WordPress 3.1 Release Candidate

The first release candidate (RC1) for WordPress 3.1 is now available.

An RC comes after the beta period and before final release. That means we think we’re done. We currently have no known issues or bugs to squash. But with tens of millions of users, a variety of configurations, and thousands of plugins, it’s possible we’ve missed something. So if you haven’t tested WordPress 3.1 yet, now is the time! Please though, not on your live site unless you’re extra adventurous.

Things to keep in mind:

• With nearly 700 tickets closed, there are tons of changes. Plugin and theme authors, please test your plugins and themes now, so that if there is a compatibility issue, we can figure it out before the final release.
• Users are also encouraged to test things out. If you find problems, let your plugin/theme authors know so they can figure out the cause.
• If any known issues crop up, you’ll be able to find them here.

If you are testing the release candidate and think you’ve found a bug, there are a few ways to let us know:

• Post it to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums
• Report it to the wp-testers mailing list
• Join the development IRC channel and tell us live at irc.freenode.net #wordpress-dev
• File a bug ticket on the WordPress Trac

To test WordPress 3.1, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

We released WordPress 3.1 Beta 1 on Thanksgiving, so it’s only fitting that the release candidate comes as a Christmas present. Happy holidays and happy testing!

Download WordPress 3.1 RC 1

If you’d like to know which levers to pull in your testing, check out a list of features in our Beta 1 post.