Moodle 2.4 release notes

Releases > Moodle 2.4 release notes

Release date: December 2012

Here is the full list of fixed issues in 2.4.

Many thanks to everyone that worked on the new features in this release

A special thanks to our incredible 'Integration Team' from Moodle HQ who worked tirelessly with all developers to review, test and help finish code for inclusion in Moodle core:

• Eloy Lafuente
• Sam Hemelryk
• Dan Poltawski
• Aparup Bannerjee

Finally, thanks to all our testers both within Moodle HQ and from the whole community, who have contributed to producing our most exciting and stable release yet!

Requirements

• Minimum browser: Firefox 4, Internet Explorer 8, Safari 5, Google Chrome 11, Opera 9
• Moodle upgrade: Moodle 2.2 or later (if upgrading from earlier versions, you must upgrade to 2.2 as a first step)
• Minimum DB versions: Postgres 8.3, MySQL 5.1.33 (MDL-33984), MSSQL 2005 or Oracle 10.2
• Minimum PHP version: PHP 5.3.2

Major new features

Performance improvements

A variety of improvements have been made under the hood to improve performance in a number of ways. Some of require configuration by the admin to take advantage of them but used properly they can allow you to make better use of your hardware for faster speed and more students.

• MDL-25290 - MUC Stage 1: Implement some core caching architecture (MUC)

'((NOTE: We need performance graphs here comparing 2.4 to 2.3))'

Plugin updating from within Moodle

• MDL-35238 - Not only will Moodle tell you when one of your plugins is out-of-date, but you can also now update it via the web interface.

Course format plugins

Moodle has always supported pluggable course formats, but now we've given developers even more flexibility than before. Course formats can now provide their own settings for courses and sections, and they can also have a lot more control of all the pages in a course.

• MDL-35218 - Course formats re-factoring

We're looking forward to seeing some exciting course formats from the community in future. (Note that in 2.4 the standard course formats have not been changed).

Course activity icons

• MDL-34080 - The default icons used for activities and editing actions have been updated for the first time since Moodle 1.0. Not only are they a little bigger and more colourful but they are SVG format and support full scaling on all devices, so they always look good.

Integration of external calendars

The most-voted feature request in the tracker has been fixed!

• MDL-16660 - You can now stream your external calendars (such as Google Calendar, or a calendar from another Moodle site) into Moodle's calendar via the iCal standard.

Assignment enhancements

A number of significant - and very welcome - enhancements to the assignment module have been made:

• MDL-31284 - Group assignments - It will now be possible to set an assignment which a group can work on collaboratively -and receive a common (or individual) grade.
• MDL-31291 - Blind marking i.e. not knowing the identity of students when grading. Students' names will be replaced by randomly generated Participant numbers.
• MDL-31295 - Submission date extensions - Teachers can set a cut-off date(and time) beyond which submissions will no longer be accepted. They can also grant extensions for those who miss the deadline.
• MDL-31295 - Submission statement - It will be possible to set a submission statement so students have to check a box promising their work is original before submitting it.

Security issues

All security issues that were fixed in 2.3.x and 2.2.x were also fixed in 2.4.

For developers: API changes

Abbreviated descriptions of API changes are always kept up to date in the "upgrade.txt" within each plugin area. We do this so that the information is always exactly right for the version of Moodle you are using. Changes in this release:

Blocks

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=blocks/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Course formats

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=course/format/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Filters

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=filter/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Activity modules

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=mod/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Quiz access rules

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=mod/quiz/accessrule/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Quiz reports

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=mod/quiz/report/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Portfolio plugins

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=portfolio/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Question behaviour plugins

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=question/behaviour/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Question behaviour plugins

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=question/format/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Question types

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=question/type/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Repository plugins

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=repository/upgrade.txt;hb=master

Themes

http://git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git;a=blob;f=theme/upgrade.txt;hb=master

See also

• User documentation of new features in Moodle 2.4
• Upgrading to Moodle 2.4 - information for admins who are upgrading from earlier versions
• Moodle 2.3 release notes
• 2.4_Test_Plan - Moodle 2.4 test plan.