After 18 months of development, Geeklog 1.5.0 has been released.  As I mentioned last month, changes found in Geeklog 1.5.0 incorporates the following projects implemented during the 2007 Google Summer of Code:

• New user-friendly install script
• New Configuration Graphical User Interface
• New Webservices API based on the Atom Publishing Protocol

Additional new features and enhancements included in this release:

• OpenID support.
• New LDAP remote authentication module.
• Updated FCKeditor to version 2.6.
• Rewrite of the underlying story code which addresses issues with special characters and HTML entities.
• Comments can now be closed, i.e. existing comments will still be displayed but no new comment can be posted.
• The Polls plugin now allows for multiple questions per poll.
• The Static Pages plugin now supports comments.
• The database backup admin panel now lets you delete and download backups.
• Theming improvements including the support of XHTML.

Geeklog 1.5 can be downloaded at Geeklog.net.

The release of Geeklog 1.5.0 Beta 1 by the Geeklog Team marked a new milestone for the open source blogging system. Although the software is still in development, Geeklog's developers hope to release the final version of Geeklog 1.5 on May 26th. The end of May marks the beginning of the coding phase for Google's Summer of Code 2008. To mark the occasion, Geeklog is highlighting the work done by students participating in last year's Summer of Code that is going into this new release. How cool is that!

Changes found in Geeklog 1.5.0 incorporates the following projects implemented during the 2007 Google Summer of Code:

• New user-friendly install script
• New Configuration Graphical User Interface
• New Webservices API based on the Atom Publishing Protocol

The Bad Behavior 2 plugin is designed to integrate into your web site, running as early as possible to throw out spam bots before they have the opportunity to vandalize your site with their junk, or even to scrape your pages for e-mail addresses and forms to fill out. For more information on Bad Behavior, see the main Bad Behavior web site."

"It's called "The Ultimate Weblog System," and if you can shear off some of the hyperbole in that you'll find that the quick-to-install Geeklog does provide what it claims: a Web portal with all the trimmings, and all of it working right "out of the box." "

Complete Story  

"The official release version of Geeklog 1.4.1 is now available for download. To recap the new features:

• Support for Microsoft SQL Server (in addition to the continued support for MySQL). This feature was single-handedly implemented by Randy Kolenko. We also owe thanks to Mark Evans for his help in testing and debugging it.
• The Geeklog Calendar is now a plugin, so it can easily be disabled or replaced.
• Multi-language support lets you create sites where the content changes when you switch languages. So you can have translated versions of articles and only show those in the visitor's preferred language.
• Better spam protection by including support for SLV and offering hooks for CAPTCHAs."

Complete Story

Although I don't use this blogging application, there is something about it's name that has always attracted my attention. Like most blogs today, it can support a variety of features including "comments, trackbacks, multiple syndication formats, spam protection, and all the other vital features of such a system".

The first release candidate for Geeklog 1.4.1 was recently put on board.

While this is not the final 1.4.1 yet, we would like to ask you to download it and try it out to help us track down any remaining issues. Please also keep in mind that once 1.4.1 is out, the support for Geeklog 1.3.11, and therefore for the entire 1.3.x line, will end. So now would be a good time to start planning for an upgrade of your site.

Geeklog 1.4.1rc1 -

"The second beta version of Geeklog 1.4.1 is now available for download...Beta 2 fixes problems with MS SQL, improves multi-language and UTF-8 support, sorts out display problems with the Professional theme, and fixes several other bugs. It also includes updated PEAR packages (specifically PEAR::Mail, which addresses a problem with SMTP)."

Complete Story

The next version of Geeklog, 1.4.1, is out in beta. Geeklog is one of those CMS that I really cannot decide if it is a portal, blog, or more. Either way, it is an application that I have always felt has a bigger future ahead of it than a past. This next version of Geeklog deals with a lot of bug fixes, but it also contains some new features:

• Support for Microsoft SQL Server. Yes, for the first time in its history, Geeklog will now also run on a database other than MySQL. The MS SQL support was developed by Randy Kolenko who will be posting more about it shortly.
• Calendar plugin. Moving the events and the calendar to their own plugin concludes our work on making Geeklog more modular. Don't need a calendar on your site? Now you can simply uninstall the plugin.
• Multi-language support. It's now possible to build multilingual Geeklog sites where not only the navigation but also the content changes when you switch languages.
• Various other changes, e.g. better spam protection, an option to mass-delete users, redesigned account information, and more.

Geeklog 1.4.1 BETA 1