Getting CKAN 2.9 over the line

The CKAN tech team has started the formal process of releasing the next CKAN 2.9 version. This will be the most significant CKAN version so far, packing a host of new features and improvements at all levels, but also important internal changes under the hood that will allow it to evolve and grow in the future. We will cover the new features in much more detail in future posts, but expect Python 3 support, a completely revamped interface for tracking changes in datasets over time, more granular permissions at the dataset level, API tokens, concurrent safe API endpoints and much more. CKAN is a community-led project and this has really shown in the build up towards the 2.9 version, which has received patches from over 100 contributors, more than any CKAN version before. Now that we are at the final stages, all CKAN friends can help make this the best version ever. Here's how you can help:

• ? Testing, testing, testing! Help us iron out issues by giving the new version a go. https://beta.ckan.org should contain the latest release branch.
• ? If you are comfortable installing CKAN, you can do a source install using the dev-v2.9 branch. It's especially useful to test it with extensions and non-default configurations.
• ? We mentioned that CKAN 2.9 is the first version to support Python 3, but there are still several extensions that haven't been ported. This page in our wiki lists the most popular and their status. If your organization uses any of them please consider contributing Python 3 support for it. The page contains details on the steps needed, and there are several extensions where work is already under way.
• ? Translations. If you are a non-English speaker and want to help make CKAN available in as many languages as possible you can register to Transifex and use the online editor to edit the 2.9 resource.

  Please flag any issues you find during testing in the CKAN repository issue tracker, or drop by the Gitter channel if you have any question.     Featured image by skeeze from Pixabay