Key Architectural Changes
We’ve made major updates to the core of phpBB to improve performance, security, and maintainability.
- Symfony 6.4 as the backend: phpBB is now built on the Symfony 6.4 framework, providing a more up-to-date, robust and flexible foundation.
- Minimum PHP 8.1 version: To leverage modern PHP features, phpBB 4.0 now requires a minimum of PHP 8.1.
- Cookie-based authentication: Authentication now relies on cookies for improved security and standardisation.
- New update system: phpBB now provides an automatic update system for easier updates. This feature can only be used when there are no local file edits. This will be enabled in a later release.
- This alpha release includes several new features designed to improve user interaction and administrative control.
- Webpush notifications: Users can now opt-in to receive real-time notifications directly in their browser for new posts and mentions.
- Mentions: A new @username feature allows users to mention and notify other members in posts.
- Cloudflare Turnstile support: We’ve added support for Cloudflare’s Turnstile captcha to help prevent spam.
- Refactored ban system: The ban system has been updated with full IPv6 and CIDR support and a simplified structure.
- Extensions catalog: You can now install extensions directly from the Admin Control Panel.
- Direct media playback: Media attachments can now be played directly within the post body.
- Custom BBCode icons: It’s now possible to add icons to custom BBCodes.
- New storage system: We’ve introduced a new system that makes it easier to add Extensions for integration with cloud storage services.
ForumGarden is not going to deploy the first alpha version of phpBB 4.0 but we observe there will be no interim releases between the current 3.3.15 and phpBB 4.0 itself, which we will deploy.
