Midgard 1.5.0 "Biergarten" released

MUNICH, Jun 23th 2003 -- The Midgard Project has released the latest
version of the Midgard Open Source Content Management Framework.

Midgard provides a reliable CMS framework build on top of the LAMP
platform. Midgard's core features include internationalization,
accessibility, scalability and PHP connectivity.

Major changes:

  * Support for PHP 4.3.x and MySQL 4.x
  * Managing of multilingual content
  * Integrated NTLM single sign-on authentication with Windows 
    networks using Mozilla 1.4 and Internet Explorer
  * Hooks for the MidRepository workflow module

Multilingual content

Multilang system for Midgard was developed by David Schmitter from
Dataflow. It separates object metadata from the actual language versions
of the data. Multilang requires some database structure changes outlined
in the README.multilang file of the midgard-data package.

NTLM authentication

The mod_midgard-preparser Apache module can now provide single sign-on
capabilities with Windows networks. The module requires a recent beta
version of Samba 3.0 and EAPI-enabled Apache 1.3.x. More information in
the INSTALL-NTLM file on mod_midgard-preparser. Midgard's NTLM
authentication capabilities were developed in cooperation with the Samba
Team.
  
Workflow module

David Schmitter from Dataflow has created a configurable workflow and
version control module for Midgard, MidRepository. MidRepository adds
the capability of creating configurable workflow processes for Midgard 
data and managing Midgard content in a CVS repository.
MidRepository can be downloaded from:
  http://midgard.dataflow.ch/

Planned for next release:

  * Sitegroup support is mandatory
  * Pagelinks feature will be removed
  * New Midgard-data package including MidCOM and SpiderAdmin
  * Multilang will be enabled by default
  * Integrated MidRepository workflow module
  * Old mod_midgard will be deprecated in favor of mod_midgard-preparser

About Midgard

The Midgard Content Management Framework was initially released in May
1999, and has since gathered a sizable user and developer community.
Midgard powers thousands of web sites ranging from simple organizational
websites to major portals like New Zealand eGovernment site and
Playbill.

Midgard is being developed by an international team of professionals.
Midgard's development team includes new media designers, system
integrators and content management consultants. Midgard development is
being supported by several commercial and governmental entities
including the European Union.

Midgard developers participate actively in OSCOM, the Open Source
Content Management community's central organization. More information on
the OSCOM website: http://www.oscom.org/

Getting started with Midgard

Midgard tutorial materials from the OSCOM 3 conference are available
online at: 
http://www.slideml.org/files/slidesets/499/title.html

More information

http://www.midgard-project.org/

Torben Nehmer, Midgard release manager
torben@nehmer.net

Henri Bergius, Midgard spokesman
henri.bergius@iki.fi