The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the availability of the Joomla! 3.8 Release Candidate. Community members are asked to download and install the package in order to provide quality assurance for the forthcoming 3.8 release.

Joomla! 3 is the latest major release of the Joomla! CMS, with 3.8 the ninth standard-term support release in this series.
Please note that going from 3.7 to 3.8 is a one-click upgrade and is NOT a migration. The same is true is for any subsequent versions in the 3 series of the CMS. That being said, please do not upgrade any of your production sites to the release candidate as this release is ONLY intended for testing and there is no upgrade path from non-stable releases.

What is this release for?

This is a RELEASE CANDIDATE that should only be used on test sites. Release candidates cannot be upgraded.
Extension and template developers are encouraged to work with this release in order to prepare extensions for the stable release of Joomla! 3.8, though there shouldn't be any backward compatibility issues. Users are encouraged to test the package for issues and to report issues in the Joomla! CMS Issue Tracker.
Please do not upgrade any of your production sites to the release candidate and do not start a new site on a release candidate as they are ONLY intended for testing and there is no upgrade path.

When is the stable release due?

The present expected schedule is this:

• September 12, 2017 - 3.8 Release Candidate 2 Only if required
• September 19, 2017 - 3.8 Stable

Please note that the specific date of releases depends on availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control. You can join the testing and reporting to help ensure a solid, timely delivery (see “How can you help…” below).

Which bugs have been fixed in Joomla! 3.8?

A full list of issues resolved can be found on GitHub.

What’s new in Joomla! 3.8

The big question is, what is new in Joomla! 3.8?

Here are some of the new features…

• New Routing System - The new routing system gives users more control over their URL structure, including the often requested ability to remove IDs from URLs
• Joomla! 4 Compatibility Layer - The development on Joomla! 4 has made some changes in how the core code is structured by migrating classes to use PHP namespaces. Joomla! 3.8 includes a mapping layer to allow developers to use the older class names while being able to take advantage of the new class name structure.
• Improved Sample Data Installation - It is now possible to install sample data within your site backend after finishing the installation process, this can allow users to create their own generic data sets or extension developers to provide easy-to-install sample data for their extensions
• Sodium Encryption Support - PHP 7.2 introduces the new sodium extension for processing encrypted data, through a polyfill of this library Joomla! makes this new API available for all of our users even before they upgrade to PHP 7.2
• And many more ...

How can you help Joomla! development?

There are a variety of ways in which you can get actively involved with Joomla! It doesn't matter if you are a coder, an integrator, or merely a user of Joomla. You can contact any one of our Production members, to get more information, or if you are ready you can jump right into the Joomla! Bug Squad.

The Joomla! Bug Squad is one of the most active teams in the CMS development process and is always looking for people (not just developers) that can help with sorting bug reports, coding patches and testing solutions. A great way for increasing your working knowledge of the Joomla! code base, and also a great way to meet new people from all around the world.

If you are interested, please read about us on the Joomla! Wiki. If you wish to join, email Niels Braczek (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), our Bug Squad coordinator.

You can also help Joomla! development by thanking those involved in the many areas of the process.

The Project also wants to thank all of the contributors who have taken the time to prepare and submit work to be included in the Joomla! CMS and Framework.

A Huge Thank You to Our Volunteers!

This release is the result of thousands of hours of work by hundreds of volunteers.

A big thank you goes out to everyone that contributed to the 3.8 release! Including all feature work, there are now over 475 commits to our code base since the 3.7.4 release, thanks in part to our emphasis on a smaller feature release and scheduling the release closer to our previous bug releases.

Help the Joomla! 3.8 Marketing team!

You can already translate in your language the upcoming landing page for Joomla! 3.8 at Crowdin. We have also a wide range of teaser imagery you can share and translate, which can be found here. We would love you to spread the Joomla! love and get the word out to your network.