Ghost Release: 0.9.0 Beta 1

TL;DR

Ghost 0.9.0-beta.1 introduces a major architectural change by extracting the admin client into a separate project and integrating it as a submodule. This release also adds comprehensive timezone support for permalinks and publishing, ensuring consistent date handling across the platform. The update includes numerous dependency updates and infrastructure improvements to enhance development workflows.

Highlight of the Release

• Ghost-Admin extracted into a separate project and integrated as a submodule
• Comprehensive timezone support for permalinks and publishing
• Improved development workflow with updated Grunt tasks
• Numerous dependency updates to improve stability and performance

Migration Guide

for Ghost 0.9.0-beta.1

For Developers

1. New Submodule Structure:

   • After updating to 0.9.0-beta.1, run grunt init to properly initialize the Ghost-Admin submodule
   • The grunt init task now runs update_submodules first to ensure client code is in place

2. Bower Changes:

   • The .bowerrc file has been removed
   • Bower components are now installed in the standard location within the client directory
   • Running bower install from the root directory will now fail as expected (this is by design)
   • Use npm install && bower install inside the client directory for client-side dependencies

3. Timezone Handling:

   • All dates are now stored as UTC
   • Use the new timeZone service for handling timezone conversions
   • Date-based permalinks now respect the blog's timezone setting

For Site Owners

1. Timezone Settings:
   • Check your blog's timezone settings to ensure they're correctly configured
   • Be aware that changing the timezone will affect how dates are displayed and when scheduled posts are published

Note: This is a beta release and should not be used in production environments.

Upgrade Recommendations

As this is explicitly labeled as a beta release (0.9.0-beta.1), it is not recommended for production environments. This release is intended for testing purposes only.

For those interested in testing:

• Use the provided zip file which is a proper 'built' release
• Install with npm install --production
• Run with npm start --production

Note that this beta only works in production mode - the JavaScript files for development mode are missing.

Developers who want to contribute or test the new architecture should:

1. Be aware of the significant changes to the admin client structure
2. Use grunt init to properly set up the development environment
3. Test the new timezone functionality thoroughly, especially if your application relies on date-based features

Wait for the stable 0.9.0 release before upgrading production installations.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where editing a post would delete all associated tags if tags weren't explicitly included in the update
• Fixed roles_users query to correctly use user_id instead of id
• Fixed parsing of translation files with improved error handling

New Features

Comprehensive Timezone Support

Ghost now includes full timezone support for both the admin interface and content delivery:

• Added a timeZone service to manage timezone offsets throughout the application
• Blog timezone settings now affect how dates are displayed and processed
• When switching timezones in settings, users will see the local time of the selected timezone
• Added a clock service that shows the actual time ticking below the timezone select box
• Date-based permalinks are now generated based on the blog's timezone setting
• Permalinks will redirect appropriately if the blog's timezone is changed
• Default timezone is set to '(GMT) Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, London'

Admin Client Architecture Change

• Ghost-Admin has been extracted into a separate repository
• The admin client is now integrated as a Git submodule at core/client
• This architectural change improves separation of concerns and development workflows

Security Updates

No specific security fixes were mentioned in this release.

Performance Improvements

• Reverted to the older but faster Travis CI infrastructure for improved build times
• Improved Grunt tasks organization for more efficient builds
• Optimized the way client-side dependencies are installed and managed
• All dates are now stored in UTC format for consistent handling across databases

Impact Summary

Ghost 0.9.0-beta.1 represents a significant architectural shift by extracting the admin client into a separate repository and integrating it as a submodule. This change improves separation of concerns and sets the foundation for more independent development of the admin interface.

The most user-facing improvement is comprehensive timezone support, which ensures consistent date handling throughout the platform. Content creators will benefit from more accurate scheduling and publishing times that respect the blog's timezone settings, while developers gain access to a more robust API for handling dates.

The release also includes numerous dependency updates and infrastructure improvements that enhance stability and development workflows. The changes to how the client code is managed will require developers to adjust their workflows, particularly around initialization and dependency management.

As a beta release, this version is intended for testing purposes only and should not be deployed to production environments. The changes introduced here are significant and will likely be refined further before the stable 0.9.0 release.

Full Release Notes