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Posts Tagged ‘Community’

Vote For phpBB’s Next Codename

Posted by MattF in Development with the tags , , , , , on October 16th, 2016

At phpBB we love codenames as much as we love Bertie.

Previously we have travelled to Mars and Saturn to find the most prominent features to name our versions. Now it’s time to come up with another codename for the version of phpBB.

In line with having an open mind for new features, looks, and changes in phpBB’s next major version we’re also opening up the decision on the codename to the community.

The phpBB Team has already pre-selected four possibilities from a rather long list.

Now it’s time for you, the community, to have the final say:
[Vote] Codename of next phpBB version

The vote will end in two weeks on October 30th, 2016.

Happy voting!


 beer_bertie

Help Us Automate phpBB Testing

Posted by imkingdavid in Development with the tags , , , on May 22nd, 2012

Automated Testing is a vital part of the development cycle, as it decreases the amount of time developers must spend making sure certain functionality works, and prevents new patches from breaking areas of functionality that are covered by the test suite. As you may have guessed, Automated Tests are simply sets of functionality tests that are automatically run as new features are developed, bugs are fixed, and changes are made to the codebase. Nothing is merged into the core phpBB repository without ensuring that whatever changes are being made do not break any existing functionality. If any tests fail, the developer is able to save time and energy that would have been spent later on, when a bug report would have been filed, by finding the problem and fixing it up front. Not only does this help by increasing the efficiency of the development cycle, but it also improves the quality of the software as a whole, because we can be certain that all features work as intended without having to manually test each one every time something is changed.

That sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, it is. The only problem is, only a very small portion of the code is actually covered by tests. One reason for this is because the automated tests have not been around for as long as the phpBB3 codebase, so they have had to be written long after the features they are testing have been merged, rather than in conjunction with the features themselves. Another reason is that there are two types of tests that need to be written: unit tests and functional tests.

Unit tests are simply tests that attempt to run certain peices of code that do not require a webserver or phpBB installation to work. These tests are generally easier and faster because all of the information they need is readily available and hardcoded into the test suite.

On the other hand, Functional tests are needed to run functionality that requires a phpBB installation. For instance, if you want to test whether an authentication plugin works, you have to actually be able to test logging into a board. For that, you need a database with a user account. You also need to be able to test that a cookie is sent. Unit tests cannot handle that, but Functional tests, are able to simulate browsing and using the forum almost just like a normal user.

However, functional tests cover even less of the code and functionality than unit tests do, and time that is spent writing functional tests is time that is not spent writing new functionality or expanding on existing functionality. So while we need functional tests to reap the benefits I explained above, it does not make sense to devote all of our time to writing tests and therefore have a significant “dry period”, during which no new or changed functionality is incorporated into the software.

This is where you come in. I, like many of you, was kind of intimidated when I first started to contribute to the core of phpBB. I felt much safer writing MODs because I knew my work would not be scrutinized as much as if I were to submit a patch to the core (that is not to say that the MOD team does not carefully review each and every MOD, but rather, that my code would likely not be viewed by as many people and would not be held to as high a standard). However, I found that by writing functional tests, I not only was able to contribute to the betterment of the software, but I also was able to better learn how things worked and how I could therefore use the things I learned in not only my MODs but also my core patches.

So all of that to say, there is plenty of work to be done and we would love to see contributions to our test framework from our vast, talented phpBB community. As I said, these contributions help not only the software and phpBB community as a whole, but also can give you the knowledge and skills you need to improve your MODs and, should you decide to, your patches to the phpBB software.

There is a wealth of information in the phpBB Development Wiki (see Automated Tests) to get you started with writing and running tests. And if you have a question or need help understanding how to do something, you are welcome to ask me or another developer in the #phpbb-dev IRC channel.

The Teal Troopers – The Website Team: Past, Present, and Future

Posted by Sam in Website with the tags , , on January 15th, 2012

Up until recently, the Website Team was a sleepy team within phpBB that acquired team members from other teams and worked behind closed doors in order to ensure the full operation of the website. It is a team that is not very well publicized nor is really known what exactly we do. It has had its lows and even fewer highs, but now the need is too great to keep our operation small and closed.

The past

This historically small team has been known to take current phpBB team members in prior to their departure, during a time where it is not easy for them to contribute much at all. General website maintenance fell to the team’s themselves, each of them taking care of their patron area of the website. While this worked for a while, it has caused more issues than it was worth. Our website is inundated with duplicate CSS, inefficiency in JavaScript, and general chaos in the backend code.

The present

During the past year, the website team has been making the transition from a sleepy team who takes care of few things to a more active team that handles day-to-day maintenance and testing prior to deployment of the website.

We’ve picked a few members and lost many. This is mainly due with the fact that this is only team where it is impossible to get help directly from the community because it’s an internal codebase. It may not have been very noticeable, but any team member the website team picked up was formerly on another team within phpBB.

The future

Currently, we have serveral maintenance projects we are overseeing and one very large project that’s early in development. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to announce these at the moment. I do think it is worth mentioning though, for we are eventually looking to adopt a more open model, even going so far as to release some new code we’re writing on github in an effort to pick up contributors.

To do so, however, we’ll need some help. The future of phpBB.com is a blank slate–and we’re looking for designers, programmers, and other individuals with skills who can help draft the slate into a reality. If you’d like to help out, and have the time and ability to do so, please contact Sam with samples of your work (P.S. being active on the forums on phpbb.com and Area51 are a huge plus). This is your opportunity to make an impact on the phpBB project for users, developers, team members, and more.

Setting up a community: checklist

Posted by battye in Support with the tags , , on August 25th, 2009

This blog post outlines the key points you must consider if you are going to set up a forum. It is mainly directed to people who have not set up a forum before, but it might also be helpful to existing forum owners who are thinking about creating more in the future.

Feel free to print this page out and work through the list. Read the rest of this entry »

Junior Developers

Posted by naderman in Development with the tags , , , , , on June 17th, 2009

phpBB is continuing its process of opening up the development process. After an internal trial phase we have now opened up the Junior Developer Team to regular members of our community. An increasing amount of people involved in phpBB development should both speed up the development and improve quality.

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phpBB 3.0.6 plans

Posted by Acyd Burn in Development, Modifications, Styles with the tags , , , on June 10th, 2009

Here we are. phpBB 3.0.5 got released and work on phpBB 3.0.6 began. Previously, we concentrated on fixing bugs and only introduced tiny new features. This time, phpBB 3.0.6 will be a “feature” release, packed with numerous new, cool, stunning, breath-taking… err, just new features. 😉 We will now tell you which new features are planned for 3.0.6 and what style authors and modders need to take care of.

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Guest Post: Supporting phpBB by JimA

Posted by wGEric in Support with the tags , , on April 6th, 2009

Because phpBB is a very large product, it needs to be supported. People who have a problem/question and they come here to find an answer or solution. Have you ever looked at the support forums? If so, you might have seen that there are many many topics a day and just a few people answering the topics, which is great of course.

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Advantages of session integration

Posted by battye in Modifications with the tags , , on January 9th, 2009

As the world moves towards Web 2.0, it is becoming increasingly important to have a dynamic website – something which most people are using the PHP language to achieve. Unlike the use of HTML by itself to create a website, HTML and PHP together allow a website to be much more flexible, such as connecting to a database.

If you are running a bulletin board based on phpBB3, then it is worthwhile considering the benefits of integrating your main website into phpBB3.

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The role of the administrator when opening a forum

Posted by battye in Moderating with the tags , , on July 1st, 2008

The number one question most administrators ask is “how do I attract users to my website?”. Unfortunately, there is no magical answer which will apply to everyone, but there are things which you can do as an administrator to ensure visitors to your forum will stick around long enough to register.

Once you have chosen your niche and set up your forum, you have a blank canvas. As a site administrator you have two levels to work on:

  • A technical level, and;
  • A user level

On the technical level, you are the webmaster and the forum administrator.

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