Welcome to the source update for April 2011. This is a new column to give you information about what's happening with Joomla! source code.

Joomla! 1.5

Preparations are being made for the next maintenance release, Joomla! 1.5.23. Language files were frozen on the 28 March and the following dates outline the rest of the process:

• April 2: All code frozen
• April 3: Build download packages for testing
• April 4: Release Joomla! 1.5.23

Joomla! 1.5 is designated a long-term support release with support ending in April 2012.

Joomla! 1.6

Joomla! 1.6.1 was released on 7 March 2011 and preparations are being made for the next maintenance release, Joomla! 1.6.2. Language files were frozen on the 31 March and the following dates outline the rest of the process:

• April 5: All code frozen
• April 6: Build download packages for testing
• April 7: Release Joomla! 1.6.2

Joomla! 1.6 is produced under the new 6-month release cycle. Joomla! 1.7 is due to be released in July 2011 and this will be a direct upgrade from Joomla! 1.6. Support for Joomla! 1.6 will end one month after the release of Joomla! 1.7 in August 2011. More information for developers wishing to contribute to Joomla! 1.7 will come out this month.

The Joomla! Platform Project

The Joomla! Platform Project is an initive that was announced last year to separate the development of the Joomla! CMS and the engine that it runs on, the Joomla! Platform, into two streams. Initial planning and development has commenced and the inaugral release of the Joomla! Platform is expected this quarter. Subsequent versions of the Joomla! Platform are intended to be produced on a 3-month release cycle. This project will allow Joomla! to expand its offerings from CMS to command line and many other types of applications. Development of the Joomla! Platform Project is being carried out in a Distributed Version Control System (DVCS) using Mercurial and can be followed at https://bitbucket.org/joomla/joomla-platform.