Moodle 1.7 Beta

Martin branched Moodle 1.7 from CVS HEAD today and announced the release of Moodle 1.7 Beta. This is a beta release, and is not recommended for production sites. The release notes has a list of the headline features for this new version:

• Roles

Permissions based on fine-grained capabilities allow all kinds of roles to be created and assigned in all contexts around Moodle. This creates a great deal more flexibility in the permissions that you can grant to people.

• XML database schema

Added support for MS-SQL and Oracle with more databases to come. Developers now have just one XML file to edit when changing the database structure, and there is even a very funky editor for this file built into Moodle

• New Admin interface

Completely new admin interface, with accessible design and cool features to make access to settings fast and easy.

• AJAX Course editing

The Topics and Weekly course formats now feature AJAX editing which means you can drag drop blocks, activities and sections (weeks/topics) and it all happens instantly. No more page reloading!

• Unit testing framework

Making it easier for developers to write test code, which should ultimately lead to a more reliable Moodle.

Give it a spin, throw upgrades and course backups at it, and report any issues on our new bug tracker, my home for the the next few weeks!

Moodle 1.6.3

A new minor version of the current stable branch has also been cut. Moodle 1.6.3 is mainly a bug fix release. A list of improvements can be found in the 1.6.3 release notes.

As usual, you can grab the files from download.moodle.com.