In that case you'll have to wait for the alpha release.. it's as simple as that.
Mo (Morven Lewis-Everley) was referring to trunk... he wrote "alpha test 2.4", not "testing alpha 2.4" :)

I personally don't define it an alpha unless it is released as an alpha, either as a package or set-up as a separate folder in SVN. Just downloading the latest SVN does not make it 2.4 or an alpha. It's just the latest SVN.

There is no alpha release at this point. What I (and others) pointed out is that all you can currently do is get the version from trunk and that's also what Mo was talking about. Nobody said trunk == alpha.. nor did anybody define the svn trunk as alpha.

I am not going to argue. If you look through the forum posts, you'll see people talking about the alpha that they are testing, yet it is not out. So, let's be honest.

And by the way, he said, "Alpha test 2.4". Where is 2.4? It doesn't exist. So, he does think he is using an alpha of 2.4, neither of which are out.

All the alpha is going to be is a tag off trunk at a given point in time. Because bug fixes are going into trunk at an hourly rate its best to check that out via svn and use that for a while. As sam said, once all the major issues are ironed out then it will be tagged.

No point releasing a static 2.4 alpha while major api changes (such as yesterdays renaming of SS* classes) is happening on an regular basis as people as the alpha would get out of date very quickly and then people raise issues in the bug tracker which have been fixed in trunk.

Make sure you have subscribed to the announcements mailing list. One of the core devs will post on there when the alpha is available.

Thank you, willr! :-) I find your answer acceptable.

I want to begin my major work now, with SilverStripe, on 2.4. I have been "chomping at the bit" for 2.3.4 to come out and then I saw that it will not be 2.3.4, but 2.4. So, I have been waiting on 2.4, at least an official alpha.

I want to be able to at least be working from officially recognized alpha's or beta's, even if it is as you say, a tag off of trunk. ...By the way, I actually did go and look in the tags, even before your post. So, I was looking for that too.

I have not been so optimistic about a CMS before as I am with SilverStripe! And that's a genuine compliment! So, I am EAGER to start off with this 2.4 alpha and begin developing from there, as we move through the alpha's and beta's and stable in early 2010.

"So, let's be honest."

Strange thing to say to someone who is trying to help!