Zimbra 8.5.0 and ZeXtras Suite: Important News
Hello everybody!
As you might have noticed, Zimbra 8.5.0 is now available for download in the official Zimbra website.
This is a very important milestone, on an equal footing as a major release, and ZeXtras won't fall behind :)
In this post I'd like to share with you some interesting info about the next releases and a couple of new features that have been brewing in our Dev Team's cauldron in the latest months.
I can hear you all asking one and one question only - and actually some of you did - so first things first:
When will a new ZeXtras Suite version, compatible with Zimbra 8.5.0, be released?
Answer: AVAILABLE AS OF SEPTEMBER 10th
Some of our long-time friends might notice one or two strange things about my last statement, specifically:
- I didn't mention the "legendary" version 2.0 - which is still scheduled for Q4/2014.
- The middle version number is Odd.
This is because Zimbra 1.9.0 will be a Public Beta version that will mark the beginning of the move to a new design architecture: the most radical change in our software's architecture is going to take place in the next weeks, as we are moving away from the canonical "Core + Zimlet" model you all know and love by adding a new component - the ZAL.
What is the ZAL?
The ZAL is an Abstraction Layer between Zimbra and ZeXtras Suite/ZxMig (and more... see below ;)).
Technical mumbo-jumbo:
Up until now, each ZeXtras Suite release consisted of differently built packages for each supported Zimbra version: each package was specifically built for a Zimbra version and could only be functional on such Zimbra version, being unable to communicate with any other version of the mailboxd service.
With the addition of the ZAL the ZeXtras Core will be completely separeted from the mailboxd service, and the new component will be the link between the two.
Not-remotely-technical mumbo-jumbo:
Think about each different Zimbra version as a person speaking a different language: before the introduction of the ZAL in order for ZeXtras Suite to communicate with Zimbra one of many ZeXtras Suite cores, the one speaking the correct language, was needed.
In the future, the ZAL will act as an universal translator - thus eliminating the need of having different ZeXtras Suite cores speaking different languages.
This new component will allows us to add some very interesting features, such as a lightweight installer, live updates and automated hotfix deployment.
BUT
There's more of it.
The ZAL won't be a Zextras exclusive!
This new component will be open source and released under GNU GPLv2 - so that any developer will be able to interface its software with Zimbra through it in a completely version-independent way.
This means than anyone will be able to write ZAL-compatible code that will run on any Zimbra server, regardless of the version (as usual Zimbra 6.0.7+ is required).
To sum up
The ZeXtras Suite "1.8" branch is still maintained, and is compatible with all Zimbra versions from 6.0.7 to 8.0.x.
The ZeXtras Suite "1.9" beta branch will only be compatible with Zimbra 8.5.x and will feature the ZAL component.
The ZeXtras Suite "1.10" branch will be released after the beta stage (1.9) is completed, and will extend the new architecture to all Zimbra versions from 6.0.7 to 8.5.x.
The ZeXtras Suite "2.0" branch will be released during Q4/2014. No devs have been harmed during the development of this new branch but please, pleeeease, don't ask for a release date if you wish to keep it this way.
Get ready guys, this is going to be a ride to remember!
Have a nice day,
Cine
the ZeXtras team
