Django

Has it really been a year since DjangoCon 2008? Apparently so: registration for DjangoCon 2009 is now open! I'll let the conference chair, Robert Lofthouse, take over from here: DjangoCon '09 will be in Portland, Oregon at the DoubleTree Green ... [More] Hotel between 8th and 12th September. The first 3 days are conference days and the last 2 days are sprint days. The keynote speakers will be: Avi Bryant Ian Bicking Ted Leung Registration is now open, and early bird rates are available through this Sunday, July 19th. The call for talk submissions is open through the 1st of August. You can keep up to date with the latest news at djangocon.org. DjangoCon '08 was a success at Google HQ in Mountain View (see videos from DjangoCon '08) and I'm sure we're going to have a lot of fun this time around as well. Hope to see you there! — Robert Lofthouse, DjangoCon Chairman [Less]

It's well past time for a quick update on the status of Django 1.1: Anyone who's been following our development process and can read a calendar will probably have noticed that we've missed our originally-targeted ship date of April 13th. So we're ... [More] now about a month behind. The reason for the schedule slip is pretty typical for most software projects: we reached the target date with a number of bugs still open. Putting out buggy code on time simply isn't an option, so we've been working to get these final issues closed before we ship any code. As I write this we have about fifty bugs still open (see the complete list here). I'm pretty hopeful about getting these fixed in short order: today is the first day of the EuroDjangoCon sprints, and we've got quite a turnout. A number of tricky bugs have been fixed already today. Unfortunately, many of these remaining issues are quite tricky. Ironically, this is caused by Django's general stability: we've already fixed all the easy bugs! We're not setting a timeline for the 1.1 release because the remaining issues are "blockers": they have to be fixed before we can put a release out. So while we're hoping to have the first release candidate out in a matter of days, this isn't a promise. We'll ship Django 1.1 when it's stable, and not a moment before. Thanks for your understanding, and watch this space for updates. [Less]

As part of the Django 1.1 release process, tonight we've released Django 1.1 beta 1, a preview package that shows off the new features coming in Django 1.1. As with all alpha and beta packages, this is not for production use, but if you'd like to try ... [More] out some of the new goodies coming in 1.1, or if you'd like to pitch in and help us fix bugs before the final 1.1 release (due in April), feel free to grab a copy and give it a spin. You can get a copy of the 1.1 beta package from our downloads page, and we recommend you read the release notes. Also, for the security conscious, signed MD5 and SHA1 checksums of the 1.1 beta package are available. Our next stop will be the 2009 US PyCon in Chicago where, among other things, we'll be running development sprints targeted at producing the final Django 1.1 release. For a full 1.1 roadmap, see the 1.1 alpha release notes. [Less]

As part of the Django 1.1 release process, tonight we've released Django 1.1 alpha 1, a preview/testing package that gives a little taste of some of the new features coming in Django 1.1. As with all alpha and beta packages, this is not for ... [More] production use, but if you'd like to try out some of the new goodies coming in 1.1, or if you'd like to pitch in and help us fix bugs before the final 1.1 release (due in April), feel free to grab a copy and give it a spin. You can get a copy of the 1.1 alpha package from our downloads page, and we recommend you read the release notes. Also, for the security conscious, signed MD5 and SHA1 checksums of the 1.1 alpha package are available. Our next stop will be the 2009 US PyCon in Chicago where, among other things, we'll be running development sprints targeted at producing a feature-frozen 1.1 beta package (for a full 1.1 roadmap, see the 1.1 alpha release notes). [Less]

It's almost spring, and you know what that means: PyCon is here! Early-bird registration ends soon, so take advantage of the low prices and register now! PyCon's consistently among the best technical conferences in the world. The conference is ... [More] chock-full of interesting talks about everything Python, and the unofficial parts of the conference (the "hallway track," open spaces, sprints, etc.) are even better. As with previous years, Django will be very well represented at PyCon. James Bennett and I will be teaching a tutorial, Django in the Real World, covering all the stuff you need to do after you've written your app. The tutorial's filling up, so if you're interested I recommend registering soon. New to PyCon 2009 are invited speakers: a select group of fantastic Python speakers invited to drop some knowledge. Adrian is one of the invited speakers, and he'll be giving us all a look behind the scenes of EveryBlock.com. I'm really looking forward to this! Then there's a whopping nine talks covering Django, including talks on Pinax, Google App Engine, Django on Jython, a panel discussing ORM design, and a talk with what has to be the most awesome title ever: Searching for Neutrinos Using Python at the Bottom of the World.` Adrian and I will also deliver a "State of Django" talk discussing where the project is, and where it's going. Finally, after the talks end, the annual development sprint begins: four solid days of hacking! Anyone interested in working on Django is encouraged to attend, and note that the sprints at PyCon are open to anyone, not just PyCon attendees. So, if you're in Chicago feel free to stop on by! Early-bird registration ends in just a couple of days, so make sure to register soon to take advantage of the discounts! Hope to see lots of Djangonauts there! [Less]

I think most people have already seen the news, but EuroDjangoCon 2009 is a go! DjangoCon 2008 was such a blast that we're doing it again, this time in Europe. EuroDjangoCon 2009 will be held in Prague, Czech Republic from May 4th to May ... [More] 6th. The conference will be followed by two days of development sprints (May 7th and 8th). Robert Lofthouse is once again the organizer and conference chair; he's got an awesome set of speakers lined up. Keynoters will be Blaine Cook (Osmosoft), Joe Stump (Digg), Leah Culver (Six Apart), and (ahem) yours truly. Tickets are now on sale, and you can find out all the rest of the details over at http://euro.djangocon.org/. Hope to see you there! [Less]

Shortly after last week's Django 1.0.1 release, several people noted that the packaging script used to produce the release omitted several directories from the Django source tree; mostly this affected some unit tests, but at least one of the omitted ... [More] directories affected the use of Django itself (specifically, of django.contrib.gis). So tonight we're issuing Django 1.0.2, which is built around an updated packaging script and should resolve these problems. This is a recommended upgrade for anyone using or targeting Django 1.0 or Django 1.0.1; to obtain a copy, swing by the downloads page, and don't forget to read the release notes. For the security conscious, a signed file containing the package's checksums is, as always, available. [Less]

Following the previously-announced schedule, today the Django team has released Django 1.0.1. This is a bugfix-only release containing fixes and improvements to the Django 1.0 codebase, and is a recommended upgrade for anyone using or targeting ... [More] Django 1.0. For full details, check out the 1.0.1 release notes, and to grab a copy of Django 1.0.1, visit the downloads page. For the security-conscious, a file containing checksums of the 1.0.1 package, signed with the release manager's key, is available. And with Thanksgiving coming up in the US, your friendly local release manager would like to pause for a moment and express thanks, on behalf of myself and the Django development team, for all the work put in by all the members of our community to help keep the releases coming, the tickets triaged and the bugs fixed. We wouldn't be able to do it without all of you, so give yourselves a big pat on the back and see if you can't sneak an extra slice of pie come Thanksgiving dinner. We'll see you again in a few months, for either Django 1.0.2 or Django 1.1. Happy holidays! [Less]

Following the previously-announced schedule, today the Django team has released Django 1.0.1 beta 1; this is a preview of the upcoming Django 1.0.1 release, which consists solely of bugfixes and other improvements to the Django 1.0 codebase. This ... [More] package also follows our policy of maintaining compatibility in the 1.0 release series. Though it's labeled a "beta", this package is considered to be of production quality; we're releasing it as a preview of Django 1.0.1, and the primary goal of this package is to give users of Django 1.0 an idea of what's been fixed in the codebase since the 1.0 release. If there's a particular issue you're interested in which doesn't seem to be resolved in Django 1.0.1 beta, please consider helping the Django team to fix it by working to develop a patch (see the contribution guidelines for details); Django 1.0.1 is currently scheduled for release on November 14, 2008, which provides a roughly two-week window for submitting patches (and please keep in mind that patches intended for inclusion in 1.0.1 should be against the 1.0.X branch and not trunk). As such, this release is mostly of interest to developers who want to help out with the Django development process; the final Django 1.0.1 release next month, however, will be a recommended upgrade for all users of Django 1.0. Also, this beta release does not contain release notes, as there are no new features, only bugfixes. When the final Django 1.0.1 release is issued next month, a list of resolved issues since 1.0 will be included in lieu of release notes. For verification purposes, a file containing the MD5 and SHA1 checksums of the 1.0.1 beta package has been placed on the djangoproject.com server. The file is PGP-signed with the Django release manager's key; this key has the ID 0x8C8B2AE1 and can be obtained from, e.g., the MIT PGP keyserver. [Less]

With Django 1.0 out the door and a successful inaugural DjangoCon behind us, it's time to look ahead to the future, which includes two releases: Django 1.1, currently targeted for release in March 2009. Django 1.0.1, currently targeted for ... [More] release next month. Both of these releases, of course, will follow our policy of maintaining compatibility in the 1.0 release series. Django 1.1 timeline At the moment, we're aiming to release Django 1.1 on or around March 16, 2009, or roughly six months following the release of Django 1.0. As covered in our release process documentation, the 1.1 release cycle will consist of three phases: feature proposal, feature work and bugfixing/polishing. Since Django 1.1 is happening on a six-month schedule, that means two months for each phase of development; the relevant dates for 1.1 have already been discussed on the django-developers mailing list, but here's the quick breakdown (these dates are still rough estimates, and may change as needed): November 10, 2008: A draft feature list for 1.1 will be posted. November 15, 2008: The 1.1 feature list will be finalized, and no new feature proposals will be accepted for 1.1. January 15, 2009: All major features must be merged into Django trunk, trunk will go into the initial 1.1 feature freeze and work will shift to bugfixes. March 16, 2009: Django 1.1 will be released. As with 1.0, Django 1.1 will be preceded by several pre-release packages to help focus development effort and isolate bugs. March is still quite a ways off, of course, but keep in mind that the feature-proposal window will be closing in a couple of weeks; if there's something you'd really like to see in Django 1.1 and you haven't already started a discussion of it on the django-developers list, you'll want to do so quickly. Django 1.0.1 timeline In the much more immediate future, we're preparing to release Django 1.0.1, which will consist solely of bugfixes and similar improvements to the Django 1.0 codebase. Django 1.0.1 will be a recommended upgrade for anyone who's currently using or migrating to Django 1.0. Because 1.0.1 will only involve bugfixes, with no feature additions to propose or test, the release process for it will be somewhat abbreviated. Here are the key dates: October 31, 2008: Django 1.0.1 beta. Though it will be called a "beta" release, this will mainly serve as a preview of 1.0.1, and will be production-quality; its primary purpose will be to give folks an idea of what's been fixed since the 1.0 release and a last opportunity to submit patches for any fixes they'd like to see make into into 1.0.1 final. November 14, 2008: Django 1.0.1 will be released. From an administrative perspective, the 1.0.1 release will not involve any special categorization or milestones in the ticket tracker; with a release of this type, administrivia in Trac is far less important than simple working code, and any bug is a candidate for fixing up until the day of the release. So if there's a particular issue you'd like to see solved for 1.0.1, the best way to ensure the fix makes it into the release is to provide a working patch. As always, preferential treatment will be given to patches which match our contribution guidelines, especially to patches which include unit tests that both demonstrate the bug and demonstrate the success of the solution. Also, remember that patches for 1.0.1 should be created against the 1.0.X release branch, rather than against trunk. [Less]