Today we set free the second DP code release this year: R201707. This comes just six months after the last major code release. Both were focused on getting us moved to modern coding practices and middleware.
Today’s release moved the code off the deprecated mysql PHP extension and over to the mysqli PHP extension for connecting to the MySQL database. This will enable the site to run on PHP 7.x in addition to PHP 5.3 and later. This change was essential in enabling the code to run on modern operating systems, such as Ubuntu 16.041.
This release also included the ability to run against phpBB 3.2 allowing pgdp.net and others to upgrade to the latest-and-greatest (and supported) version of phpBB.
Perhaps most importantly to some of our international users, this release includes a full French translation of the DP user interface.
Next up for the DP code is modernizing our HTML and CSS to bring it up-to-date as well as standardizing the look-and-feel across the site. Work is well under way by several volunteers on this front.
Many thanks to all of the volunteers who developed and tested the code in this release!
1 Technically you can run PHP 5.6 on Ubuntu 16.04 as well, but 7.x is clearly the future.
Digital Ramblings 