Added release notes for Django 1.5 alpha 1.

Django 1.5 release notes - UNDER DEVELOPMENT

============================================

Welcome to Django 1.5!

These release notes cover the `new features`_, as well

as some `backwards incompatible changes`_ you'll want to be aware of

when upgrading from Django 1.4 or older versions. We've also dropped some

.. _`backwards incompatible changes`: `Backwards incompatible changes in 1.5`_

.. _`begun the deprecation process for some features`: `Features deprecated in 1.5`_

Overview

========

The biggest new feature in Django 1.5 is the `configurable User model`_. Before

Django 1.5, applications that wanted to use Django's auth framework

(:mod:`django.contrib.auth`) were forced to use Django's definition of a "user".

In Django 1.5, you can now swap out the ``User`` model for one that you write

yourself. This could be a simple extension to the existing ``User`` model -- for

example, you could add a Twitter or Facebook ID field -- or you could completely

replace the ``User`` with one totally customized for your site.

Django 1.5 is also the first release with `Python 3 support`_! We're labling

this support "experimental" because we don't yet consider it production-ready,

but everything's in place for you to start porting your apps to Python 3.

Our next release, Django 1.6, will support Python 3 without reservations.

Other notable new features in Django 1.5 include:

* `Support for saving a subset of model's fields`_ -

  :meth:`Model.save() <django.db.models.Model.save()>` now accepts an

  ``update_fields`` argument, letting you specify which fields are

  written back to the databse when you call ``save()``. This can help

  in high-concurrancy operations, and can improve performance.

* Better `support for streaming responses <#explicit-streaming-responses>`_ via

  the new  :class:`~django.http.StreamingHttpResponse` response class.

* `GeoDjango`_ now supports PostGIS 2.0.

* ... and more; `see below <#what-s-new-in-django-1-5>`_.

Wherever possible we try to introduce new features in a backwards-compatible

manner per :doc:`our API stability policy </misc/api-stability>` policy.

However, as with previous releases, Django 1.5 ships with some minor

`backwards incompatible changes`_; people upgrading from previous versions

of Django should read that list carefully.

One deprecated feature worth noting is the shift to "new-style" :ttag:`url` tag.

Prior to Django 1.3, syntax like ``{% url myview %}`` was interpreted

incorrectly (Django considered ``"myview"`` to be a literal name of a view, not

a template variable named ``myview``). Django 1.3 and above introduced the

``{% load url from future %}`` syntax to bring in the corrected behavior where

``myview`` was seen as a variable.

The upshot of this is that if you are not using ``{% load url from future %}``

in your templates, you'll need to change tags like ``{% url myview %}`` to

``{% url "myview" %}``. If you *were* using ``{% load url from future %}`` you

can simply remove that line under Django 1.5

Python compatibility

====================

Django 1.5 has dropped support for Python 2.5. Python 2.6.5 is now the minimum

required Python version. Django is tested and supported on Python 2.6 and

2.7.

Django 1.5 requires Python 2.6.5 or above, though we **highly recommended**

Python 2.7.3 or above. Support for Python 2.5 and below as been dropped.

This change should affect only a small number of Django users, as most

operating-system vendors today are shipping Python 2.6 or newer as their default

version. If you're still using Python 2.5, however, you'll need to stick to

Django 1.4 until you can upgrade your Python version. Per :doc:`our support policy

</internals/release-process>`, Django 1.4 will continue to receive security

support until the release of Django 1.6.

Django 1.5 does not run on a Jython final release, because Jython's latest release

doesn't currently support Python 2.6. However, Jython currently does offer an alpha

release featuring 2.7 support.

Django 1.4 until you can upgrade your Python version. Per :doc:`our support

policy </internals/release-process>`, Django 1.4 will continue to receive

security support until the release of Django 1.6.

Django 1.5 does not run on a Jython final release, because Jython's latest

release doesn't currently support Python 2.6. However, Jython currently does

offer an alpha release featuring 2.7 support, and Django 1.5 supports that alpha

release.

Python 3 support

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Django 1.5 introduces support for Python 3 - specifically, Python

3.2 and above. This comes in the form of a **single** codebase; you don't

need to install a different version of Django on Python 3. This means that

you can write application targeted for just Python 2, just Python 3, or single

applications that support both platforms.

However, we're labeling this support "experimental" for now: although it's

receved extensive testing via our automated test suite, it's recieved very

little real-world testing. We've done our best to eliminate bugs, but we can't

be sure we covered all possible uses of Django. Further, Django's more than a

web framework; it's an ecosystem of pluggable components. At this point, very

few third-party applications have been ported to Python 3, so it's unliukely

that a real-world application will have all its dependecies satisfied under

Python 3.

Thus, we're recommending that Django 1.5 not be used in production under Python

3. Instead, use this oportunity to begin :doc:`porting applications to Python 3

<topics/python>`. If you're an author of a pluggable component, we encourage you

to start porting now.

We plan to offer first-class, production-ready support for Python 3 in our next

release, Django 1.6.

What's new in Django 1.5

========================

.. toctree::

   :maxdepth: 1

   1.5-alpha-1

   1.4-beta-1

   1.4-alpha-1

   1.3-beta-1