Editing PhpBB (section)

==History==
<!-- this section is way too long. phpBB's features, by comparison, are barely touched upon -->
phpBB was founded by James Atkinson as a simple UBB-like forum for his own website on June 17, 2000. Nathan Codding and John Abela joined the development team after phpBB's [[Concurrent Versions System|CVS]] repository was moved to [[SourceForge.net]], and work on version 1.0.0 began. A fully functional, pre-release version of phpBB was made available in July.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://forums.devshed.com/showthread.php?threadid=4914 |title=First phpBB 1.0 beta release |publisher=Forums.devshed.com |access-date=2009-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050408071811/http://forums.devshed.com/showthread.php?threadid=4914 |archive-date=April 8, 2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===phpBB 1.0.0===
[[File:PhpBB1-defaultinst.png|thumb|A default installation of the original phpBB]]
phpBB 1.0.0 was released on December 16, 2000,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?p=135543#p135543|title=History of phpBB|access-date=2011-09-24|date=June 7, 2002|publisher=phpBB.com}}</ref> with subsequent improvements to the 1.x codebase coming in two more major installments. The final release in the 1.x line was phpBB 1.4.4, released on November 6, 2001. During the lifetime of the 1.x series, Bart van Bragt, [[Paul S. Owen]] (former co-manager of the project), Jonathan Haase, and Frank Feingold joined the team. phpBB 1.x is no longer supported, and virtually no websites continue to use it.

===phpBB 2.0.x===
[[File:phpBB 2.0.png|thumb|A default installation of phpBB 2.0]]
In February 2001, phpBB 2.0.x began development entirely from scratch; the developer's ambitions for phpBB had outgrown the original [[codebase]]. Doug Kelly joined the team shortly afterward. After a year of development and extensive testing, phpBB 2.0.0, dubbed the "Super Furry" version, was released on April 4, 2002, three days later than intended.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?p=135543#135543 |title=phpBB • View topic – what is the history of phpbb? |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref>

phpBB2 was the predecessor of the present-day phpBB3. Developed during 2001–2002, the [[source code]] was written primarily to run on [[PHP]] 3.0 and 4.0 (version 2.0.13 upped the minimum requirement to PHP 4.0.3 due to a necessary security fix), and by the time that phpBB3 was released in late 2007, the developers and other team members felt that it no longer met their quality coding standards, and announced plans for the retirement/end of support of 2.0.x within a few months of 3.0.0's release.<ref name="community1">{{cite web|url=http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=900655 |title=phpBB • View topic – Retirement/End of Support for phpBB 2.0.x |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> phpBB2 was never officially supported under PHP 5. Although many users had no problems running it after making a few changes to PHP 5's default configuration settings, the teams chose not to offer support for this configuration.<ref>{{cite web|last=Koopmanschap |first=Stefan |url=http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=211009 |title=phpBB statement regarding PHP5 |publisher=Phpbb.com |date=July 17, 2004 |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref>

Official support for phpBB2 ended on January 1, 2009,<ref>{{cite web|author=Marshalrusty |date=January 1, 2009 |url=http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1385785 |title=Support for phpBB 2.0.x has ended |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> and the 2.0.x support forums have been locked. Furthermore, all development for phpBB2, including security patches, has ceased as of February 1, 2009.<ref name="community1"/> However, a number of unofficial support sites for phpBB2 have formed to fill the void.

Many administrators still prefer to run phpBB2 because it provides a much simpler administration interface and has a thriving ecosystem of MODs (modifications) and styles that allow admins many options for customizing the software to their liking. Others still run phpBB2 because they have installed many MODs, none of which are compatible with phpBB3.

The default theme in phpBB2 is named subSilver (The predecessor to SubSilver2, the default in phpBB3), and was designed by [[Tom Beddard|Tom "subBlue" Beddard]]. At the time that it premiered in 2001, it was a revolutionary new design for bulletin boards,{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}} and many bulletin board themes since have borrowed many cues and design elements from subSilver.

Some of phpBB2's major features included the following:

* A [[template engine (web)|templated]] style system intended to simplify customisation and keep the [[PHP]] code separate from the [[HTML]].
* Support for [[internationalisation]] through a language pack system; 48 translations are available for phpBB2 as of 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phpbb.com/languages/?type=20x |title=phpBB2 translation pack downloads |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref>
* Compatibility with multiple [[database management system]]s including [[MySQL]], [[PostgreSQL]], [[Microsoft SQL Server]], and [[Microsoft Access]],
* Code and interface customizations, termed MODs and styles.

The last official release of the 2.0.x line is 2.0.23, released on February 17, 2008.<ref>{{cite web|last=Burn |first=Acyd |url=http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=772285 |title=phpBB 2.0.23 Release Announcement |publisher=Phpbb.com |date=February 17, 2008 |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> However, the code for phpBB 2.0.24 still remains, unreleased, in the Git repository.

===phpBB 3.0.x===
[[File:Phpbb 3.0 prosilver.png|thumb|A default installation of phpBB 3.0]]
Work on phpBB 3.0.x began in late 2002. It was originally intended to be released as phpBB 2.2, and the first planned feature list was announced on May 25, 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=104463 |title=phpBB • View topic – 2.2 Feature List [ updated 25&nbsp;May &#93; |publisher=Phpbb.com |date=May 25, 2003 |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> However, as development progressed, the developers realised that phpBB 2.1.x (the development release cycle for 2.2) had eliminated virtually all compatibility with the 2.0.x line, so the version number for release was changed to 3.0.0, in keeping with the [[Linux kernel]] [[Software versioning|versioning scheme]], which phpBB followed at the time.<ref>{{cite web|author=psoTFX |date=January 14, 2005 |url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=256072 |title=phpBB • View topic – phpBB 2.2 is no more ... meet Olympus |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> In September 2005, Paul Owen resigned as the Development Team Leader and Meik Sievertsen was promoted to the role.

In March 2007, the phpBB team launched their new website, powered by phpBB3 with the new prosilver style.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=526970 |title=New website launch announcement |publisher=Phpbb.com |date=March 18, 2007 |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> The prosilver style was originally not intended to be revealed until the final release of phpBB 3.0.0.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}

On April 30, 2007, phpBB founder and co-Project Manager James Atkinson officially resigned from his duties towards phpBB, citing personal circumstances. With the announcement also came the announcement that phpBB was now newly independent and that the team leaders would be collectively taking charge of the decisions in the future of the project. At the end of May, an announcement was made that Jonathan "SHS`" Stanley, the other co-Project Manager, was stepping down as well for personal reasons.

The first beta of phpBB3 was released in June 2006,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=400283 |title=phpBB 3.0 Beta1 Release Announcement |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> and the first release candidate was released in May 2007.<ref>{{cite web|last=Burn |first=Acyd |url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=543015 |title=phpBB3 RC1 Release Announcement |publisher=Phpbb.com |date=May 20, 2007 |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> The phpBB3 codebase received an external [[security audit]] in September, which was done by [[SektionEins]].<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=584826 |title=phpBB3 Release Candidate 6 (release made after the security audit) |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> Finally, phpBB 3.0.0 "Olympus" (also dubbed the Gold release) was published on December 13, 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.phpbb.com/about/press/ |title=Press Release: phpBB Launches Next Wave of Social Networking and Forum Features |publisher=Phpbb.com |date=December 13, 2007 |access-date=2009-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213134510/http://www.phpbb.com/about/press/ |archive-date=February 13, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=615945 |title=phpBB3 Gold Released |publisher=Phpbb.com |date=December 13, 2007 |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref>

On July 7, 2007, the teams announced that phpBB had been nominated as a finalist for the [[SourceForge.net]] Community Choice Awards in the category of "Best Project for Communications".<ref>{{cite web|last=Burn |first=Acyd |url=http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=563023 |title=phpBB has made the Sourceforge CCA Finalist list! |publisher=Phpbb.com |date=July 7, 2007 |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> At the end of the month, SourceForge.net announced that phpBB had won the award for "Best Project for Communications", and in honour of the award, SourceForge.net donated $1000 in phpBB's name to [[Marie Curie Cancer Care]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/community/index.php/landing-pages/cca07/ |title=Community Choice Awards 2007 Winners |publisher=Sourceforge.net |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/community/cca-winners/ |title=CCA Winners Blog Post on |publisher=Sourceforge.net |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> phpBB also won a "Thingamagoop" from [[Bleep Labs]], and "bragging rights for a full year."<ref>{{cite web|last=Burn |first=Acyd |url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=572273 |title=phpBB's post on winning the Community Choice Award |publisher=Phpbb.com |date=August 3, 2007 |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref>

In September 2007, the teams launched an official phpBB [[podcast]]. It was recorded by a rotating group of phpBB team members with occasional guests, and discussed a number of phpBB-related topics, as well as answering questions e-mailed in from listeners.<ref>{{cite web|author=Techie-Micheal |date=September 14, 2007|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=579959 |title=Official phpBB Podcast Announcement |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> However, the podcast only lasted for a few episodes and production ceased the following spring. Its successor is generally considered to be the new phpBB [[weblog]], which launched in July 2008. The blog is written by phpBB team members (with occasional guest posts by community members) on various topics related to phpBB and provide users with a unique inside look at the activities of the phpBB teams.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1063915 |title=phpBB Blog Announcement |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref>

The phpBB teams held their first-ever phpBB users' conference in London on July 20, 2008, which was titled "Londonvasion 2008."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1058455 |title=Londonvasion 2008 Announcement |publisher=Phpbb.com |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> Londonvasion featured presentations by phpBB team members on various topics important to the phpBB community, MOD authors, and developers. Londonvasion provided a unique opportunity to socialize with members of the phpBB teams. The event also represented the first time that most members of the teams had a chance to meet each other in person.

The phpBB teams underwent numerous changes in 2009. On January 1, the teams formally ended support for phpBB2.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1385785 |title=Support for phpBB 2.0.x has ended |publisher=phpBB.com |date=January 1, 2009 |access-date=2009-11-29}}</ref> Many of the non-development teams released betas and release candidates of side projects during this time. The first beta of AutoMOD, an automatic installer of phpBB MODifications, was released by the Extensions Team (formerly known as the MOD Team) on December 22, 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1370895 |title=AutoMOD 1.0.0 Beta 1 released |publisher=phpBB.com |date=December 22, 2008 |access-date=2009-11-29}}</ref> The first release candidate of the Unified MOD Install Library (UMIL), a framework for allowing MOD authors to design simple database installation scripts, was released by the Extensions Team on January 12, 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1405425 |title=Unified MOD Install Library (UMIL) 1.0.0 RC1 Released |publisher=phpBB.com |date=January 12, 2009 |access-date=2009-11-29}}</ref> The first release candidate of the Support Toolkit, a package of tools to diagnose and fix common support-related issues with phpBB, was released by the Support Team on June 24.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1665575 |title=Support Toolkit RC1 |publisher=phpBB.com |date=June 24, 2009 |access-date=2009-11-29}}</ref>

On June 10, 2009, the phpBB Development Team broke with their precedent of keeping future development plans under wraps and publicly previewed a series of new features that would be coming in phpBB 3.0.6.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.phpbb.com/2009/06/10/phpbb-306-plans/ |title=phpBB 3.0.6 plans |publisher=phpBB.com |date=June 10, 2009 |access-date=2009-11-29}}</ref> After four RC releases, phpBB 3.0.6 was released on November 17.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1859035 |title=phpBB 3.0.6 released |publisher=phpBB.com |date=November 17, 2009 |access-date=2009-11-29}}</ref> The most notable new features included a bare-bones quick reply editor (a feature which the teams had historically been firmly opposed to), support for ACM ([[web cache|cache]]) plugins, [[ATOM feed]] support, and a plugin-based [[CAPTCHA]] system, including built-in support for [[reCAPTCHA]] among others. The modularization of phpBB's CAPTCHA also provided an [[API]] for MOD authors to write CAPTCHA plugins, allowing for greater diversification of the CAPTCHAs used in phpBB installations. The Extensions Team also ran a competition to encourage CAPTCHA plugin development.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1705955 |title=Best Captcha Plugin Competition |publisher=phpBB.com |date=July 22, 2009 |access-date=2009-11-29}}</ref>

On June 10, 2009, phpBB's Development Team revealed that the next phpBB3 release, 3.0.6, would include a significant number of new features.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.phpbb.com/2009/06/10/phpbb-306-plans/|title=phpBB • Blog • phpBB 3.0.6 plans|access-date=June 4, 2016}}</ref> This is unusual for a minor release which is typically limited to bug and security fixes. New features would include support for new [[CAPTCHA]] plugins, [[Atom (web standard)|ATOM]] feeds, support for new [[web cache|cache]] plugins (XCache, [[Alternative PHP Cache]], [[eAccelerator]], [[Memcache]], and a "null" no-cache plugin), and quick reply (an often-requested feature by a subset of phpBB users) among other minor feature additions. phpBB 3.0.6 has had four RC releases, and its final release was on November 17, 2009.

The final stable release of phpBB 3.0 was 3.0.14, released May 4, 2015.<ref>{{cite web|author=phpBB |url=https://www.phpbb.com/downloads/3.0/ |title=Download phpBB 3.0 |publisher=phpBB.com |access-date=2017-01-03}}</ref> End of Life for phpBB 3.0.x was November 2015.<ref>{{cite web|author=phpBB |url=https://www.phpbb.com/about/release/ |title=Release and Update Policy |publisher=phpBB.com |access-date=2017-01-03}}</ref>

===phpBB 3.1.x===
[[File:PhpBB 3.2 Index page (mobile).png|thumb|The responsive design since phpBB 3.1]]
In 2009 the phpBB Development Team had begun working on phpBB 3.1, formerly versioned as phpBB 3.2. (Before July 29, 2009, phpBB followed the original [[Linux version history|Linux kernel versioning scheme]], in which the middle number represents a development version if it is odd and a stable version if it is even).<ref>{{cite web|author=phpBB|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1715935|title=Significant phpBB (development) changes|publisher=phpBB Group|date=July 29, 2009|access-date=2009-07-30}}</ref> The developers previewed their planned feature list at Londonvasion, and new features include a complete overhaul of the Moderator Control Panel (MCP) and moderation capabilities, implementation of [[AJAX]] where it is applicable and helpful, a trigger-based event system, a completely rewritten [[BBCode]] system, [[RSS]] feed support, enhancements to custom profile fields, enhancements to [[private messaging]], a new [[authentication]] system with [[OpenID]] support, and numerous other small changes and features.<ref>{{cite web|author=phpBB |url=http://vimeo.com/1536143 |title=[05&#93; phpBB 3.1 Features on Vimeo |publisher=Vimeo.com |date=August 15, 2008 |access-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> The phpBB teams maintain a website for phpBB development named ''Area51''. In keeping with the tradition to codename every new phpBB3 release after Martian mountains, phpBB 3.1 was code-named "Ascraeus", named after [[Ascraeus Mons]], the second-tallest mountain on [[Mars]]. ([[Olympus Mons]], which 3.0 was named after, is the tallest.)

On July 29, 2009, the Development Team announced "significant changes" to the phpBB's development process and release cycle.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1715935 |title=Significant phpBB (development) changes |publisher=phpBB.com |date=July 29, 2009 |access-date=2009-11-29}}</ref> Chief among these was the decision to abandon the former [[Linux kernel]] [[Software versioning|versioning scheme]], meaning that whether part of the version number was even or odd no longer was significant. As such, Ascraeus (the successor to 3.0.0 Olympus) is to become phpBB 3.1.0. (The original versioning scheme dictated that 3.1.x would be a development branch, meaning that Ascraeus would have been released as 3.2.0.) Subsequent feature releases of phpBB3 will be versioned as 3.2.0, 3.3.0, etc. phpBB 4.0.0 will represent a fundamentally redesigned version of phpBB. The strategy also committed the teams to continue supporting an older "stable" branch for at least 6–9 months after a newer "feature" branch was released. However, an exception was made for 3.0.6, which was already in development. Although it contained enough significant new features that it could have been considered a 3.1.0 release, it remained a part of the 3.0.x branch, which also meant that the teams did not have to simultaneously continue supporting 3.0.5 after 3.0.6's release.

In January 2010, Meik Sievertsen stepped down as Lead Developer, instead taking on the roles of developer and "Server Manager". Nils Adermann was then promoted to Lead Developer.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1941725 |title=A Change in Development Leadership |publisher=phpBB.com |date=January 15, 2010 |access-date=2010-02-02}}</ref> Since then phpBB have been working on moving over to the [[Symfony]] [[web framework]] and released phpBB 3.1.0 on October 28, 2014<ref name="phpbb.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2268866|title=phpBB • phpBB 3.1 Ascraeus Feature Release Published|access-date=June 4, 2016}}</ref>
In March 2010, phpBB moved source code versioning from Subversion to [[Git (software)|Git]]<ref>{{cite web|author=phpBB|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2015905|title=phpBB moves source code versioning from Subversion to Git|publisher=phpBB Group|date=March 7, 2010|access-date=2010-03-07}}</ref> in order to improve developer workflow and better involve the community.

On April 26, 2013, phpBB 3.1 entered the stage of [[feature freeze]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=44195 | title=3.1 feature freeze|date=April 26, 2013 |access-date=2013-05-24}}</ref>  "Ascraeus" was finalized and released on October 28, 2014<ref name="phpbb.com"/> after several release candidates.
A future release "Rhea" (3.2.x) will be made January 7, 2017.<ref name="phpBB 3.2 Rhea is upon us">{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2398141 |title=phpBB 3.2 Rhea is upon us |publisher=phpBB.com |access-date=Jan 3, 2017}}</ref>

On October 12, 2016, phpBB released the latest stable "Ascraeus" version: 3.1.10.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2389426 |title=phpBB 3.1.10 Release – Please Update|publisher=phpBB.com |access-date=Jan 3, 2017}}</ref> Due to the late release of 3.2, it was announced that end of maintenance for 3.1 would be extended to June 2017, and end of life for 3.1 extended to December 2017.<ref name="phpBB 3.2 Rhea is upon us"/>

In addition to the development of phpBB 3.1, other phpBB teams also are in the process of developing numerous other tools for use by the community. Development for these tools was followed on the ''phpBB Code Forge'', which contained the [[Subversion (software)|Subversion]] repositories for these tools and the main phpBB development trunk.

===phpBB 3.2.x===
The first of two release candidates for 3.2.x "Rhea" was made available on June 27, 2016,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2377556 |title=phpBB 3.2.0-RC1 released|publisher=phpBB.com |access-date=Jan 3, 2017}}</ref> the second on December 9, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2396451 |title=phpBB 3.2.0-RC2 released|publisher=phpBB.com |access-date=Jan 3, 2017}}</ref> It was announced on December 25, 2016, that the official launch for phpBB 3.2.0 would be on January 7, 2017.<ref name="phpBB 3.2 Rhea is upon us"/> {{Update inline|date=June 2019}} phpBB 3.2 introduces major changes and new functionality. Among the new features are a completely revised installer including CLI ([[Command-line interface|Command-Line Interface]]) support, a new [[BBCode]] system that adds more power to quotes and supports emojis, and full support for [[PHP#PHP 7|PHP 7.1]].

===phpBB 3.3.x===
The first release candidate for 3.3.x "Proteus" was made available on December 23, 2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2533081 |title=phpBB 3.3.0-RC1 released|publisher=phpBB.com |access-date=Dec 23, 2019}}</ref> On January 6, 2020, phpBB officially launched phpBB 3.3.0.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2534541 |title=phpBB 3.3 Proteus Feature Release Published|publisher=phpBB.com |access-date=Jan 6, 2020}}</ref> It was built upon 3.2 "Rhea" and it's their big step towards a more modern base while maintaining a clear update path. Starting in version 3.3.3, phpBB began supporting installations using PHP 8 and MySQL 8. The latest updates to the branch focus on stability improvements and user interface enhancements.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 August 2024 |title=phpBB 3.3.13 Release |url=https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2656048 |access-date=31 August 2024}}</ref>