Announcing CiviCRM 4.2 and the new Extensions Directory

The team is excited to announce the release of 4.2 stable with support for Drupal 7, Joomla 2.5 and WordPress 3.3.

You can download the release from SourceForge, and you can also test drive the release on each platform using the public demos:

• CiviCRM 4.2 on Drupal 7
• CiviCRM 4.2 on Joomla 2.5
• CiviCRM 4.2 on Wordpress 3.3

Extensions take flight

The combination of extendability and a facility for folks to share their innovations is a key to the success and growth of the three content management platforms that CiviCRM integrates with. After several "experimental implementations" - we think the extensions functionality for CiviCRM is now ready for prime time with the 4.2 release. This includes a new searchable Extensions Directory, Civix - a packaging tool for extension developers, and much improved extension discovery, download and installation functionality.

If you have developed additional functionality for CiviCRM - be it a payment processor, a report, a module with a whole new set of workflows … please consider sharing your work with the broader community by posting it on the Extensions Directory. Not only will you be giving back - but you're likely to get back suggestions, additional testing and perhaps even code improvements.

What's else is new in 4.2?

Here's a quick list of some of the other cool new features and improvements in this release:

• Inline (quick) editing of contact fields (email, phone, communications preferences, custom fields) from Contact Summary - CRM-9908
• Recurring contributions and auto-renew memberships: allow self-service and back-office update and cancellation - CRM-10076
• Offer donors a choice of payment processors on your online contribution pages - CRM-9850
• Support for SMS blasts and interactions - CRM-9782
• Relative date filters on all search forms (e.g. "last month", "this year-to-date") - CRM-9427
• Improve search filters for mailings and link to advanced search from mailing summaries - CRM-9542
• Batch (automated) dedupe and merge - CRM-9312
• Create and send thank-you letters from contribution search - CRM-9998
• Multiple membership renewal reminders - CRM-8359
• Batch entry of contributions and membership payments (quick input of batches of checks). Read more here- CRM-9834
• Replace hard-code email address in online event registration forms with a reserved profile, and allow online event registration forms to NOT collect email addresses - CRM-9587
• Support price sets for recurring contributions - CRM-9504

Want to learn more? Check out the complete list of ~150 improvements and new features, as well as a list of the bug fixes included in the 4.2 release - both on the issue tracker.

Downloads

You can download the release from SourceForge - select from the civicrm-stable section. The filenames include the 4.2.0labels, e.g. civicrm-4.2.0-drupal.tar.gz or civicrm-4.2.0-joomla.tar.gz or civicrm-4.2.0-wordpress.tar.gz. Make sure you're downloading the correct version: for Drupal or Joomla or Wordpress.

New Installations

If you are installing CiviCRM 4.2 from scratch, please use the corresponding automated installer instructions:

• Install CiviCRM 4.2 on Drupal 7
• Install CiviCRM 4.2 on Joomla 1.7
• Install CiviCRM 4.2 on Wordpress
• Drupal 6 (not officially supported)

Upgrading to 4.2

The procedure for upgrading is described in following documents:

• Upgrade Drupal Sites to 4.2
• Upgrade Joomla Sites to 4.2
• Upgrade WordPress Sites to 4.2

Contributors

Community support and engagement is the force that sustains and drives CiviCRM forward. This release would not have been possible without the incredible contributions of these people and organizations:

Abril Rocabert, Adam Wight, Alice Aguilar, Allen Shaw, Andres Spagarino, Andrew Harris, Andrew Hunt, Andrew Walker, Andre Gurgel, Anthony Camilleri, Ariel Gold, Bob Vincent, Brian Shaugnessy, Chris Burgess, Chris Ward, Coleman Watts, Dave D, Dave Moreton, Eileen McNaughton, Erik Brower, Erik Hommel, Frank Gomez, Graylin Kim, Jamie McClelland, Jane Hanley, Jason Bertolacci, Jeroen Bensch, Jim Meehan, Jon Goldberg, Jonathan Mark, Joe Murray, Kasia Wakarecy, Katie Horn, Katy Jockelson, Kellie Brownell, Ken West, Ken Zalewski, Lisa Jervis, Marianela Zucotti Bozzano, Mathieu Lutfy, Matt Niemayer, Micah Lee, Michael Daryabeygi, Michael McAndrew, Nicolas Ganivet, Noah Miller, Parvez Saleh, Peter Gehres, Peter McAndrew, Robyn Perry, Samuel Vanhove, Simon West, Stephane Lussier, Steve Colson, Stuart Gaston, Torrance Hodgeson, Xavier Dutoit.

AGH Strategies, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, Association for Learning Technology, Backoffice Thinking, Circle Interactive, CiviDesk, Community Builders, DC Roadrunners, EE-atWork, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Freeform Solutions, Free Software Foundation, Fuzion (NZ), Giant Rabbit, Gingko Street Labs, Kindling Trust, Koumbit, Korlon, International Mountain Biking Association,  JMA Consulting, Lighthouse Consulting and Design, National Democratic Institute, New York State Senate, Ninjitsu Web Development, Nonprofit Solutions, NS Web Solutions, Palentetech, Progressive Technology Project, River Pool at Beacon, San Francisco Baykeeper,  Switchback, Tech to the People,  The Monthly, Third Sector Design, Veda Consulting, Voluntary Action Westminster,  Woolman Sierra Friends Center, Woven, Zing.