BuddyPress 1.5 “Lombardi” is here!

Version 1.5 is a major feature release for BuddyPress, encompassing hundreds of bug fixes, enhancements, and all-new features. BuddyPress 1.5 comes with a completely reworked Default theme, a brand-new installation and update wizard, integration with the WordPress navigation menus and Admin Bar, a rewritten interface for managing profile fields, and scores of smaller improvements. To see the complete list of BuddyPress 1.5’s fixes and features, check out the dedicated BuddyPress Codex 1.5 features and fixes page.

We’ve given BuddyPress 1.5 the codename “Lombardi”. The BuddyPress core development team is made up of pizza fanatics who thought it fitting to pay homage in this release to the first pizzeria in the United States. (As a bonus, two of our developers hail from the Badger State where the name “Lombardi” has a different but no less important connotation.)

Do you have an existing site that you want to upgrade to BuddyPress 1.5? We’ve worked our hardest to ensure that your upgrade will go off without a hitch. The most popular BuddyPress plugins have been updated for full BuddyPress 1.5 compatibility, and on standard installations most of your other plugins and themes will continue to work as well. There’s a page on the BuddyPress Codex devoted to the process of upgrading to BuddyPress 1.5 where you’ll find lots of helpful resources on making your upgrade as smooth as possible. Don’t forget that the Codex is a wiki – if you’ve got some words of wisdom to share with the community, don’t be afraid to jump in and edit (using your buddypress.org account)! As usual, you’re encouraged to run upgrades in test environments before upgrading your live site.

If you’ve never used BuddyPress before, there’s never been a better time to try it out. BuddyPress 1.5 is the most secure and stable version to date.

If you experience problems with your BP 1.5 installation or upgrade, the BuddyPress community has assembled a collection of resources for you. In addition to the fixes and features and upgrade pages, there are many other tutorials and guides available from the Codex home page. buddypress.org is also the home of a vibrant set of support and discussion forums where you can read, ask, and answer questions about 1.5 and BuddyPress in general. And if you find bugs in BuddyPress itself, our development community’s home is http://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org.

BuddyPress 1.5 is the result of thousands of hours of work by hundreds of community members, in the form of patches, design, and testing. The following folks contributed patches that ended up in the release: AaronCampbell, AD7six, aesqe, andrewteg, apeatling, Backie, balbert, BB_Othella, bizybee, boonebgorges, bowromir, calvin_42, chestnut_jp, cnorris23, davidtcarson, dchase, ddean, deadpan110, defunctlife, delayedinsanity, denis.ogun, Dennissmolek, dgwatkins, enderandrew, for, francescolaffi, Ghost_ufa, gian-ava, greuben, gzeidan, Harry, hnla, intimez, ipstenu, j.conti, jefferai, jessica120, jfarthing84, johnjamesjacoby, johnpbloch, jond, Jonnyauk, karmatosed, kunalb, LanceHudson, lpryor, luccame, lucianop, lunabyte, mareck, mdawaffe, mercime, mikekennedy, modemlooper, mrmaz, nacin, nerrad, nuprn1, Paul Gibbs, PedroMiguel, ptahdunbar, r-a-y, rebootnow, sboisvert, sbrajesh, SergeyBiryukov, slaFFik, slambert, smurkas, sorich87, stas, sushkov, swinton, to, TobiasBg, travel-junkie, wpmuguru.

Many thanks to them and to everyone who helped test during the entire 1.5 development cycle. Without the contributions of this awesome community, BuddyPress simply would not be possible.

Now that that’s out of the way, order yourself a pizza and download BuddyPress 1.5 today!