The second half of February has brought two exciting changes in the Joomla content management system. First, awareness of a security flaw in Joomla has been made public and patched with the Joomla 1.0.15 release.
 Secondly, and more importantly, news on Joomla 1.6 has surfaced, to help give Joomla users ideas on when and what to expect from the next minor release of Joomla.

The Joomla 1.0.15 release is considered to be a mandatory update, as it addresses a critical security flaw in Joomla. Specifically, this flaw is present in Joomla versions 1.0.12 and earlier. If you run a Joomla version from these versions, consider your website at high risk.

It’s recommended that you backup your website before continuing to upgrade. But in all actuality, simply adding the following line to the bottom of your config.php file is all the upgrade contains:

• if(!defined('RG_EMULATION')) { define( 'RG_EMULATION', 0 ); }

However, it is still recommended that the upgrade be downloaded and installed according to procedure, as made available from the following URL:

• http://docs.joomla.org/Upgrade_Instructions

On a slightly lighter note, Joomla developers state that Joomla 1.6 will focus on “better planning and more involvement with the community.” To accomplish this feat, developers are requesting that Joomla users provide feedback and feature requests so Joomla developers can improve on an already great content management system.
The feature request process revolves around a “White Papers” system, in which strict rules and formatting must be followed for Joomla users to get their requests recognized. More information on how to format a White Paper, and how to hand your request directly to Joomla developers, can be found below.

• Read http://docs.joomla.org/White_Papers Before Submitting
• Read http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=500 to Joomla Developers