Starting the new year off with a bang, the Drupal development team is pleased to announce that the third Drupal 4.7.0 beta release is available for immediate download at http://drupal.org/files/projects/drupal-4.7.0-beta3.tar.gz! This beta release marks an important step towards the final Drupal 4.7.0 release and significant progress from our previous beta release: we've fixed over 100 bugs since the last beta release and more than 150 bugs since the first beta release. Here is the changelog. However, there are more bugs to be found, reported, and fixed before Drupal 4.7.0 can be released. The good news is that you can help!

The current focus of the Drupal contributors is very clear: we're fixing the remaining bugs and getting the documentation up-to-date to make 4.7.0 the best release yet. Additionally, work has begun on updating contributed projects to 4.7.0. There are currently over 335 contributed projects (modules, themes, and translations) available for Drupal 4.6. 75 have already been updated to work with Drupal 4.7.

Here are some ways that you can help out with the 4.7.0 release:

1. Download Drupal 4.7.0 beta 3 and install it on a test platform. You can use the development module to quickly populate an empty database with sample data or you can upgrade an existing Drupal 4.6 database.
2. Get your users to participate on a test site. We've found the best way to discover new bugs is for many people to try many different things with the Drupal site. You may find bugs by looking through the log files as well.
3. Participate in the Drupal bug hunt. Prizes are awarded to the people who find the most bugs!
4. Go to the patch queue and review some of the latest patches.
5. Fix bugs! You can learn a lot about the Drupal system by fixing the bugs others find. You can ask questions and work on debugging with other Drupal developers on our IRC channel, #drupal on the irc.freenode.net IRC network. They're busy fixing bugs too, but many, if not most, are willing to give pointers and assist anyone who wants to help!

Release notes

• Important database changes have been made in this release. If you are upgrading, make sure to run the database upgrade script. Instructions for installing or upgrading Drupal can be found in INSTALL.txt or UPGRADE.txt, as well as the handbook.
• As with anything still in development, take precautions with your data before upgrading.