Thank you @boonebgorges First tests looking good except for a couple of my custom bp-default child themes 
Have to update BP Codex on new Activity Stream panel, group/sitewide forums, etc 
Need to finish writing the change log too 
@mercime We’d have hope theme authors were testing their themes when we were in beta — but if you find any regressions in BP-Default in RC, please raise trac ticket
Guys – bp-default shouldn’t change with every release of BP, particularly if you’re encouraging people to build child themes off it.
If you want to change look and feel of the default theme packaged with BP, you should release it under a new name, pretty much as WP does (kubrick.. default.. twenty ten… twenty eleven). Then when a user upgrades the core, their site will continue to look and feel just the way they intended it to.
If, because of the nature of BP (regular new features), you’d also like to offer a parent theme that grows with each release, then OK — offer that as a second option — but label them clearly.
This is why beta/RC testing helps us identify areas that we’ve inadvertently broken, so we can address any regressions.
Other argument: why can’t we make minor changes to the theme? In 1.6, we’ve made some JS and CSS improvements to allow parts of those things to be more easily overridden by child themes. I think that’s the extent of the changes, though I can’t remember until I/we write up the release notes.
Functionality hasn’t changed. The more drastic theme changes in the old 1.5 did cause some upgrade complications, and we’ve learnt from that.
The themes are versioned. I don’t believe CSS/JS tidy up merits a “new” theme. If/until BP-Default is put on WordPress.org’s theme repository, if someone wants to make e.g. a codex page with links to .zip of BP-Default from each BuddyPress, go for it.
At any rate, we all know the pain points in building a BuddyPress theme based off BP-Default at the moment. Future releases of BuddyPress won’t ship with a theme, so this problem will eventually go away.
This should be a new topic but I agree with Roger. I think BP-default should be on WordPress.org. I’ve had on many occasion needed an older version. It also gives users an indication they can use another BuddyPress theme from .org. I would even go as far as not bundling BP-default and only use .org. It’s easier to delete a theme when beginners mess up code and download via .org than to mess inside /buddypress
I will create codex page. We need a discussion about the theme changes in 1.7 so it will be done properly to benefit the community. I know there is talk of using something like bbPress but I have struggled to understand its method and this is not good for designers who are not as good with php
BOOM! https://codex.buddypress.org/releases/bp-default-theme
Is there a place to upload zips of just the theme? Here maybe? bp.org/download/theme ?
I want to add direct zip download link.
Links like these any good? Not sure if we can manipulate the trac download URLs: https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/HEAD/tags/1.5/bp-themes/bp-default?old_path=%2F&format=zip
If anyone wants to talk about issues other than 1.6-RC1 in this thread, please make a new thread. Let’s keep this one on topic from now
Oh, didn’t know you could use format=
quick question, what is the arrival date of 1.6 final?
thx
We don’t know until we decide to release it. We do know there will be a 2nd RC today or tomorrow.
