Joomla! 1.5 RC3 [codename: Takriban] is now available for download. We've had the 'Red Barchetta' release candidate, then Endelo RC (meaning development, progress ... improvement). Takriban means 'almost, nearly'. Well folks we're almost, nearly there. Stable is getting very close.

It's roughly 10 weeks since RC1 and five weeks since RC2 and thanks to valuable community feedback, there have been improvements and bug fixes. The uptake of Joomla! 1.5 has been incredible, with many people diving in to the new API and finding ways to make it sing. The current Joomla! 1.5 template competition has further fuelled interest, as has the number of 1.5 native extensions finding their way onto the Joomla! Extensions Directory . Joomla! 1.5 is really gaining momentum.

Now for some technical stuff

Important, you need to upgrade! In the first release candidate (RC1) we found three security issues, one SQL injection, one XSS, and a few full path disclosure vulnerabilities. Those security issues were solved in RC2 and no further security issues have since arisen.

Packages

For the 1.5 Takriban RC3 Release, only full packages are available for download. As usual, the packages are provided in three compression formats (zip, tar, bzip2). The download link for this release:

http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/joomla/frs/?action=FrsReleaseBrowse&frs_package_id=2892

Upgrade instructions

Upgrading from any version of Joomla! 1.5 to 1.5.RC3 simply involves overwriting your current sites files, with the files in the proper Patch Package that applies to your site. Note; during Beta and RC development, some files could be removed from the Core Code. Using the above method for upgrading might leave some deprecated files in place. This could be solved by performing a fresh install once the Stable release is available and exporting/importing your database. Between Beta and the RC3 some small database changes have been made. Check the /installation/sql/mysql folder for the diff.sql file. Run that with any database tool such as phpMyAdmin to get your database updated.

This can be done by either uncompressing the Patch Package and then using an FTP client to transfer these files to your server and overwriting existing file. If you find errors after the process, ensure that all files were properly transferred. There have been verified reports of some FTP clients not properly transferring files across to a server - without notifying the user of such a problem. One possible cause is that under certain circumstances the webserver locks the files it is using, and the ftp-server can't update those files. One possibility is to take the site offline momentarily during the FTP transfer.

If your Web Provider gives you access to your site via some sort of Web Admin panel like CPanel or Plesk, you can use the systems file manager to upload the Patch Package file to your server and then extracting the package file and overwriting all the files on your server.

More information can be found on the Forums and if at any stage you are unsure, then search the forums for posts on the subject. Most will be found in the Upgrading forum .

Conversion / Migration

With the new 1.5 version it is not that easy anymore to convert for example a Mambo site to Joomla!, especially to 1.5. You will need to perform a migration which is described here: http://www.joomla.org/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,105/p,401/

Backing up

Before undertaking an Upgrade or Conversion, it is extremely important that you backup your site's Database and if possible, also your site's files. While we try to ensure that an Upgrade or Conversion process is relatively straightforward, we cannot guarantee that this will always be the case for every user. So it is imperative that users take protective measures in case they face problems after the Upgrade or Conversion. We hope you enjoy Takriban and as always, we look forward to your feedback.