With PHPFusion 5 due out, I'm happy to announce that there are to be no further major structure changes AFTER this release. This does not mean the project is to cease development, that simply is not the case. I intend to continue improving PHPFusion wherever possible, but what will change is the constant need to strip out modded code whenever you upgrade to each new release. So PHPFusion is just going to be bigger and better, it is also going to be easier to keep up to date!

Yes after many months of hard work, I am delighted to announce the completion of PHPFusion 5! Now before you get excited, there are things I need to sort out before PHPFusion 5 is released, but I can give you a date for your diary. Ready? Got a pen? paper? something to lean on? spectacles? lights on? If you didn't keep interrupting I'd tell you! Ok, ok, I concede......I'll get back to you. I'm sure you're going to enjoy PHPFusion 5, but it's important that you note, PHPFusion 5 is pretty much a new product, so I see it as more of a successor to earlier versions. PHPFusion 5 is by far a more complete CMS and will no doubts pit PHPFusion against the mighty PHP-Nuke, e107, Nuke-News, Mambo etc. The much wanted plug-in system is finally in! Aptly called Infusions, now adding features to your setup will be a simple matter of uploading the files and activating them via the Infusion Management admin panel. So things are now in motion, and it's getting closer. That's all for now. Oh and the release date is the 10th of December!

An exploit has been discovered by Grindordie which can change a user's password. This is regarded as low risk because it requires the user to click a bogus button which in turn executes the user's update profile page. Of course, I have produced a defensive fix which prevents this exploit from working. The patch, profile-fix, is available from the PHPFusion Core Downloads area. The full/upgrade packs have been updated to include the above fix. Click read more to find out what changes have been made.

PHPFusion 5 is edging slowly towards release. It has been a long few months for me, and I need a break! Anyway, I'm hopeful PHPFusion 5 will be out in a matter of weeks. Testing is almost complete but for a few minor irks which need sorting out. I also need to produce documentation for the Infusion developers kit and finalise FAQ's regarding PHPFusion 5's new features etc. We're almost done, but don't hold your breath!

PHPFusion 5 looks certain for release in December. The 4th beta will be released to the testing team in the next week or so, I expect PHPFusion 5 to enter final testing shortly after beta 4. Due to the number of language file alterations, translations will need to be re-done, and I need your help if you can translate English into a foreign language. Danish & German translators are already accounted for. If you'd like to help please post a comment in this news item. Thankyou for your continued support and patience.

Who asked? Come on, own up! PHPFusion 5 continues to progress at a steady pace. I had hoped to have atleast released a preliminary beta by now. However, I am holding back just a little longer in order to iron out some minor problems. I remain committed to delivering PHPFusion 5 before the end of December. I can never give an exact date, but you will know when I know!

As I stated over a month ago, by keeping database backups on your server, that data poses a potential security hazard. My advice is to encrypt the folder db_backups. To do this, first, go to Custom Pages and enter this: Replace the phrase a-short-sentence with your own short phrase, then click preview to get your encrypted value, e.g. b12f5a69faf109e23c4a251ccda25088. Copy this value and open the file fusion_admin/db_backup.php and change $dbbackupdir like so: if (!Admin()) header("Location: ../index.php"); //*** change this to where to store the backups. $admindir=fusion_basedir."fusion_admin"; $dbbackupdir="$admindir/b12f5a69faf109e23c4a251ccda25088/"; Finally, you will need to ftp into your site and rename the folder db_backups to the same value e.g. b12f5a69faf109e23c4a251ccda25088. Obviously your md5 value will differ depending on what phrase you use, but don't copy my example!

The gremlins are having a whale of a time it seems. I have been alerted that the current code to control any malicious javascript is not working. I have performed a few tests, and have found this to be true. The cause of this failure has been isolated, and I have updated the full/upgrade packages. Existing users are strongly advised to download the file 401 Security Update. This pack also includes the recent user name check in both the registration and update profile routines. Thanks to Grindordie for the heads up! More Late last night I was informed about a potential exploit in registration.php, this time via the location/web url input. This has been fixed and added to this pack. Finally, since a few users have reported their site does not work after updating, I have merged this update with the previous patch as described in This News item.

It has been brought to my attention that there is a minor security problem with the registration page. The fault does allow a user to create a clone account, that's a new account using an existing name. The cause: the username textbox accepts 50 characters, but the username db field is only 30 characters long. This issue can be fixed by downloading the Registration Security Fix. Thanks to Xer0X for the information. Update: I've added some extra code to strip out multiple spaces and also added the fixes to update_profile.php. The full/upgrade packs have also been updated.

FlashChat is a simple, customizable chat room that anyone can add to their website. It includes support for multiple chat forums, administrative controls, and over a dozen IRC-like options. FlashChat was one of the original (maybe THE original) Flash-based chatrooms on the web when it was first introduced in 1999 using Flash 5 technology. Since then, it has grown to a much more complex and customiable system, and uses Flash MX technology, with PHP/MySQL to run the backend engine. The real beauty of FlashChat is that it can be integrated easily into commonly used cms packages, including PHPFusion. It's extremely easy to install and offers tons of useful features. FlashChat is available now for the small sum of $5 (about £2.75). For more info visit Darren's $5 script archive.

PHPFusion 5 is coming on nicely indeed. I am working hard on the plug-in system, which we will be calling 'Infusions', an apt choice in my opinion. Infusion will range from simple side panels (or center panels), to seperate pages. Of course, some Infusions may need to install a database table or an admin panel. These can all be done via a standard file which I will make available soon. With the addition of Infusions, PHPFusion 5 will be the most flexible release so far!

As you are aware I am constantly working to improve PHPFusion. I can now confirm that the next evolution of PHPFusion, version v5, is under development and is progressing at a reasonable pace (see the dev log). There is no release date yet, and it will be a fair while before it enters beta. The reason is that I want to add a number of new features which will require time to develop. I am also hoping to add some kind of plug-in feature to make the addition of modifications easier. Of course I also want to improved some of PHPFusion's current features too. Will PHPFusion v5 support upgrades from existing versions? Yes, definitely.

Earlier today I was informed of a few minor security problems and one very dangerous database backup risk. The minor problems are easily fixed, download the file 4.01 Security Fixes from the Downnloads area (PHPFusion Core), and replace your current files with the new ones. As for your database backups, you are advised NOT to keep your backups stored on your server, instead download the file to your computer and delete the file off your server. Alternatively, rename your db_backups folder and edit the line $dbbackupdir="$admindir/db_backups/"; (replace db_backups with the name of the folder). The Full Install and Upgrade packs have been updated to include the fixed files.

PHPFusion v4.01 has been updated to fix the Photo Gallery problems. The Photo Gallery is dependent the gd extension, an image minipulation add-on. For the best results you need at least v2.0.1 of this extension. However, this updated release will cater for earlier revisions of the extension, but with degraded thumb image quality.

PHPFusion 4.01 is now available for download. v4.01 features the most requested new addition since the project began, a Photo Gallery! The Photo Gallery is based on CrappoMan's excellent work plus a few tweaks of my own just to make it a tiny bit more user friendly. There are many other new features/updates & fixes included, to see the list of all changes click Read More. PLEASE NOTE: Themes from previous releases (v4.00 or earlier) are not directly compatible with v4.01 due to alterations in each theme's theme.php script & styles.css file. The upgrade script will change your theme to the new default theme, Tropicano. You can download PHPFusion v4.01 from the Downloads page.