v25.0.00
Welcome to Gibbon v25.0.00 (Ice House Street). This release includes a new tool for visually managing internal staff coverage, making teacher substitutions easier than ever. In addition we have supercharged the timetable, which now displays activities and duties, both of which can also be included in coverage requests. The Admissions module and flexible Form Builder, added as beta in v24, are now the default for fresh installations. In addition, Messenger now includes a Pre-Flight mode, allowing sending users to see who will receive a message, and to receive a testing copy.
v25 also includes future attendance for ad hoc groups, an Off Timetable option for special days, custom fields for lesson plans and more than 40 other enhancements and improvements.
Our deepest gratitude goes out to everyone who continues to work hard to translate Gibbon into their own language. Thanks to your ongoing efforts Gibbon is available in 24 languages! If you would like to volunteer to translate Gibbon into your language, please email support@gibbonedu.org.
Looking To The Future
Version 25 is a landmark release for Gibbon, representing 12 years of development, 100 code releases and over 18,000 installations across the globe, all driven by a small but committed team of volunteer developers. In reflecting on where we have been, we are excited to let you know a little more about where we are going next:
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Over the past few years we have been working with lawyers, accountants and advisors to set up the Gibbon Foundation, a non-profit entity incorporated in Hong Kong. Although this work remains underway, our hope is that within 6 months it will be ready to provide a secure legal framework for the ongoing development of Gibbon, with a focus on community development, intellectual property, advocacy and fundraising. This marks a major landmark in Gibbon’s transition from a “two-person band” (Sandra and Ross) to a sustainable, global project.
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After many years of January/June releases, we will be adjusting our release roadmap from v26 onward, to begin releasing in November/April instead. This means v26 will be an extended development cycle, releasing November 20, 2023.
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For Gibbon v26 (Joss House Bay), rather than adding new features, we will be focusing our spotlight on stablising the Gibbon codebase, improving our documentation, and supporting our growing community. In the same way that an agricultural field requires fallow time to maintain its fruitfulness, so do open source projects!
Important Notes for v25.0.00
- Gibbon v25 requires a minimum PHP version of 7.3. Please check to ensure your server supports this requirement before upgrading. Gibbon v25 supports PHP 8.1 and MySQL 8.0, which are the highest recommended versions.
- Always backup your files and database before upgrading.
- If you are upgrading, please read the Changes With Important Notices section of CHANGELOG.txt before you install, to see if your upgrade requires any manual intervention.
- See the Updating Gibbon guide for detailed steps.
Developer Notes
- Our Gibbon Development Road Map includes our GitHub branch, project board for v26 and future release dates. Take a look at https://docs.gibbonedu.org/developers/getting-started/gibbon-road-map.