The Zend Framework 1.5 release process is officially underway!

The Zend Framework team is delighted to announce that the official release process for Zend Framework 1.5 has begun! Since the 1.5 is a substantial release, we’ve decided to kick things off with a preview release to put all the new functionality in the community’s hands as early as possible. This release will be followed by as many release candidates as are needed to meet the high quality standards of the ZF project. Features to be released in Zend Framework 1.5 include, but are not necessarily limited to:


* Zend_Auth_Adapter_Ldap
* Zend_Build/Zend_Console
* Zend_Controller additional action helpers, including ContextSwitch/AjaxContext, Json, and AutoComplete
* Zend_Form
* Zend_InfoCard
* Zend_Layout
* Zend_OpenId
* Zend_Search_Lucene improvements, including wildcard search, date range search, fuzzy search, and Lucene 2.1 index file format support
* Zend_View enhancements, including actions, partials, and placeholders
* Zend_Pdf UTF8 support
* New Zend_Service consumables (final list TBD)
* A whole lotta bug fixes and documentation improvements

For all the gory details, take a look at all the 1.5 issues in our issue tracker. The first two significant dates have already been set. The code freeze for the preview release is 1/22, while the targeted release date is 1/24. If everything goes well the first release candidate will follow in about 3 weeks. From that point on, release candidates will be produced as needed to reach the quality level necessary for a general availability (GA) release.

Please keep in mind that the preview release is fundamentally different from an initial release candidate. For example, there is no guarantee that the API’s will not change or that features will not be added or dropped before the first release candidate is cut. Generally speaking, the more feedback we get from the community for the preview release and the release candidates, the sooner we’ll reach the GA release.

I hope all of you are as excited about this as we are. Many thanks to everyone who has helped us get to this point- especially to all of you who have generously donated your time to contribute to Zend Framework. Let’s make this the best release yet!