version 1.6.2 of the Midgard Open Source Content Management Framework. Midgard
provides a reliable CMS framework build on top of the LAMP platform. Midgard’s
core features include internationalization, accessibility, scalability,
robust templating and PHP connectivity.
This release doesn’t provide any new features, it is bugfix release which
makes midgard much more easier to install and much more stable for running
production environments.
Major features in Midgard 1.6 include:
- MultiLang support
- Unicode support by default
- PAM authentication support
- Apache2 module
- PHP4 module ready to use with Apache1 and Apache2
- New midgard-data including MidCOM 1.4.0
- New PHP5 module
The MultiLang feature makes Midgard more flexible as it separates
metadata from the current language of objects. It is easy to use with the new
midgard-data package which allows server administrator to create or update
databases to MultiLang very easily.
While Midgard has supported international character sets through the
UTF-8 encoding since the Midgard 1.2.5 series, Midgard 1.6 is the first
release where Unicode ships as the default encoding.
This means that new Midgard installations can manage content in character
sets like Russian, Japanese and Maori with zero effort.
PAM, or Pluggable Authentication Modules is a technology used on
several Unix platforms like Linux and Solaris to enables systems to authenticate
using some central authentication provider. PAM support in Midgard means that
Midgard sites and applications can now authenticate with external systems like
LDAP or Active Directory instead of using the local password storage.
PHP4 module may be configured with the old Apache 1.3.x or new Apache 2.
Both modules have caching facilities which increase performance and reduce
request time. These modules have also abilities to emulate the old
mod_midgard Apache module which is now deprecated.
The revised Midgard-data package provides an out-of-the-box setup
complete with Aegir and Spider administration tools and the MidCOM component
framework. Aegir is a comprehensive and powerful administration tool targeted at
Midgardpower users. Spider provides similar administrative features in accessible
way, allowing disabled users and simpler web browsers to manage websites. In
addition to the Midgard applications, midgard-data also ships several
command-line utilities including the yamp packaging scripts useful to
Midgard application developers and the datagard Midgard database and virtual host
setup tool.
MidCOM 1.4.0 is a full component framework which enables site builders
to construct their web sites from ready-made and configurable site features,
or components. All MidCOM components provide uniformal and localized ways
for configuration and content management. The configuration system allows
site developers to fully control the way the components behave, including
their output templates and content structure and form field definitions.
For end-users the MidCOM system provides an intuitive “Edit this page”
interface for editing site content.
Over 20 components shipping with MidCOM include a news listing system,
event calendars, product order and shipping management system, phone book
and a wiki online notebook.
PHP5 module is currently patched version of midgard-php4 module, and should
be considered only for testing purposes.
Changes from 1.6.1 release:
Midgard-core
- Fixes for NTLM authentication type.
- Major improvements for caching abilities.
- Midgard library and Apache modules may cache the same page for different hosts,
- which improve caching abilities for MidCOM based sites.
- Repligard has new option which forces attachments and parameters of object to be
- exported when only object is selected for export.
Midgard-php4
- many improvements in configure script
- API: mgd_update_article_replyto
- When article’s up set to 0 , article’s topic is not updated.
- API: openattachment method fixed
- openattachment method updates guid in repligard table
- Module may be loaded in PHP4 when PHP is used in command line.
Midgard-data
- Datagard may connect to other host than only localhost
- Many fixes and improvements in midgard-data scripts
- Default vhost configuration has php flags set by default
- AddDefaultCharset is set by default in vhosts configuration to serve utf-8
- Datagard returns user friendly messages for repligard’ failures
- Midgard-data supports both MySQL 4.0 and 4.1
Midgard-apache1
- NTLM feature is default now.
Planned for next releases
- Scheduled release – February/March 2005
- Automated testing of release packages
- MgdSchema – XML defined objects for PHP using the GObjects system
- Apache1 module will enter deprecation cycle
- Rewritten MidCOM Component Framework no longer served from database.
- Site Creation Wizard for the MidCOM Component Framework
Download page for latest release:
http://www.midgard-project.org/download
Getting started with Midgard:
http://www.midgard-project.org/document
Getting started with MidCOM:
http://www.nehmer.net/~bergie/oscom3/
Bugs reporting:
http://midgard.tigris.org/issues/repo
Users and developers support:
Mailing list user@midgard-project.org
About Midgard
The Midgard Content Management Framework was initially released in May
1999, and has since gathered a sizable user and developer community.
Midgard powers thousands of web sites ranging from simple organizational
websites to major portals like New Zealand eGovernment site and
Playbill.
Midgard is being developed by an international team of professionals.
Midgard’s development team includes new media designers, system
integrators and content management consultants. Midgard development is
being supported by several commercial and governmental entities
including the European Union.
The Midgard community is committed at maintaining and developing Midgard
as one of the major Open Source Content Management Systems. Key focus
areas are robustness, longevity and internationality of the solution. To
support these the Midgard community works actively on supporting the
latest web, content management and accessibility standards. The Midgard
community also participates actively in the central organization for
Open Source Content Management, OSCOM.
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