With Joomla 6 in the downloads portal: people updating their sites and building new sites on a fresh Joomla 6 install, attention now turns to Joomla 6.1. Now we turn to interview its release managers Harald Leithner and Stefan Wendhausen.
If you have a new feature for Joomla then these are the people to speak to, they are the gateway to what makes it in Joomla 6.1, but hurry, feature freeze is the 17th of February 2026!
This month we kick off with the release manager who has probably merged the most PRs in recent Joomla history: Harald Leithner.
To start off, could you tell us a bit about yourself?
Who are you, where do you come from, and what’s your background - both professionally and personally?
Harald:
I’m happy to be involved in Joomla 6.1’s development process as Release Manager. Besides that, I have also been the Operations Department Coordinator and I am a co-organiser of Joomla D-A-CH.
I’ve run an IT company in Austria since 2002 and have used Joomla since (and before) version 1.0 to create websites and web applications.
As I mentioned in the Joomla 5 and 3.9 interviews, I’ve been part of Joomla leadership for some years, serving as Production Department Coordinator and release lead for Joomla 3.9.3 +, and later as co-release manager for Joomla 5.0. I enjoy IT infrastructure and operations - areas where I can put my systems knowledge to use.
Everyone needs something outside the code.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time that has nothing to do with Joomla or the web?
Harald:
What do you mean, “unrelated to Joomla”? I’m addicted to the tech world in all its aspects - from hosting and housing web applications and servers to managing company networks.
That said, it doesn’t mean I don’t have a personal life. I spend time with friends and go on excursions with my family. Those moments keep me balanced
Every Joomler has their origin story.
How did you first discover Joomla, and what made you decide to try it?
Harald:
My journey began with Mambo. I needed a CMS that wasn’t written by myself - one that fit my needs without unnecessary complexity. The alternatives at that time were either too limited or over-engineered.
So I tried Mambo and, shortly after, Joomla. I built several websites with Joomla 1.0 and later with 1.5.
Joining the community happened almost accidentally - I was drawn in during my first JoomlaDay Austria in Vienna, where I met many people who shared the same enthusiasm. That sense of community is what kept me involved.
Joomla is a global community - when did your paths first cross?
Do you remember when or how the two of you first connected within the Joomla ecosystem?
Harald:
I can’t really remember, since he co-organizes of the Joomla Day Germany he was omnipresent in the community to me. I think it was actually when I searched for someone helping me with a Typo3 maintenance contract.
Becoming a release manager is quite a commitment.
What inspired you to take on that responsibility?
Harald:
I was release manager for Joomla 3.9.3+ and 5.0, I also built the final package for Joomla 4.0.0, so Joomla 6.1 is my 3rd release I manage. The best thing to do is to help Stefan get into it.
Many people use Joomla but never contribute back.
What motivated you to move from being a user to becoming an active contributor in the project?
Harald:
If no one is doing it, there is no Joomla. That would be a lousy answer and tries to bump one’s head, right? I think the reality is that it’s an honor to work on such a great product with so many people. If you make your living with a product you should also be able to influence the direction of it. Participating in the evolving process is the best way to bring your own ideas into Joomla and make it better for everyone.
Do you work with Joomla regularly in your day to day life?
If so, what aspects of Joomla do you appreciate most compared to previous versions like Joomla 3, 4 or 5?
Harald:
I use Joomla daily, creating extensions and websites or managing them for clients. One of the best things about Joomla 6 is the autoupdate feature. Since Joomla 3 it’s the vertical menu, it’s so much better than the horizontal menu. From a technical perspective the new DIC and WebAsset manager is a really great addition for developers. For agencies I think the timed releases and the 2 major version b/c policy was and is a game changer.
Looking back at Joomla previous releases, can you see a change?
Are there particular improvements or procedures that are making the releases more professional?
Harald:
Looking back at the 3.9 releases, I did more or less everything on my own. I was the only (at this time called) release lead. Iirc except the images for the release page I did everything, starting by building the release to testing it, uploading it, writing release announcements and updating Wikipedia… In the meantime, we have a great release team, we have a great marketing team and 2 release managers which all play hand in hand to make this process not hanging on a single person. So yes the one man release process changed to a professional release process.
Let’s talk about the road ahead.
What are your main goals or priorities for Joomla 6.1?
Harald:
I have a personal list I want to see in Joomla 6.1 but one of my priorities is to reduce the open pull request number by getting them finished and getting them merged. On the personal projects, you might have read the Joomla Feature roadmap one of the topics is the ratelimiting framework. This is planned for later but personally I see this as an important security improvement for Joomla. Also an easy to achieve extension is the POW captcha, this has been started by David Jardin and I would like to support him on this and get this into core.
Having seen the release process up close, what would you refine?
Are there things you’d like to streamline, document better, or approach differently this time?
Harald:
As I already did for the earlier Joomla version I plan to create some more automations for boring stuff. I introduced a Github release page template which I would like to extend. Also I would like to make the TUF signing process easier for all release managers.
What part of your role as release managers excites you the most?
What are you personally most looking forward to in the months ahead?
Harald:
It’s not so different for me between being a Maintainer or Release Manager. The main difference is that Stefan or I will build the packages.
The release process depends on many helping hands.
From your perspective, how can the wider Joomla community best support your upcoming release?
Harald:
The only wish I have from the “wider community” and especially extension developers is to test releases as soon as possible. Starting from Alpha 1 until the last release candidate. After this you can stop testing.
Finally, is there anything you’d like to say to the Joomla community?
Any thoughts, hopes, or messages you’d like to share before we wrap up?
Harald:
I would like to thank Stefan for taking the big step and being a release manager.