Editing New Stuff (section)

= Release Plans = 

Exact schedules are not yet decided.

We plan to release a beta of EPrints 3.1 in the first few months of 2008. 

3.1 will be a one way upgrade from 3.0 but with minimal hassle. A few config. files may require tweaks, and the database structure may be slightly changed. 3.1 will introduce new features.

Once the first 3.1 beta is released we will make a branch. We will then develop new features for 3.2 while providing bug fix releases for 3.1 and 3.0. Once 3.1 appears to be reliable, we declare it stable, and stop providing bug fix releases for 3.0. In theory no new features will be added after 3.1 beta-1, but this may be a rule we bend. A more fixed rule is that no new features will be added to 3.1 after 3.1.0 is released, so we can aim for stability. (phew)

3.1.x releases will, like 3.0.x, only provide bug fixes and very small changes, such as minor configuration options, which will not change the behavior unless you set them.

Quite a few parts of EPrints 3.1 will be Plugins or sets of plugins and cgi scripts. The collective term for these is "extensions". A bunch of files together which can be added to EPrints to add functionality, without requiring hacking the core code. Where possible we will release the extensions and plugins individually on EPrints Files. This serves two purposes:
# Sites which don't yet want to upgrade to an unstable release can get the key feature they need.
# It means each extension will get tested by more sites, earlier.