Oh, the commits are for epochtalk_server and i see that they are very active indeed. So the epochtalk repo (forum software) is already done? Assuming since the last update was 3 years ago.

has the new forum been released?

Officially, not yet. They are still working on the server side of it. If you have a discord profile, you can check out the Epochtalk server https://discord.gg/9f2YA4fs (please note that this invite link expires in 7 days)

I believe once they are done with most of the testing, admin will let us know but as of now, we really don't know the ETA.