Changelog
Every release, written down.
What went into each version of AlumDeck, in plain words, including the parts that are not finished. The newest download is 1.0.1. Release 1.1, which ships everything the live demo runs today, is being prepared.
Build status
Release 1.1
Giving appeals and receiptsBuilt
Mail settingsBuilt
Backups and restore testBuilt
Member import wizardBuilt
Command-K searchBuilt
Unsubscribe in every emailTo do
Invitations for imported membersTo do
Updates screenTo do
CheckoutTo do
- 1.0.1the newest download, built 11 August 2026
- 1.1in preparation, running in the live demo
- 20features added since 1.0.1
- 34automated tests in the new build
Release history
What went into each version.
Newest first. Nobody has bought AlumDeck yet, because checkout is not open.
1.1
Everything the live demo runs today
- Giving appeals with goals, progress bars and donor walls, a gift ledger, and numbered receipts by email
- A giving panel on the admin dashboard, with this year's and last year's totals per currency
- Mail settings in the admin: SMTP or sendmail, an encrypted password and a test button
- Nightly backups at 02:30 with a checksum per file, and a restore test every Sunday
- A member CSV import wizard with column mapping, a dry run and duplicate checks
- Command-K search across every admin screen and setting
- Personal dashboard layouts for each admin, with a site default
- A custom admin address
- A licence check that never touches the public site, with 21 days of grace
- An installable app for members, with an offline page
- Date and time formats, a 12 or 24-hour clock, and a currency on each gift and appeal
- Changed: forms work before bot-check keys are added; avatars are drawn locally, with no Gravatar; tracking codes wait for cookie consent
- Laravel 13, Filament 5 and Livewire 4, needing PHP 8.3 or newer
- 34 automated tests, including one that fails the build if any school's name ships in the code
1.0.1
The current download
- The six-screen browser installer, with a full server check before anything is written
- The public site: news with RSS, events with RSVPs, free QR tickets and door check-in, galleries, the history timeline, the hall of fame and In Memoriam
- Joining: four separate consents, email verification, classmate vouching, matching against your old register, and an approval queue
- The member area: a members-only directory with ten privacy fields, automatic class rooms, mentoring, a job board, surveys and archive uploads
- Email campaigns to segments with open counts, plus automatic announcements, birthday greetings and digests
- The admin panel: 13 permission areas, admin two-factor, session limits, an audit log and three admin layouts
- Homepage blocks, menus, footer, branding and four colour pickers, with no file to edit
- Built on Laravel 12 and Filament 3.3, needing PHP 8.2 or newer at the time
1.0.0
The first public release
- The first packaged release of AlumDeck
- Replaced by 1.0.1 within the month: everything listed under 1.0.1 describes the 1.0 line
Corrections we owe you
Where the shipped docs are wrong.
The documents inside the 1.0.1 zip got a few things wrong. Here is what is actually true.
| The shipped docs say | What is true |
|---|---|
| PHP 8.2 or newer | PHP 8.3 or newer. The installer now refuses 8.2 before it writes anything. |
| Nothing calls home after the install | A licence status check runs about twice a day, carrying only the key and your hostname. |
| Visiting /admin applies database changes after an update | It does not. Migrations are a command you run; the updater planned for 1.1 would run them. |
| The version is shown in the admin | Not yet. The Updates screen planned for release 1.1 adds it. |
| The privacy settings control what members see about each other | That screen is the cookie banner. Each member controls their own fields. |
| The job board and volunteering can be switched off | The job board has no switch yet, and the volunteers switch does nothing. Release 1.1 plans to fix both. |
Applying an update today
Four steps, done by hand.
Nothing changes on your site until you do this, and nothing is pushed to it.
Download the new zip
Every release dated inside your licence year is yours to download.
Unpack it beside the old folder
Copy your
.envfile across, and your media folder if it lives inside the app.Swap the folders
Keep the old one for a week, in case you need to swap back.
Run the migrations
If the release changes the database, run one artisan command, from a terminal or your host's equivalent.
Questions
About updates.
Do we have to install every update?
No. AlumDeck runs on your server and nothing is pushed to it, so you choose when to apply an update. Apply security fixes promptly: patching is the honest cost of owning your site rather than renting it.
Will an update overwrite our branding or content?
No. Your logo, colours, menus, homepage blocks, settings and every record live in your database and your uploads folder. An update replaces application files only, so if you have edited those, keep a note of what you changed.
Which version does the live demo run?
The current build, which becomes release 1.1. That is why the demo shows giving appeals, backups and the import wizard, which the 1.0.1 download does not have.
How will we know a release is out?
This page is the record, and every entry is dated when it ships. Release 1.1 plans an Updates screen in the admin that shows your version and checks for newer releases.
Can we buy 1.0.1 today?
Not yet: checkout is not open. When it opens, what you download will match what the demo runs. Leave your address on the pricing page to hear the day it happens.
Open the live demo. It puts itself back every night.
Sign in as an admin or a member and click anything. Nothing you do can break it.
Sign-in details on the demo pageResets every night