The OpenCms 6.0 beta 1 binary distribution, including extensive demo modules and the updated "Alkacon Documentation".

OpenCms 6.0 features numerous enhancemens over version 5.0.x such as:

• Updated "Administration" Workplace GUI (new in beta 1)
• Improved documentation (new in beta 1)
• Improved content galleries
• Support for Java 1.5
• XML content features for structured content
• Management of multiple websites
• Enhanced multi-language and Unicode support
• ACL based permission system
• Integrated full text search (also searches inside Word, Excel, PDF Documents)
• "Direct Edit" feature
• WYSIWYG support in Mozilla browser
• ... and much more

The source code for this release is available in the public CVS, please refer to the Development section on how to obtain it.

Who should use this 6.0 beta 1 version?

This is a beta version. Please don't expect it to be perfectly stable.

Having said that, we believe that this 6.0 beta 1 version is certainly stable enough to be used in a production system. It's likely to be more stable than the current "stable" 5.0.1 release. The main reason for still being in "beta" status is that we want to fully re-write the Workplace "Administration" view before we announce 6.0 as finished.

If and how you should use this version depends on what your goals are:

• If you starting a new OpenCms project, you should use this 6.0 beta 1 and not 5.0.1.
• If you are currently using any previous 6.0 development release (e.g. 6.0 alpha 1, 2 or 3), you should upgrade to this new version in case you have encountered issues with the release you are using. If this is not the case, you may as well wait until the 6.0 final release is out.
• If you are running a website based on OpenCms 5.0.1, and you want to upgrade, you should wait until the final 6.0 release is available.

Please refer to the 6.0 alpha 3 release notes (included in the distribution) for a full list of features as well as open issues with this release.