matrix.org/content/blog/2014/11/2014-11-20-synapse-enters-beta-with-the-release-of-v0-5-0.md

+++ title = "Synapse enters beta with the release of v0.5.0!" path = "/blog/2014/11/20/synapse-enters-beta-with-the-release-of-v0-5-0"

[taxonomies] author = ["Matthew Hodgson"] category = ["Tech"] +++

We're really excited to release the biggest update yet to Synapse (the python/twisted reference Matrix homeserver implementation) - version 0.5.0 is out!

This effectively concludes our alpha testing phase - Synapse's security model is now feature complete and we are now cautiously encouraging people to run their own Synapse installation on the 'net; federate up; and help us squash all and any bugs as we get beta testing.

Synapse 0.5.0 has huge database schema changes from previous versions as we have landed both the event-signing and federation-authorisation branches and so added full cryptographic signing of all matrix events and unified the client-server and server-server model of events/PDUs.  As a result, migrating history is Hard - we recommend a clean start if possible; if not, come talk to us in #matrix:matrix.org.  UPGRADE.rst has the details.

The full changelog is as per below - please upgrade your homeserver or install a new one if you're new here and join Matrix and help us create a robust open distributed messaging fabric for the web!

Changes in synapse 0.5.0 (2014-11-19)
=====================================
This release includes changes to the federation protocol and client-server API
that is not backwards compatible.

This release also changes the internal database schemas and so requires servers to
drop their current history. See UPGRADES.rst for details.

Homeserver:
 * Add authentication and authorization to the federation protocol. Events are
   now signed by their originating homeservers.
 * Implement the new authorization model for rooms.
 * Split out web client into a separate repository: matrix-angular-sdk.
 * Change the structure of PDUs.
 * Fix bug where user could not join rooms via an alias containing 4-byte
   UTF-8 characters.
 * Merge concept of PDUs and Events internally.
 * Improve logging by adding request ids to log lines.
 * Implement a very basic room initial sync API.
 * Implement the new invite/join federation APIs.

Webclient:
 * The webclient has been moved to a separate repository.