update README for 0.9.0rc2

README

@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 README
 ------
 
-StatusNet 0.8.2 ("Life and How to Live It")
+StatusNet 0.9.0 ("Stand") Release Candidate 2
-1 Nov 2009
+22 Dec 2009
 
 This is the README file for StatusNet (formerly Laconica), the Open
 Source microblogging platform. It includes installation instructions,
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ About
 
 StatusNet (formerly Laconica) is a Free and Open Source microblogging
 platform. It helps people in a community, company or group to exchange
-short (140 character) messages over the Web. Users can choose which
+short (140 characters, by default) messages over the Web. Users can
-people to "follow" and receive only their friends' or colleagues'
+choose which people to "follow" and receive only their friends' or
-status messages. It provides a similar service to sites like Twitter,
+colleagues' status messages. It provides a similar service to sites
-Jaiku, Yammer, and Plurk.
+like Twitter, Jaiku, Yammer, and Plurk.
 
 With a little work, status messages can be sent to mobile phones,
 instant messenger programs (GTalk/Jabber), and specially-designed
@@ -77,81 +77,96 @@ for additional terms.
 New this version
 ================
 
-This is a minor feature and bugfix release since version 0.8.1,
+This is a major feature release since version 0.8.2, released Nov 1 2009.
-released Aug 26 2009. Notable changes this version:
+Notable changes this version:
 
-- New script for deleting user accounts. Not particularly safe or
+- Records of deleted notices are stored without the notice content.
-  community-friendly. Better for deleting abusive accounts than for
+- Much of the optional core featureset has been moved to plugins.
-  users who are 'retiring'.
+- OpenID support moved from core to a plugin. Helps test the strength of
-- Improved detection of URLs in notices, specifically for punctuation
+  our plugin architecture and makes it easy to disable this
-  chars like ~, :, $, _, -, +, !, @, and %.
+  functionality for e.g. intranet sites.
-- Removed some extra <dl> semantic HTML code.
+- Many additional hook events (see EVENTS.txt for details).
-- Correct error in status-network database ini file (having multiple
+- OMB 0.1 support re-implemented using libomb.
-  statusnet sites with a single codebase)
+- Re-structure database so notices, messages, bios and group
-- Fixed error output for Twitter posting failures.
+  descriptions can be over 140 characters. Limit defined by
-- Fixed bug in Twitter queue handler that requeued inapplicable
+  site administrator as configuration option; can be unlimited.
-  notices ad infinitum.
+- Configuration data now optionally stored in the database, which
-- Improve FOAF output for remote users.
+  overrides any settings in config files.
-- new commands to join and leave groups.
+- Twitter integration re-implemented as a plugin.
-- Fixed bug in which you cannot turn off importing friends timelines
+- Facebook integration re-implemented as a plugin.
-  flag.
+- Role-based authorization framework. Users can have named roles, and
-- Better error handling in Twitter posting.
+  roles can have rights (e.g., to delete notices, change configuration
-- Show oEmbed data for XHTML files as well as plain HTML.
+  data, or ban uncooperative users). Default roles 'admin' (for
-- Updated bug database link in README.
+  configuration) and 'moderator' (for community management) added.
-- add support for HTTP Basic Auth in PHP CGI or FastCGI (e.g. GoDaddy).
+- Plugin for PubSubHubBub (PuSH) support.
-- autofocus input to selected entry elements depending on page.
+- Considerable code style cleanup to meet PEAR code standards.
-- updated layout for filter-by-tag form.
+- Made a common library for HTTP-client access which uses available
-- better layout for inbox and outbox pages.
+  HTTP libraries where possible.
-- fix highlighting search terms in attributes of notice list elements.
+- Added statuses/home_timeline method to API.
-- Correctly handle errors in linkback plugin.
+- Hooks for plugins to handle notices offline, either by defining
-- Updated biz theme.
+  their own queue handler scripts or to use a default plugin queue
-- Updated cloudy theme.
+  handler script.
-- Don't match '::' as an IPv6 address.
+- Plugins can now modify the database schema, adding their own tables
-- Use the same decision logic for deciding whether to mark an
+  or modifying existing ones.
-  attachment as an enclosure in RSS or as a paperclip item in Web
+- Groups API.
-  output.
+- Twitter API supports Web caching for some methods.
-- Fixed a bug in the Piwik plugin that hard-coded the site ID.
+- Twitter API refactored into one-action-per-method.
-- Add a param, inreplyto, to notice/new to allow an explicit response
+- Realtime plugin supports a tear-off window.
-  to another notice.
+- FOAF for groups.
-- Show username in subject of emails.
+- Moved all JavaScript tags to just before </body> by default,
-- Check if avatar exists before trying to delete it.
+  significantly speeding up apparent page load time.
-- Correctly add omb_version to response for request token in OMB.
+- Added a Realtime plugin for Orbited server.
-- Add a few more SMS carriers.
+- Added a mobile plugin to give a more mobile-phone-friendly layout
-- Add a few more notice sources.
+  when a mobile browser is detected.
-- Vary: header.
+- Use CSS sprites for most common icons.
-- Improvements to the AutoCompletePlugin.
+- Fixes for images and buttons on Web output.
-- Check for 'dl' before using it.
+- New plugin requires that users validate their email before posting.
-- Make it impossible to delete self-subscriptions via the API.
+- New plugin UserFlag lets users flag other profiles for review.
-- Fix pagination of tagged user pages.
+- Considerably better i18n support. Use TranslateWiki to update
-- Make PiwikAnalyticsPlugin work with addPlugin().
+  translations.
-- Removed trailing single space in user nicknames in notice lists.
+- Notices and profiles now store location information.
-- Show context link if a notice starts a conversation.
+- New plugin, Geonames, for turning location names and lat/long pairs
-- blacklist all files and directories in install dir.
+  into structured IDs and vice versa. Architecture reusable for other
-- handle GoDaddy-style PATH_INFO, including script name.
+  systems.
-- add home_timeline synonym for friends_timeline.
+- Better check of license compatibility between site licenses.
-- Add a popup window for the realtime plugin.
+- Some improvements in XMPP output.
-- Add some more streams for the realtime plugin.
+- Media upload in the API.
-- Fix a bug that overwrote group creation timestamp on every edit.
+- Replies appear in the user's inbox.
-- Moved HTTP error code strings to a class variable.
+- Improved the UI on the bookmarklet.
-- The Twitter API now returns server errors in the correct format.
+- StatusNet identities can be used as OpenID identities.
-- Reset the doctype for HTML output.
+- Script to register a user.
-- Fixed a number of notices.
+- Script to make someone a group admin.
-- Don't show search suggestions for private sites.
+- Script to make someone a site admin or moderator.
-- Some corrections to FBConnect nav overrides.
+- 'login' command.
-- Slightly less database-intensive session management.
+- Pluggable authentication.
-- Updated name of software in installer script.
+- LDAP authentication plugin.
-- Include long-form attachment URLs if url-shortener is disabled.
+- Script for console interaction with the site (!).
-- Include updated localisations for Polish, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic,
+- Users don't see group posts from people they've blocked.
-  Norwegian, and Chinese.
+- Admin panel interface for changing site configuration.
-- Include upstream fixes to gettext.php.
+- Users can be sandboxed (limited contributions) or silenced
-- Correct for regression in Facebook API for updates.
+  (no contributions) by moderators.
-- Ignore "Sent from my iPhone" (and similar) in mail updates.
+- Many changes to make language usage more consistent.
-- Use the NICKNAME_FMT constant for detecting nicknames.
+- Sphinx search moved to a plugin.
-- Check for site servername config'd.
+- GeoURL plugin.
-- Compatibility fix for empty status updates with Twitter API.
+- Profile and group lists support hAtom.
-- Option to show files privately (EXPERIMENTAL! Use with caution.)
+- Massive refactoring of util.js.
-- a script to register a new user.
+- Mapstraction plugin to show maps on inbox and profile pages.
-- a script to make a user admin of a group.
+- Play/pause buttons for realtime notices.
+- Support for geo microformat.
+- Partial support for feed subscriptions, RSSCloud, PubSubHubBub.
+- Support for geolocation in browser (Chrome, Firefox).
+- Quit trying to negotiate HTML format. Always use text/html.
+  We lose, and so do Web standards. Boo.
+- Better logging of request info.
+- Better output for errors in Web interface.
+- No longer store .mo files; these need to be generated.
+- Minify plugin.
+- Events to allow pluginizing logger.
+- New framework for plugin localization.
+- Gravatar plugin.
+- Add support for "repeats" (similar to Twitter's "retweets").
+- Support for repeats in Twitter API.
+- Better notification of direct messages.
 
 Prerequisites
 =============
@@ -1600,6 +1615,7 @@ if anyone's been overlooked in error.
 * Federico Marani
 * Craig Andrews
 * mEDI
+* Brett Taylor
 
 Thanks also to the developers of our upstream library code and to the
 thousands of people who have tried out Identi.ca, installed StatusNet,