Release Radar · Hacktoberfest 2023 Edition

As Hacktoberfest comes to a close, you still have a day or so left to complete and submit your pull requests. If you’re struggling to think of projects to contribute to, our picks below might help you. This edition of the Release Radar covers a few projects that shipped major version updates this August and September. Check them out and get those pull requests in.

Front Matter 9.0

Experience the best of both worlds with Front Matter. We’ve featured Front Matter in the January 2022 and March 2022 Release Radars. Front Matter is a CMS that runs within Visual Studio Code, GitPod, and many more, and it just got better. It’s now available in English, German, and Japanese. Plus there’s full support for Visual Studio Code as it moves out of experimental mode. Support for Astro’s new assets location has been added, and there’s more UI extensibility options with the Front Matter extensibility library. Start creating great content, or check out the Front Matter blog for all the updates.

We release version 9 of #FrontMatter #CMS.

A couple of highlights:
– Front Matter is now available in German and Japanese.
– #VSCode theme support is now available in the stable version.
– New content relationship field
– @astrodotbuild assets supporthttps://t.co/BcGXuEbvHO pic.twitter.com/0qmbbBOYQQ

— Front Matter CMS (@frontmattercms) August 21, 2023

Astro 3.0

Speaking of Astro, version three just dropped! Astro is a web framework designed to scale. It builds fast and uses dynamic server APIs. It features lightweight outputs, yet a powerful developer experience. Version 3.0 includes image optimisation, faster rendering performance, new ways to connect to your hosting platform, fast refresh support for React and Preact, and even cleaner HTML. Read the blog for all the details on this latest update.

what a time to be alive.https://t.co/KoCkHHQtQu pic.twitter.com/1eMZIg6lVK

— Astro (@astrodotbuild) September 30, 2023

Framework x 4.0

With so many frameworks floating around the internet, it can be hard to choose just one. Framework x is all about substance over style. It’s like a well-oiled machine for API development, powered by Node.js and Express. No flashy gimmicks, just pure development bliss. Check out Framework x  and if you want make suggestions or changes, open an issue or take an issue for Hacktoberfest.

Drifty 2.0

Do you have trouble downloading files? Look no further than Drifty, an interactive file downloader system. You can download any file from a link provided with auto-filename retrieval capability. Version 2.0 brings a new graphics interface mode, support for downloading Instagram videos, and availability on Windows, macOs, and Linux via msi, exe, pkg, and general executables. Check out the repo, and if this is something you’re likely to use, think about submitting a PR.

Drifty v2.0.0 released 🎉! It adds GUI support to Drifty along with Instagram video download support and native executables for all three major OS.
Thanks to all the contributors!
Download Drifty now – https://t.co/dVuAKntQI1! pic.twitter.com/jjLk8Mbd3S

— Saptarshi Sarkar (@SSarkar2007) September 21, 2023

OpenAPI Generator 7.0

Having access to good APIs is important. OpenAPI Generator allows for the generation of API client libraries, server stubs, and documentation. Release 7.0 includes lots of enhancements and bug fixes including breaking changes without fallback. These include the addition of a Zapier and Sttp4 client generators, support for additional properties, security fixes, and more. Read all the changes in the release notes and see how you could use this generator.

Just published #OpenAPI #Generator v7.0.0 (major release with breaking changes) with 500+ PRs and 3 new generators from the awesome community. Please give it a try and let us know your feedback by opening an issue. Have a nice weekend!

Release note: https://t.co/MaeYr7jP4W

— OpenAPI Generator (@oas_generator) August 25, 2023

OpenLayers 8.0

A little different to OpenAPI Generator, OpenLayers, is a high high-performance, feature-packed library for creating interactive maps on the web. Version 8.0 brings several API simplifications, some of which aren’t backward compatible, so make sure you update to the latest version. The team have put together a document on upgrading to the latest edition, plus which features aren’t backward compatible. Other changes include support for new layers, the detection of static images on load, and more. Check out all the changes in the release notes.

GraphQL API Voyager 2.0

If maps weren’t enough, we have graphs too! GraphQL API Voyager turns any GraphQL API into an interactive graph. The latest release adds a bunch of cool new features, some bug fixes, and the removal of legacy features to make the whole system run smoother. Check out all the updates in the changelog or head over to the website to play with a demo.

Livewire 3.0

No not Limewire, Livewire. It’s a full stack framework for Laravel, designed to build dynamic UI components. There are a tonne of new features with the latest version including lots of fixes, enhancements to the docs, upgraded command improvements, new configuration options and more. The new release requires PHP 8.1 or higher, and the team have even built an automated upgrade tool to update to the latest version of Livewire. Check out migration guide and remember to update.

DiceBear 7.0

We featured DiceBear in our December 2022/January 2023 Release Radar. During the festive season, DiceBear 5.0 came out. In less than a year they have dropped two major versions. Changes include a new avatar style called “rings”, an HTTP API endpoint, and a bunch of bug fixes. Check out the full avatar library on the DiceBear website and dig into all the changes in the release notes.

Release Radar August-September

Well, that’s all for this special Hacktoberfest edition. Hopefully you’ve found some inspiration to make those last few pull requests and complete your Hacktoberfest journey.

Thank you to everyone who submitted a project to be featured. We loved reading all about the great things you’re all working on. Whether your project was featured here or not, congratulations to everyone who shipped a new release. Regardless of it you shipped your first your project’s first version, or you launched 8.0.

If you missed our last Release Radar, check out the amazing open source projects that released major version projects in July. We love featuring projects submitted by the community. If you are working on an open source project and shipping a major version soon, we’d love to hear from you. Check out the Release Radar repository, and submit your project to be featured in the GitHub Release Radar.