vBulletin
| vBulletin
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| Basic data
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| developer | InternetBrands Inc. or vBulletin Solutions, Inc. |
| Publishing year | 2000 |
| Current version | 5.6.3 (August 25, 2020) |
| operating system | platform independent |
| programming language | PHP |
| category | Internet forum , web content management system |
| German speaking | Yes |
| www.vbulletin.com | |
vBulletin is a proprietary software solution for web forums and social networks written in the PHP scripting language . The MySQL database is used to store content .
history
This section is written in the style of a well-designed advertising brochure. It is far from a neutral representation .
In 1999 James Limm and John Percival used the forum software UBB.classic for their website on Visual Basic . As their Internet presence grew, they soon discovered that the software, written in Perl and operating on a file-based database , was not up to the growing demands. In February 2000, they decided to write their own forum software because they were not familiar with UBB's code. Initially, the forum should only be a new edition of the UBB, based on PHP and MySQL, which should only run on its own website. Other UBB operators soon expressed their interest in the new software. James Limm and John Percival offered the manufacturer of the UBB its own software for sale, but the latter declined the offer. Since the demand for their own forum software was still high, they both decided to found the company Jelsoft and to market the product commercially with the name vBulletin 1.
After a few minor publications, both decided to write a new version, which should be more than just a new edition of the UBB. The development of vBulletin 2 began. Limm was in charge of sales while Percival became the lead developer of vBulletin. With the steadily growing project, two more developers, Freddie Bingham and Mike Sullivan, were hired to develop vBulletin 2. Kier Darby joined the team during the vBulletin 2 beta. The release of vBulletin 2 was a success and contributed significantly to the popularity of vBulletin.
Development of vBulletin 3 began in December 2002. Percival decided to leave his role as lead developer and transferred that role to Kier Darby. The development of vBulletin 3 took several years and resulted in a complete revision of the source code of vBulletin 2. In March 2004 the final version of vBulletin 3 was published. A year later, vBulletin 3.5 was released, an improvement on vBulletin 3.0 with numerous new features.
vBulletin was created by Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. developed and distributed in Germany by Adduco Digital . Jelsoft and thus all rights to vBulletin were taken over by Internet Brands, Inc. in July 2007. In December 2008, James Limm announced that the fourth version of the popular forum software, contrary to what was planned, would be published in several stages. Several people left Jelsoft in 2009, including Mike Sullivan and Kier Darby, who developed their own forum software with XenForo . A team from Internet Brands took over the further development of vBulletin 4 on site. On October 13, 2009, Internet Brands published a new licensing model for vBulletin with the aim of establishing a new product line. The main focus of the company is therefore no longer on the forum software itself, but on the sale of a "vBulletin Suite". In addition to the actual forum software, this will contain a content management system and a blog . Over time, the individual products should all be merged into one suite and function as an application platform for social networks .
The vBulletin parent company Internet Brands Inc. has been part of the private equity company Hellman & Friedman since 2010 .
Since version 4.1.2, which was released in February 2011, vBulletin has a built-in template for mobile devices such as smartphones .
With the publication of the first vBulletin 5 Connect version, Internet Brands ends its cooperation with German sales. Since then, vBulletin licenses can only be purchased directly.
Versions
| Legend: | Older version; no longer supported | Older version; still supported | Current version | Future version |
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| Main version |
version | Current status |
|---|---|---|
| 1.x | 1.1.6 | first branch of development, no further development / obsolete |
| 2.x | 2.0.3 | first version of the 2.x branch, no further development |
| 2.2.9 | no further development | |
| 2.3.11 | no further development | |
| 3.x | ||
| 3.0.17 | first version of the 3.x branch, no further development | |
| 3.5.8 | Jump from 3.0.x, no further development | |
| 3.6.12 | no further development | |
| 3.7.7 | last version of the 3.7 branch | |
| 3.8.11 | last version of the 3.x branch | |
| 4.x | ||
| 4.0.8 | first version of the 4.0 branch, currently at PL7 level | |
| 4.1.12 | Current version of the 4.1 branch, currently at PL1 level | |
| 4.2.5 | current version of the 4.x branch | |
| 5.x | ||
| 5.0.0 | first version of the 5.0 branch | |
| 5.5.4 | current version of the 5.x branch |
vBulletin Code Hacking
At vBulletin, “code hacking” means changing or adding files / codes to improve the board software. One of the best-known examples is the so-called hide hack, which makes the text between [hide]and [/hide]invisible until you have replied to the post or pressed a certain button. The second example would be the so-called Dankomat: Since postings such as "THX" or "Thank you" were always posted in forums for certain informative or similar posts , someone wrote the Dankomat. If the Dankomat has been activated, the program inserts a second posting directly after the original post. If you click on the “Thank you” button in the second posting, you will be listed in the list of users who thank the author for this post.
In the meantime, however, the direct “code hacking” is decreasing, since the vBulletin from version 3.5 has integrated an add-on system. This means that changes to the actual source code (PHP) are no longer necessary, but the modifications / extensions can simply be added using plug-ins, which in particular significantly simplifies subsequent updates of vBulletin and makes each extension can be switched on and off individually. This is why one no longer speaks of the classic “code hacking”, but rather of modifications or extensions. One of the best known and most widely used extensions is an arcade system (ibProArcade for vBulletin), which enables forum users to play flash-based games.
Products
Internet Brands has been offering the following products since September 12, 2012:
vBulletin 5 Connect Core Package
The Publishing Suite consists of the forum software, a Facebook app, a content management system and a blog .