Lodz, February 26th 2008 -- The Midgard Project has released first alpha, 2.0 release version of the Midgard Open Source Content Management System.

About this release

The first alpha of the Midgard 2.0 branch is targeted at web framework and desktop developers. This release does not consist of the CMS components, but instead targets at providing the development tools for building a modern web framework. Framework based not only on one tool, but which can connect multiple technologies and languages.

The version 3 of MidCOM web content management components for PHP5 are currently in the process of being ported to the Midgard 2.0 platform.

Midgard

Midgard is an object-oriented storage abstraction layer for interconnected web and desktop applications.

Midgard's philosophy includes building on top of a well-known and supported toolkit of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP on the web end, and GNOME libraries like glib and libgda on the system end or SQLite and Python for personal use.

The Midgard platform enables developers to define a storage structure once and use it on both web and desktop applications, with the possibility of easy data replication between the two.

On top of the current stable Midgard 1.8 core, the PHP-based Midgard Component Framework (MidCOM) makes Midgard a capable content management system and web framework.

New Midgard architecture

Language independence

Midgard is also language independent and due to its powerful architecture has proven as stable, secure and flexible solution implemented in various environments:

• PHP5 extension for object-oriented access to the storage system
• Python module for object-oriented access to the storage system
• Apache module for handling persistent connections and initialization of the platform
• GTK desktop applications

Database independence

The Midgard 1.x was heavily coupled with the MySQL database. The new 2.0 architecture is instead built on top of libgda, the GNOME database abstraction layer. This enables Midgard to be used with various storage engines, including:

• MySQL
• Postgres
• SQLite
• Microsoft SQL Server
• Oracle
• DB2

Built-in replication and metadata

All Midgard objects are automatically equipped with a consistent set of metadata properties that can be used for access control and workflow.

In addition, Midgard provides an API for serializing and unserializing stored objects in XML format that can be used for replicating data between different systems. The replication architecture can be used for staging/live web environments or mobile applications that synchronize between each other or a web back-end.

Planned for next Midgard 2 releases

• New rewritten ACL integrated within core libraries
• New advanced Midgard Style Engine
• D-BUS signal support
• MidCOM web toolkit ported to Midgard 2 platform
• Support for Template Abstraction Language for MidCOM components
• Mono/C# and Ruby language bindings
• Easy Midgard CMS installer

Midgard resources

• Download page and changelog for latest release
• Bugs reporting

User and developers support:

• Users' forum
• Developers' forum
• IRC: #midgard on irc.freenode.net

About Midgard

The Midgard Framework development started in 1997 and it was initially released as free software in May 1999. Midgard Project has since gathered an active user and developer community, powering thousands of web sites ranging from simple organizational intranets to large community portals.

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 has been supported by several commercial and governmental entities including the European Union and the Swedish Internet Foundation.

Midgard is free software available under the GNU LGPL license.

Contacts

Piotr Pokora, Midgard release manager piotrek.pokora(at)gmail.com

Henri Bergius, Midgard spokesman henri.bergius(at)iki.fi

The Midgard Project http://www.midgard-project.org