We are pleased to announce that Blesta 5.6.0 BETA 1 has been released!

Can I participate in the beta?

If you have an owned or monthly license with us directly, you may download blesta-5.6.0-b1.zip in the client area now (Login Required). If you obtained your license from a reseller or distributor, you may be able to participate. Contact your reseller to find out. As with any beta, this release is for non-production use only and is unsupported. DO NOT UPGRADE YOUR PRODUCTION. During installation, choose to start a free trial, open a ticket to request a trial key, or use your dev license if you have one.

Once you are up and running, head to the forums to report any issues and let us know what you think! If you have a license and are verified or become verified on our Discord chat, you’ll have access to a license holder only beta forum.

Visit the Beta Forums! Visit Discord Chat!

So what is new in 5.6?

Blesta version 5.6 includes a new highly requested OVH Domains registrar module and an improved domain import process when migrating from the competition. Domains are imported more reliably, and domains that were using an unsupported registrar are now imported with the Generic Domains module instead of the Universal module. We also added the payment gateways BTCPayServer and Payfast. We added stable download URLs to the Download Manager, Staff only KB articles to the Support Manager, and more.

New and Updated Extensions

• OVH Domain Registrar module has been added.
• BTCPayServer payment gateway has been added.
• Payfast payment gateway has been added.
• Support Manager now includes a client dashboard widget (Can be disabled or sorted like all client widgets).
• Support Manager now supports Staff only Knowledgebase Articles.
• Domain Manager now includes a config option description for TLD features.
• Import Manager has been updated to include better support for importing domains from WHMCS.
• Import Manager now includes a mapping file to import SolusVM services from WHMCS using the module.
• Download Manager now supports stable download URLs (think latest.zip).
• cPanel module now makes use of the password generator.
• Pterodactyl module now allows for unlimited swap, and the panel port can be specified within the module.
• Stripe Payments gateway has been improved, particularly as it relates to handling errors.
• Order plugin was updated to add a show cart button for “domain and other” order form types for all cases.

Changes to the Core

• PHP 8.1 is now supported with Ioncube, and we continue to ship a hotfix-php8 directory for SourceGuardian for PHP 8.0/8.1.
• It’s now possible to update the email templates from email and from name fields in bulk.
• Package edit validation was updated to prevent changing term, period, or currency for in-use pricing.

Notes for Developers

• Added the ability for registrar modules to validate registration and transfer terms for TLDs.
• If you haven’t already, we recommend updating your extensions to work with PHP 8.0/8.1.

Client Template Changes

• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_accounts_contact_info.pdt new
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_contacts_phone_numbers.pdt updated
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/partial_fields.pdt updated

Staff Template Changes

• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_emails_templates.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_groups_add.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_groups_edit.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_require_fields_form.pdt updated

See the release notes for more details on this release.

Note Regarding PHP 8

We recommend exercising caution when using PHP 8 for production use. Many 3rd party or custom extensions may not yet be compatible with PHP 8. If upgrading Blesta, it is best to use a PHP version that is compatible with both the release you are upgrading from and the release you are upgrading to.

Blesta supports PHP 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.1 through Ioncube using the default files, and PHP 8.0/8.1 through SourceGuardian via the hotfix-php8 directory. Report any PHP 8 related issues for Blesta or official extensions on our forums or Discord #beta channel.

Is there something you want to see in Blesta? Create a new feature request or upvote an existing one!

When is the final release?

Version 5.6 will be officially released after the beta phase has completed, which we expect to happen soon. Once we deem 5.6 stable for production, a final release will be issued. You can help speed things along by participating in the beta!