A preview of our next release

Today we pushed a new preview release out the door, along with an upgraded web installer and a script to update older installs. In it you’ll find new functionality like download codes, better asset syncing and browsing, secure downloads, attention to details in the digital download and email collection elements, and loads of bug fixes and UI enhancements.

This is a big step forward for us, but most of the enhancements are under the hood where we’ve improved workflow for developers and made it easier to get improvements out to everyone using the platform. Not only can we build things faster, but from now on an update is as easy as a click in the system settings menu.

Our next release at the end of June will bring many more user experience enhancements, simplifying the interface and making it easier to get started — as well as detailed documentation for platform users and developers alike. We’re really excited about the future, and can’t wait to see what you do with this as it grows.

 
Using the installer and updater
To install a new copy of the platform, just create a new folder on your web server and upload the installer. It’ll download all the files it needs and give you instructions to follow — answer a few questions and you’re good to go. Your server will need to be running PHP 5.2 or greater with permission to write to the disk, but the installer will check all that before doing anything and give you a specific error message if it can’t continue for any reason. We’ve tested it on hosts like Dreamhost and Media Temple, but settings vary from host to host. It would actually be very helpful to hear about any successes or failures so we can continue to improve the installer.

For an update, we recommend you first back-up your database. We automatically back-up SQLite installs but to be on the safe side just download your cashmusic.sqlite file. MySQL users should back up their database via whatever method the host offers. We’ve tested the updater in every valid configuration so if you installed a supported version of the platform successfully you should be able to upgrade just fine — but you can never be too careful.

After backing-up, just upload the update.php file to the folder you originally created for installing…you should see the admin, api, and public folders already there. Just visit the updater and tell it to go. It’ll grab your settings and do the rest.