER you also can easily upgrade your core!

Won't I be able to download todoyu as a package any more?

The full package (todoyu core and basic extensions) will still be available on sourceforge as before. So for your first installation this still will be the best starting point. And we still will add the latest versions as a package (on a regular basis as we currently are doing it).Maybe the update cycle will be a bit less quick than today - time will show. But with the new release concept this should not bother you, since you will be able to install updates of extensions and the core any time beyond the strict release cycles of these packages.