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Elgg

COLLAB
Velocity5.0

Social networking engine for building custom online communities

elgg.org ↗

Elgg 7.1.0 adds invitation-only groups and designates MariaDB as its primary database

open-sourcesocial-networkingself-hostedphpaccess-controlcommunity-platform
◆Current state
Elgg is a mature open-source PHP social networking framework used primarily for self-hosted community platforms. The 7.0 major version shipped in May 2026 and introduced system-level IP logging, accessibility improvements, and a generic entity controller. Since then the 7.x branch has been in a stabilization phase — the team maintains both 7.x for current users and the 6.x branch for security backports, with coordinated dual-branch release patterns visible across the changelog.
◆Where it's heading
Elgg 7.1.0 moves in two directions simultaneously: infrastructure positioning (MariaDB as the explicit recommended database for self-hosted deployments) and access control granularity (invitation-only group membership, admin-only menu items in entity actions). These are consistent investments in making Elgg viable for communities that need fine-grained permission models. The dual 6.x/7.x maintenance cadence reflects a conservative community that upgrades slowly and values stability over feature pace.
◆Prediction
Continued dual-branch maintenance with 7.x accumulating incremental access control and entity management features while 6.x receives security backports. Given the 7.1.0 MariaDB recommendation, database-specific optimizations or stricter compatibility requirements for MariaDB are a plausible next step.

◆Recent moves

  1. 6d ago

    Elgg 7.1.0: invitation-only groups and MariaDB becomes the recommended database

    Elgg 7.1.0 is the first meaningful feature release after the 7.0 major. Invitation-only group membership and the MariaDB database recommendation are the two user-impacting changes — the former adds a long-requested access model, the latter signals an infrastructure direction for self-hosted deployments. Accessibility improvements and a query cache correctness fix round out a substantive minor release.

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  2. 28d ago

    Elgg 7.0.5

    A narrow performance fix that stops Elgg from generating unnecessary AJAX response data for entities the likes system doesn't support — internal cleanup with no user-visible behavior change.

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  3. 28d ago

    Elgg 6.3.8

    The 6.3.8 backport addresses installer input sanitization, client IP address correctness, and email notification reliability — all security or data-integrity adjacent. Maintaining the 6.x branch with these patches keeps Elgg safe for communities that haven't yet migrated to 7.x.

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  4. 1mo ago

    Elgg 7.0.4

    A single gatekeeper fix ensuring deleted entities are handled correctly when accessed — correctness patch with no new behavior added.

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  5. 1mo ago

    Elgg 6.3.7

    A security backport to the 6.3.x stable branch. Details are sparse but security releases in the maintained stable branch matter for self-hosted deployments that need the fix without a major version upgrade.

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  6. 2mo ago

    Elgg 7.0.3

    A license compliance fix correcting the CKEditor version to reference the proper GPL license. No user-visible behavior change — internal housekeeping.

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