It's kind of misleading that this thread ("Vanilla 2.1b1 Released") is still an announcement and as such very prominent placed in this forum. Now this discussion spans over 5 pages and it's getting harder and harder to get the crucial information out of it.
If 2.1b1 is dead, the original relevance of this thread is gone. Wouldn't it be much wiser to sink this thread and start a new discussion "The current Vanilla Version is..." and put @hgtonight s statement in there?
@R_J said:
It's kind of misleading that this thread ("Vanilla 2.1b1 Released") is still an announcement and as such very prominent placed in this forum. Now this discussion spans over 5 pages and it's getting harder and harder to get the crucial information out of it.
If 2.1b1 is dead, the original relevance of this thread is gone. Wouldn't it be much wiser to sink this thread and start a new discussion "The current Vanilla Version is..." and put hgtonight s statement in there?
@R_J
nice idea, but you are preaching to the community choir unless you mention one of the vanilla developer's in your posts.
Even a better announcement is "PLEASE POST THE VANILLA VERSION #, WHEN POSTING A QUESTION, if it it too difficult to put a new formfield in the posting of discussions. It sure would cut down on a lot of needless questions.
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
@peregrine: I like that idea about announcing one of the most read questions! That's far better than a profile or discussion field.
@todd or @lincoln: what do you think about sinking, or at least un-announcing this discussion and make a more general one where the version handling is stated clearly in the body? You could close that discussion so that it could be spammed with questions.
@R_J said:
If 2.1b1 is dead, the original relevance of this thread is gone. Wouldn't it be much wiser to sink this thread and start a new discussion "The current Vanilla Version is..." and put hgtonight s statement in there?
I can't speak to if they are done accepting bugs for 2.1b1. It is just a static branch for them/us to test against. I agree it is confusing, but I assume by virtue of there not being a new beta they still are accepting bug reports against it.
I don't know about you, guys... But I gave up. Looks like it's been a whiiiiiiile since the last change on the repository.
I know that you guys from Vanilla do this for free, but due to the long time that this is taking, y'all should tells us what's going on! There aren't any news about the 2.1 release. What a pity!
@newhorizonte You are right! Last commit 5 days ago, what a shame! And there is even a weekend in those 5 days. They should be working in the weekend, just to push out ...
wait a minute! It isn't windows, it isn't Microsoft... Vanilla is open source!
Those guys are working their asses off to make a nice release, mixing up the master branch and the development branch in their development (committing here... committing there...) I know you are impatient and there's nothing we can do about it. Just install your favorite version on your local computer and test it out. Why not the master branch? It's a local computer. Then you can find bugs and report them on gitHub, just like open source is supposed to work...
@newhorizonte: Give 2.2 a shot. I've not encountered any major flaws so far. I understand you, the release policy isn't quite the one you may be comfortable with other open source products (probably most of them are just open source), but consider yourself a pioneer who enters the foreign fields first. Explore on your own instead of waiting for a path to open up by itself. imaginarySpeaking
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It's simple. Someone evaluate the list of bugs for 2.1 to identify the important ones that need to be closed to get to beta 2, write the patches, and issue pull requests. Rinse and repeat until you're comfortable calling it RC, and then gold.
Currently, the project is open source only insofar as those of us who are full time employees keep pushing our code publicly. If no one wants to help the free product for free, well, yeah, it may be a while til we get there.
From what I've gathered in my brief fling with Vanilla is that it's best to work with Master, because the free plugins and other scripts seem to be tested against the latest release (when they're not abandoned, that is).
Unfortunately, running a forum is a hobby of mine rather than a source of income - and most of the features I actually want only seem to be available in the subscription only closed source version (http://vanillaforums.com/info/plugins) - so while I'm happy to bug test and report I've decided Vanilla isn't suitable for my needs.
Best of luck to the developers though, it's a really nicely done piece of code.
Perhaps I should reword that a bit. In that link (http://vanillaforums.com/info/plugins) I can see what's available in each of the (hosted) pricing levels. Fantastic. I assume that the "Small Group" plan is a hosted version of Master. When I installed Master in test with a view to migrating from phpBB3 (I struggled with the 2.0.18.8 version and the migration script, and that release did seem to be missing quite a number of things we currently use in phpBB3) the migration fell over because of missing "Polls" structure in the database.
I really need Emotify. Great, it's approved AND in the Small Group plan - but it's dated 2010 and has a whole bunch of questions about it with code changes to fix various issues. From this I assume that the (Closed) version in the plan is way more up to date and fixed.
Reactions is actually the least interesting of the plugins, though I can see uses for it - we have a trading section and members provide feedback on each other for purchases/sales made.
Profile Extender is an absolutely crucial one. Split/Merge also. Advanced Search is hugely important.
I do not want a hosted service for all sorts of reasons, but mainly money - we pay less for our hosting requirements than the small group plan, and host a few other services as well on the same box. I manage all the security updates, new features, backups - it takes up very little of my time, not enough that it's of any value to me to spend doing it. I'm not against paying for quality software (fully Open Source is of course what generally gets chosen for anything due to cost and being able to support it), but I've got no way of getting the (tested and assumed maintained) bits of closed source Vanilla that I need to be able to use at any price.
I spend the majority of my time on the web on forums, archaic as they are - Vanilla brings the format bang up to date with a whole bunch of features I'd love to see across the board (no pun intended), but the bits I need I can't get at
Appreciate that the open source part is provided gratis, but it's so damn good I'm quite disappointed I can't use it. Maybe I need to spend more time evaluating the addons and figuring out what works and what doesn't, but again - a real shame there's no way of simply buying the closed source ones
You know what, despite finding the github for the core software I hadn't spotted the addons section. Thank you for pointing it out.
@hgtonight said:
You will always be trading time for money.
Absolutely, but after the effort of setup maintenance is minutes. I run the place for love, not money - it's a hobby after all, and the mere attempt to monetize the community would kill it stone dead in moments, being wildly against all our principles.
@cools said:
Perhaps I should reword that a bit. In that link (http://vanillaforums.com/info/plugins) I can see what's available in each of the (hosted) pricing levels. Fantastic. I assume that the "Small Group" plan is a hosted version of Master. When I installed Master in test with a view to migrating from phpBB3 (I struggled with the 2.0.18.8 version and the migration script, and that release did seem to be missing quite a number of things we currently use in phpBB3) the migration fell over because of missing "Polls" structure in the database.
I completely understand and I cannot stop you from leaving after such a short time... I thought there was an issue about polls on gitHub. Can't find it at the moment.
Honestly, I do not know whether the Polls will be migrated using the Porter Plugin.
Our community is not as big as phpBB3, we act a bit slow after a plugin comes out
I will assume that once 2.1 or 2.2 will be released, we go over 'all' plugins and test them with 2.1 / 2.2 and keep only 1 plugin per subject. So 1 Poll plugin. Maybe even the 'small group' one, you'll never know.
I really need Emotify. Great, it's approved AND in the Small Group plan - but it's dated 2010 and has a whole bunch of questions about it with code changes to fix various issues. From this I assume that the (Closed) version in the plan is way more up to date and fixed.
Understood and during the 2.1 / 2.2 upgrade we can fix this.
Reactions is actually the least interesting of the plugins, though I can see uses for it - we have a trading section and members provide feedback on each other for purchases/sales made.
Profile Extender is an absolutely crucial one. Split/Merge also. Advanced Search is hugely important.
Native in 2.2
Appreciate that the open source part is provided gratis, but it's so damn good I'm quite disappointed I can't use it. Maybe I need to spend more time evaluating the addons and figuring out what works and what doesn't, but again - a real shame there's no way of simply buying the closed source ones
You'll never know once you give it a couple more tries. If the migration file doesn't do its job, let's see what the problem is and we have to post it on gitHub. Every one else is using Vanilla, maybe that will give you a bit more thought before you take off :-)
Going a bit off topic - I don't know how our users will react to a change in the software and ultimately they'll decide anyway! I should have some time next week to go through things again and get a handle on what's available and what isn't.
@Lincoln Do you want me to report another feature in the exporter? We make use of Admin only / Moderator only / Registered user only / Bot privileges to hide sections of the forum, but these are lost in all but name and who's a member of the roles. The exporter is very liberal in the rights it gives (it applies the same roles to all categories, am I correct?) meaning a phpBB3 forum that was only accessible to an Admin gets opened to all users, bots included. Straightforward to change the behaviour in the exporter, but alarming the first time it happens. Because of the nature of the differences between phpBB3 and Vanilla's permission system (you lose everything apart from the group membership during a migration) I'd suggest only giving administrators access to anything after a migration, forcing them to go through the category permissions manually.
Comments
Wow, thanks for the fast replies!
It's kind of misleading that this thread ("Vanilla 2.1b1 Released") is still an announcement and as such very prominent placed in this forum. Now this discussion spans over 5 pages and it's getting harder and harder to get the crucial information out of it.
If 2.1b1 is dead, the original relevance of this thread is gone. Wouldn't it be much wiser to sink this thread and start a new discussion "The current Vanilla Version is..." and put @hgtonight s statement in there?
@R_J
nice idea, but you are preaching to the community choir unless you mention one of the vanilla developer's in your posts.
Even a better announcement is "PLEASE POST THE VANILLA VERSION #, WHEN POSTING A QUESTION, if it it too difficult to put a new formfield in the posting of discussions. It sure would cut down on a lot of needless questions.
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
@peregrine: I like that idea about announcing one of the most read questions! That's far better than a profile or discussion field.
@todd or @lincoln: what do you think about sinking, or at least un-announcing this discussion and make a more general one where the version handling is stated clearly in the body? You could close that discussion so that it could be spammed with questions.
❌ ✊ ♥. ¸. ••. ¸♥¸. ••. ¸♥ ✊ ❌
I can't speak to if they are done accepting bugs for 2.1b1. It is just a static branch for them/us to test against. I agree it is confusing, but I assume by virtue of there not being a new beta they still are accepting bug reports against it.
Search first
Check out the Documentation! We are always looking for new content and pull requests.
Click on insightful, awesome, and funny reactions to thank community volunteers for their valuable posts.
I think you mean new *features.
I don't know about you, guys... But I gave up. Looks like it's been a whiiiiiiile since the last change on the repository.
I know that you guys from Vanilla do this for free, but due to the long time that this is taking, y'all should tells us what's going on! There aren't any news about the 2.1 release. What a pity!
@newhorizonte You are right! Last commit 5 days ago, what a shame! And there is even a weekend in those 5 days. They should be working in the weekend, just to push out ...
wait a minute! It isn't windows, it isn't
Microsoft... Vanilla is open source!Those guys are working their asses off to make a nice release, mixing up the master branch and the development branch in their development (committing here... committing there...) I know you are impatient and there's nothing we can do about it. Just install your favorite version on your local computer and test it out. Why not the master branch? It's a local computer. Then you can find bugs and report them on gitHub, just like open source is supposed to work...
There was an error rendering this rich post.
@newhorizonte: Give 2.2 a shot. I've not encountered any major flaws so far. I understand you, the release policy isn't quite the one you may be comfortable with other open source products (probably most of them are just open source), but consider yourself a pioneer who enters the foreign fields first. Explore on your own instead of waiting for a path to open up by itself. imaginarySpeaking
It's simple. Someone evaluate the list of bugs for 2.1 to identify the important ones that need to be closed to get to beta 2, write the patches, and issue pull requests. Rinse and repeat until you're comfortable calling it RC, and then gold.
Currently, the project is open source only insofar as those of us who are full time employees keep pushing our code publicly. If no one wants to help the free product for free, well, yeah, it may be a while til we get there.
You can be patient, or you can get working.
From what I've gathered in my brief fling with Vanilla is that it's best to work with Master, because the free plugins and other scripts seem to be tested against the latest release (when they're not abandoned, that is).
Unfortunately, running a forum is a hobby of mine rather than a source of income - and most of the features I actually want only seem to be available in the subscription only closed source version (http://vanillaforums.com/info/plugins) - so while I'm happy to bug test and report I've decided Vanilla isn't suitable for my needs.
Best of luck to the developers though, it's a really nicely done piece of code.
Which features do you really like? Let me guess... the reactions plugin? (lol, insightful, awesome, etc).
There was an error rendering this rich post.
If the Core crew could just announce what it will cost to open source the hosted version. I could ask my friends in Qatar for some petrodollars.
Perhaps I should reword that a bit. In that link (http://vanillaforums.com/info/plugins) I can see what's available in each of the (hosted) pricing levels. Fantastic. I assume that the "Small Group" plan is a hosted version of Master. When I installed Master in test with a view to migrating from phpBB3 (I struggled with the 2.0.18.8 version and the migration script, and that release did seem to be missing quite a number of things we currently use in phpBB3) the migration fell over because of missing "Polls" structure in the database.
None of the "Polls" (http://vanillaforums.org/addon/browse/plugins/recent/2/?Keywords=poll) plugins appear to be approved, so I've got no clue which one is likely in the "Small Group" plan, and possibly compatible with the migration script.
I really need Emotify. Great, it's approved AND in the Small Group plan - but it's dated 2010 and has a whole bunch of questions about it with code changes to fix various issues. From this I assume that the (Closed) version in the plan is way more up to date and fixed.
Reactions is actually the least interesting of the plugins, though I can see uses for it - we have a trading section and members provide feedback on each other for purchases/sales made.
Profile Extender is an absolutely crucial one. Split/Merge also. Advanced Search is hugely important.
I do not want a hosted service for all sorts of reasons, but mainly money - we pay less for our hosting requirements than the small group plan, and host a few other services as well on the same box. I manage all the security updates, new features, backups - it takes up very little of my time, not enough that it's of any value to me to spend doing it. I'm not against paying for quality software (fully Open Source is of course what generally gets chosen for anything due to cost and being able to support it), but I've got no way of getting the (tested and assumed maintained) bits of closed source Vanilla that I need to be able to use at any price.
I spend the majority of my time on the web on forums, archaic as they are - Vanilla brings the format bang up to date with a whole bunch of features I'd love to see across the board (no pun intended), but the bits I need I can't get at
Appreciate that the open source part is provided gratis, but it's so damn good I'm quite disappointed I can't use it. Maybe I need to spend more time evaluating the addons and figuring out what works and what doesn't, but again - a real shame there's no way of simply buying the closed source ones
The good news is that Emotify, Split/Merge, and Profile Extender have up to date versions in the GitHub repository. To whit, @peregrine made a reactions plugin and @mcu_hq made an advanced search plugin.
The not so good news is that you will have to set up the forums, find your plugins, keep them up to date, and troubleshoot any problems.
You will always be trading time for money.
Search first
Check out the Documentation! We are always looking for new content and pull requests.
Click on insightful, awesome, and funny reactions to thank community volunteers for their valuable posts.
You know what, despite finding the github for the core software I hadn't spotted the addons section. Thank you for pointing it out.
Absolutely, but after the effort of setup maintenance is minutes. I run the place for love, not money - it's a hobby after all, and the mere attempt to monetize the community would kill it stone dead in moments, being wildly against all our principles.
I completely understand and I cannot stop you from leaving after such a short time...
I thought there was an issue about polls on gitHub. Can't find it at the moment.
Honestly, I do not know whether the Polls will be migrated using the Porter Plugin.
Our community is not as big as phpBB3, we act a bit slow after a plugin comes out
I will assume that once 2.1 or 2.2 will be released, we go over 'all' plugins and test them with 2.1 / 2.2 and keep only 1 plugin per subject. So 1 Poll plugin. Maybe even the 'small group' one, you'll never know.
Native in 2.2
You'll never know once you give it a couple more tries. If the migration file doesn't do its job, let's see what the problem is and we have to post it on gitHub.
Every one else is using Vanilla, maybe that will give you a bit more thought before you take off :-)
There was an error rendering this rich post.
Our hosted Polls plugin in internal-only.
@cools That is a bug in the importer, thanks for pointing it out.
Going a bit off topic - I don't know how our users will react to a change in the software and ultimately they'll decide anyway! I should have some time next week to go through things again and get a handle on what's available and what isn't.
@Lincoln Do you want me to report another feature in the exporter? We make use of Admin only / Moderator only / Registered user only / Bot privileges to hide sections of the forum, but these are lost in all but name and who's a member of the roles. The exporter is very liberal in the rights it gives (it applies the same roles to all categories, am I correct?) meaning a phpBB3 forum that was only accessible to an Admin gets opened to all users, bots included. Straightforward to change the behaviour in the exporter, but alarming the first time it happens. Because of the nature of the differences between phpBB3 and Vanilla's permission system (you lose everything apart from the group membership during a migration) I'd suggest only giving administrators access to anything after a migration, forcing them to go through the category permissions manually.