PunBB (PunBulletinBoard) is a discussion forum software written in PHP, released under the GNU General Public License. This software places a strong emphasis on minimalism, speed, and efficiency, making it a viable alternative for those seeking a lightweight solution for hosting an online community.

PunBB
Original author(s)Rickard Andersson
Developer(s)PunBB Team
Initial release2003; 21 years ago (2003)
Stable release
1.4.6[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 2021-03-09; 3 years ago
Repository
Written inPHP
TypeInternet forum
LicenseGNU General Public License
Websitepunbb.informer.com


History edit

PunBB was founded by Rickard Andersson as a personal project to create an alternative to either over-featured or too-graphic discussion boards.[citation needed] In August 2003, version 1.0 was released under the GNU General Public License.[citation needed]

PunBB was originally known simply as Pun because "a pun is a play on words and that's basically what happens on a bulletin board".[2] The BB addition stands for the bulletin board. PunBB is available in many languages, including Spanish, Russian, Italian, and many other languages. Languages are created by contributors to the project, languages are not officially made by PunBB. However, they are supported.

In 2007 the project's code and rights were sold to Informer Technologies, Inc.[3] The company did not institute any major changes at first other than removing the ability to donate money to the project. In April 2008, Rickard Andersson decided to leave the project due to personal reasons.[4] As a result, some developers followed suit and initiated the development of their fork, known as FluxBB. A few days later the company moved the project from the punbb.org domain to its projects' umbrella domain at punbb.informer.com.

Several open-source and commercial project discussion boards use PunBB.[5][6][7][8] Until September 2011, Facebook's Developers were using PunBB to power the Facebook Developer's Forum, where users participated in discussions and could submit bug reports.[9]

Forks edit

FluxBB edit

FluxBB
Developer(s)FluxBB Team
Initial releaseApril 27, 2008; 15 years ago (2008-04-27)
Stable release
1.5.11 / December 31, 2018; 5 years ago (2018-12-31)
Repositorygithub.com/fluxbb/fluxbb
Written inPHP / SQL
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeInternet forum
LicenseGPL
Websitefluxbb.org

FluxBB is a fork of PunBB created by its developers after Andersson left the project in April 2008. The developers felt that forking was necessary to maintain control over the development process without the influence of commercial interests.[10] As with PunBB, it was released under the GNU General Public License.[11][12] In July 2008, FluxBB was announced as a finalist in SourceForge.net's 2008 Community Choice Awards in the "Best New Project" category.[13][14]

Originally a continuation of PunBB's 1.3 branch, it was announced in January 2009 that the then-current 1.3 branch would be discontinued and that FluxBB 1.4 would revert to being based on the 1.2 codebase.[15] For FluxBB 1.4, several features were backported from 1.3, including UTF-8 support, a new default theme, and the ability to split and merge posts. The extension system, however, was not included.[citation needed] FluxBB 1.5 was released in May 2012.[16]

In July 2012 it was announced that FluxBB 2.0, the next major version of the software, would be based on the Laravel web framework, with existing work ported to the new framework.[17]

In 2015, FluxBB's lead developer Franz announced they would merge the project with another forum software named Flarum alongside esoTalk lead developer Toby Zerner.[18] This development caused controversy within the FluxBB community.[citation needed]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "PunBB 1.4.6 has been released". Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Interview with Rickard Andersson", The Admin Zone, November 23, 2005, archived from the original on March 15, 2006
  3. ^ "Project History". punbb.informer.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-03. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  4. ^ "Rickard Andersson's official website". Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
  5. ^ ">Who uses punbb - PunBB Wiki". punbb.informer.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved Oct 24, 2022.
  6. ^ "Loading..." forum.nevercorner.net. Archived from the original on October 6, 2022. Retrieved Oct 24, 2022.
  7. ^ "Forex Forum". forexsb.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved Oct 24, 2022.
  8. ^ "Musikcube". Archived from the original on 2007-01-18. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
  9. ^ "Facebook Developers' Forum". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
  10. ^ Connor (May 9, 2008). "Development team announcement". FluxBB. Archived from the original on 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
  11. ^ "Ohloh code analysis". Archived from the original on 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  12. ^ "Introducing FluxBB - FluxBB". fluxbb.org. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved Oct 24, 2022.
  13. ^ "Sourceforge CCA 2008 finalists". sourceforge.net. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved Oct 24, 2022.
  14. ^ "SourceForge.net Names Finalists for Community Choice Awards". Wireless News. July 7, 2008. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
  15. ^ Connor (January 10, 2009). "The future of FluxBB". FluxBB. Archived from the original on 2010-04-21. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
  16. ^ Liedke, Franz (May 6, 2012). "FluxBB 1.5.0 released". FluxBB. Archived from the original on 2022-05-25. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
  17. ^ Liedke, Franz (July 7, 2012). "A new future for FluxBB 2.0". FluxBB. Archived from the original on 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
  18. ^ Liedke, Franz (March 16, 2015). "2.0: Joining forces with Flarum". FluxBB. Archived from the original on 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2019-11-30.

External links edit

  Media related to PunBB at Wikimedia Commons