Evolution CMS 2.0 RC

Evolution CMS 2.0 RC is one of the most important release notes in the modern Evo timeline because it is both a pre-release and a manifesto. Instead of only listing changes, it answers the anxieties that many teams had about the Laravel-based branch and explains where the project was going.

The most important message

The release explicitly pushes back on the myth that “everything changed and the old way is gone.” The intended direction was broader than that: familiar Evolution workflows could continue, while stronger developers gained access to controllers, models, packages, migrations, and other modern tools.

Main themes from the RC announcement

• Backward compatibility: the release argues that even older Evo sites could still move through the established upgrade path toward 2.0.
• Modern technologies: Evo should not stand still while the wider PHP ecosystem keeps moving.
• CMS plus framework strengths: the manager experience stays focused on content editors, while Laravel components strengthen the developer layer.
• Practical workflow changes: work in IDEs, file-based templates, Blade, MVC, Eloquent, and package-driven development all become more natural.

Concrete development directions highlighted in the release

• templates in files and Blade
• controllers and MVC
• models and Eloquent
• Laravel 6 components inside Evolution CMS
• better ground for modern package development

Upgrade context from the release

The announcement pointed readers to video demonstrations of upgrading older installations through the 1.4 line and then into 2.0. That is historically important because the team was trying to prove continuity, not just announce a new architecture.

• Upgrade demo from older Evolution versions to 1.4
• Upgrade demo from 1.4.x to 2.0

Source: View full release notes on GitHub.