Today we release JIRA Client 3.0 RC 1, which is now available on the Atlassian Marketplace! Read on to find out what's hip in that for your team.

JIRA Client Plugin

The Atlassian Marketplace provides new experience in installing plugins into your JIRA. JIRA Client keeps up with it, simplifying the installation and license management.

Before, each member of your team had to find the download link for JIRA Client and install it onto their computer. But that wasn't all! When your company purchased a JIRA Client license, you had to obtain the license file and tell JIRA Client where it was situated. This was a rather cumbersome process that had to be repeated by every single JIRA Client user in the company. The feedback we received from our customers revealed that users without an in-depth technical background had problems with this scenario, so this model didn't work well for large companies.

Now, your JIRA administrator can simply go to Administration | Plugins | Install in the JIRA web interface, select JIRA Client from the list of available plugins and download it. Every user will now see a download link in their profile menu in the top right corner of the JIRA web page. After users install the client on their computer, they don't need to bother with license keys — the license is managed on the server, through the JIRA Client plugin.

To sum up, the deployment process has become much more streamlined, especially for large companies.

If you possess an old-style JIRA Client license file, you'll still be able to use RC 1 just fine; make sure you download the regular version, not the Site version. The same applies to open-source projects that are added to our sponsored servers list.

Fixed Bugs Since Beta

We have fixed a few issues found in Beta 1 version.

• We managed to reduce the CPU usage on Macs: users were experiencing large CPU usage, which caused performance problems and less battery life for laptops. Due to this, we especially recommend Mac users of EAP versions to upgrade.
• Login mechanics fixed: users that entered an incorrect password upon connection setup immediately received CAPTCHA challenge or locked out their LDAP account.
• We have also found and fixed performance problems that rose when the Issue Editor was open.

JIRA Client 3.0 RC 1 is stable, and we plan to do a final release very soon. Whether you are using 2.x or 3.0 EAP version, we advise you to upgrade.

End of EAP

This release marks the end of Early Access Program releases. That means that you can use RC 1 in a free 30-day trial mode or with any JIRA Client license with an active maintenance subscription. JIRA Client Lite may be used freely with any JIRA server running on a Starter license, or with a JIRA server that hosts a sponsored open-source project.

Previously released Alpha and Beta versions will continue to work under the Early Access License until August 1, 2012, as announced.

Installation Instructions

If your JIRA has JIRA Client plugin installed, you'll need a Marketplace version which can be obtained via the download link in your user profile menu in the top right corner of any JIRA web page.

Non-marketplace license users can download JIRA Client or JIRA Client Lite on the pre-release download page.

If you are upgrading from Beta 1, there is nothing new — follow the usual installation process. If you are upgrading from an earlier EAP version or JIRA Client 2.x, please carefully review the installation instructions on the download page.

As always, we are keen to hear your feedback. Write to our support, raise an issue in our JIRA or — better — meet us at the Atlassian Summit!

Igor Baltiyskiy
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download JIRA Client
• Release notes in JIRA
• Full change log