Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 07:55:57 +0300
From: Henri Bergius <Henri.Bergius@nemein.com>
To: user@midgard-project.org, lwn@lwn.net, marty@linuxtoday.com,
Subject: Midgard 1.4.1 "Bifrost" released

Midgard 1.4.1 "Bifrost" released

MINSK, HELSINKI, MAR 24TH 2001 -- The Midgard Project Association has
released a new version of Midgard Content Management and Application
Serving Suite. The new release contains Midgard core libraries,
scripting language bindings for PHP4 and PHP3, Web application server
for the Apache platform and Asgard, the Web-based administration
interface.

THIS RELEASE

Midgard 1.4.1 is the first release of Midgard to support the PHP4
scripting language as a loadable module. No patching of the scripting
engine is required. Many bugs in core Midgard utilities like the
Repligard replication system have also been fixed, providing a stable
content management system for highly available environments.

The Bifrost 1.4.1 holds many improvements over the earlier 1.4
release:

      - PHP4 support. Midgard 1.4.1 fully supports PHP4. It can be
        used with PHP 4.0.4pl1 or greater (4.0.5RC2 recommended) in
        either static or dynamic modes, as well as self contained
        extension. No need for patching Zend Engine and PHP internals
        anymore. The PHP3 module is still distributed as pre-patched
        PHP 3.0.18
  
      - Midgard 1.4.1 can be used as the session mechanism for
        PHP4. However, this is not enabled by default, and works only
        when the module is compiled statically into PHP4
  
      - User-defined formatters for &(); visualizers are now supported,
        providing more flexible content formatting

      - The Repligard replication utility supports SiteGroups
        environments and provides a secure configuration system

      - The Asgard administrative interface distributed by default,
        included in the new installation utility for data package with
        means for automated installing

ABOUT MIDGARD

Midgard is a freely-available solution for managing content on Web and
WAP services. It is also a toolkit for building dynamic applications
to power eBusiness and Information Management processes. Midgard has
been built and is actively maintained a global group of software
professionals working together in this Open Source project.

Midgard is a powerful toolkit for managing online information. Writing
applications and functionalities to the platform is done using the
easy-to-learn PHP scripting language. All interfacing with the system
is done via standard Web interfaces, and no special tools are needed
for developers or content authors.

Midgard works on most common UNIX platforms, including Linux, FreeBSD
and Solaris. Prebuilt binary packages are available for some Linux
platforms (including Red Hat and Mandrake), and the system can be
installed from sources to most other environments.

LICENSING ISSUES

The Midgard core libraries are distributed under the GNU Library
General Public License, a license which permits the software to be
freely used so long as it is dynamically linked or the user can relink
it to new versions of the libraries. This is the same license used by
the Linux C libraries. This licensing scheme qualifies Midgard as free
software developed with an Open Source model.

The Midgard-based administration tools and usage examples in the
Midgard packages are distributed under the X Consortium license, which
doesn't impose any conditions on modification or redistribution of
source code or binaries other than requiring that copyright/license
notices are left intact. The new administration site, Asgard, is
licensed under GPL.

Official Documentation is licensed GFDL which supports the Free Usage
principles defined by the GPL for code.

DOWNLOAD LOCATIONS

        Source packages:
                http://www.midgard-project.org/download/

        Binaries (Red Hat, Mandrake):
                http://www.midgard-project.org/download/binaries/

        Midgard 1.4 Manual:
                http://www.midgard-project.org/req/midgard-1.4/

BUG REPORTS

Bug reports and enhancement requests on Midgard 1.4 can be submitted
to the Midgard Bug Tracker at

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

Users are also encouraged to join the discussion on the Midgard user
mailing list. Information on subscribing can be found from

        http://www.midgard-project.org/article/996.html

THE MIDGARD PROJECT

Midgard Project Ry (MPRy) is a nonprofit organization founded in
Helsinki, Finland for the advancement of Midgard by guaranteeing free
usage to developers and users. MPRy is responsible for governing
copyrights for the major components of the Application. Voting members
of the board are a volunteer group of professional software engineers
who are responsible for managing the core distribution and
coordinating development.

MPRy promotes Midgard by publishing a Web site, mailing lists and
newsletter. The organization represents Midgard by participating in IT
events, arranging training, Public Relations etc.

To support its operations, MPRy accepts donations and collects
membership fees. MPRy may choose to publish and sell supplemental
Midgard products. Membership to the Midgard Project is open to
everyone.

CONTACT INFORMATION

        Alexander Bokovoy, Midgard 1.x branch maintainer
        ab@avilink.net

        Henri Bergius, chairman, MPRy
        Henri.Bergius@iki.fi, +358-40-525 1334

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