BuddyPress 5.0 to Update Password Control to Match WordPress

BuddyPress 5.0 development began in December 2018 after 4.0.0 was released in November. The core BuddyPress team has not published a roadmap for what will be coming in 5.0, but features and fixes added so far can be found on GitHub in the commit log.

One noteworthy addition to the upcoming major release is that the BP Nouveau template pack is being updated to use the same password control as the one used in WordPress core. BuddyPress users will now be able to set their passwords using WordPress’ interface on the registration page and on the user’s general settings page.

Here’s what it will look like in the templates:

https://twitter.com/imath/status/1129668922024845313

By default, BuddyPress will generate a strong password, but the user can still edit it, if necessary. If the user selects a password that is too weak, the submit button will be disabled until the user confirms they want to proceed by checking the checkbox.

BP Nouveau replaced the bp-legacy template packs in 2018, introducing JavaScript-powered templates, integration with the Customizer, and more layout options for BuddyPress navigation and component directories. As a result of the password control update, the src/bp-templates/bp-nouveau/js/password-verify.js template is scheduled to be deprecated and deleted in BuddyPress 6.0.0, so developers will want to take note if using the bp-nouveau-password-verify script as a dependency for custom password control implementations.

BuddyPress 5.0 also adds BP-specific debug into to the Site Health Info screen that was introduced in WordPress 5.2. This release will require WordPress 4.7 or greater for optimal compatibility and older versions will not be supported. Site owners running on older versions of WordPress have time to prepare.

Although the BuddyPress core team and contributors have put out several security and maintenance releases since version 4.0.0, regular project meetings have been sporadic in 2019. BuddyPress 5.0 was expected at the end of May but a new timeline may be discussed at the next meeting, which is tentatively planned for Wednesday, June 12.