[OSCOM] Apache Lenya 1.2.1 released

Apache Lenya 1.2.1 released (maintenance release)
=================================================================

The Apache Lenya [1] development community is very proud to announce the
1.2.1 release of Apache Lenya.

Apache Lenya is an Open-Source Content Management System written in Java
and based on open standards such as XML and XSLT. Lenya is built on top
of Apache Cocoon [2] and other components from the Apache Software
Stack. Its XML-centric architecture allows for content delivery targeted
to the capabilities of various devices, and avoids data lock-in. Apache
Lenya is built around Off the Shelf components from the Apache Software
Foundation.

Apache Lenya comes with the features you can expect of a modern Content
Management System, such as Revision Control, Scheduling, a built-in
Search Engine, separate Staging Areas, and Workflow.

Apache Lenya 1.2.1 is based on Cocoon 2.1.5.1, but Lenya 1.2.1 is also
known to work with Cocoon 2.1.6. You can use Cocoon features such as
robust Caching, multi-channel output, it's many connectivity options to
quickly build customized solutions to meet your specific needs that are
not already covered by Apache Lenya today.

Check out the Apache Lenya website http://lenya.apache.org for more
information.

                  -- The Apache Lenya Community



Changes in 1.2.1
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The full changelog is available at the Apache Lenya website
(http://lenya.apache.org/changes.html). Some highlights are:

     * Fixed bugs found by FindBugs (http://findbugs.sf.net)
     * Removed OSCOM publication, which continues to be available from
http://oscom.org
     * Rewrote all editor's (forms, form, Kupu, and BXE) save functions
to use flowscript
     * Updated Kupu to 1.2 branch and integrated Kupu image drawer and
link drawer
     * Updated BXE to 1.0
     * Updated Lucene to 1.4.1
     * Made user handling in the admin area dynamic
(http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=30231)
     * Fixed HTML validation issues
     * Added Feed download task
(http://svn.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi?rev=47247&view=rev)
     * Kupu no longer changes the encoding during editing
     * Lenya should now be fully UTF-8 ready; enables round trip editing
in the various editors
     * Overhauled the build system
(http://svn.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi?rev=55445&view=rev)
     * Convert Lenya redirects to use proper HTTP codes
     * Added visibility attribute to the sitetree
     * Made title for assets mandatory
     * Fixed BXE link insertion popup to be properly multi-lingual
     * Added i18n to checkout error messages
     * Made Lenya work in a clustered environment
     * Improved validation for asset upload
     * Added support for Microsoft Active Directory authentication
     * Improved LDAP authentication code
     * Lifted 2-letter restriction for language code. This allows to
       create pages with a language code of zh-tw, for instance
     * Removed HSQLDB from Lenya
     * Improved documentation for BXE, Xopus and Lucene integration
     * Changed text of the login screen
       to explicitly mention both default users.
     * Removed setLanguageTabs() Javascript function from the site tree.
       It was no longer needed and caused problems with some language
       settings.

  Features (as in Apache Lenya 1.2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
- Editing

     * Browser-based WYSIWYG Editors that validate input against a Relax
       NG Schema. This prevents invalid markup as produced by other
       WYSIWYG editors, and allows to enforce web site style guidelines.
       Lenya ships (!!!) with the BXE (http://bxe.oscom.org)
       and Kupu (http://kupu.oscom.org) editors out of the box.
       Lenya asset management and link management
       are integrated into BXE.
     * A forms editor is available for situations where a full-blown
       WYSIWYG editor is overkill or where legacy browsers need to be
       supported.
     * Pages that are being edited are automatically locked for other
       users, preventing conflicting changes to the same page.
     * Each edit of a page creates a new revision. It is possible to
       revert to any previous revision of a page.

- Workflow

     * Lenya contains a customizable workflow engine that uses an easy
       XML format to define workflows. Standard one- and two-stage
       workflows ship with Lenya.
       Users can be notified by email about pending approvals.
     * Workflow events such as publishing or deactivating a page
       can be scheduled.
     * Lenya supports separate authoring, staging and live areas.
       For convenience, the staging area is disabled by default.
     * All workflow steps are logged, providing an audit trail.

- Internationalization

     * Pages can be created in multiple languages with no impact on your
       site structure. Lenya automatically displays your page in the
       default language if it is not available in a specific language.
     * The Lenya user interface is currently localized in Spanish,
       Italian, french, German and English.

- Layout

     * The publications concept allows reuse of the information
       architecture of a site and brings modularity to the content level.
       Different publications can share content and business logic,
       and new publications can be created with a cloning process.
     * Lenya supports XHTML+CSS templating, eliminating the need to learn
       yet another templating language. Wherever possible,
       Lenya uses CSS for styling, therefore enforcing the separation of
       content and layout.
     * The navigation framework automatically creates navigation items
       such as menus, breadcrumb paths and tabs.
       A sitemap can be easily created.
     * Lenya has clean URLs and is thus optimally
       accessible for search engines.
     * There are no restrictions on the nesting of templates.
       You can use any template you have defined at any level of your
       site structure thanks to the URI parametrizer.

- Site Management

     * Lenya allows you to move, copy, rename, archive or delete
       individual pages or whole parts of your site within an easy to use
       site view that shows you the pages of your site in an
       explorer-like view.
     * Each page has tabs for easy access to meta data, assets,
       workflow status, revisions, access control and scheduling.
     * The archive function allows you to deactivate pages and store
       them in an archive.
     * Deleted pages can be retrieved from the trash.
     * Each page can have Dublin Core metadata assigned.
       Other metadata standards can easily be added if required.
     * Asset management allows you to keep track of images and documents
       that belong to a page.
     * Link management ensures that internal links are not shown if the
       target page doesn't exist or the user has no access to it.
       Link management also warns users about broken links
       when they publish a page.
     * Lenya checks if parent pages of a page to be published are already
       live to avoid inconsistent sites.
     * Deployment is flexible: Sites can be served dynamically by the
       authoring server (for small deployments) or another servlet
       container. It is also possible to export content statically or to
       use Apache as a proxy.
     * If used with a reverse proxy, Lenya can be configured to rewrite
       URLs based on the site structure of the live site.

- Security

     * Each page or parts of your site can be protected by SSL.
       Protect just the parts of your site that need protection for
       best performance.
     * The Lenya access control allows you to restrict access to parts of
       your site to members of a group or individuals.
       You can also restrict specific Lenya functionalities,
       such as editing, approval or administrative features.
     * Lenya users can be authenticated against an LDAP server.
     * Access can also be controlled by IP ranges.

- Misc

     * A Windows Installer makes installation on windows a
       3-click process.
     * Apache Lucene is integrated into Lenya to offer full-text
       and field search.

- Under the Hood

     * The integration with Cocoon has been improved.
       For the next release, it is planned to move Lenya to a block-based
       system which should make it much easier to mix and match Cocoon
       and Lenya components.
     * Unit Tests help to discover regressions in the code.
     * A publication API that defines a interface for common CMS
       operations.
     * A fallback concept allows you to selectively override core
       functionality in your site where needed. Default implementations
       are provided for convenience and ease of development.
     * Lenya uses Ant for portable scripting.
       This allows you to integrate Lenya into your environment
       and accomplish custom tasks easily.

References
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[1] Apache Lenya website http://lenya.apache.org/
[2] Apache Cocoon website http://cocoon.apache.org/


-- 
Gregor J. Rothfuss
COO, Wyona       Content Management Solutions    http://wyona.com
Apache Lenya                              http://lenya.apache.org
[email protected]                       [email protected]