[opencms-dev] OpenCms in the future?

[Alexander Kandzior]

Joe,

regarding our development roadmap for OpenCms, there are 3 lists of
features:

1. Stuff already finished (or to be finished soon)

* Search index update automatially after publishing
* Administration GUI for creating/managing search indexes (and index
sources)
* Improvement to static export
* Notification of Authors by Email in case VFS content is unchanged some
time
* Improved Account Mgmt for Users/Groups (e.g. when deleting users)
* Support for maxDB (contributed by Clovis Wichoski and Fabiano Rech)
* Likley: Support for DB/2 (to be contributed by an external party)

2. Stuff in the pipeline (requested by paying clients)

* Multiple file selection in the OpenCms Explorer for delete, copy, move
etc. operations
* Improved support for creation of accessible content
* Integration of other external editors (e.g. FCKeditor)
* Lots of other, small improvements

3. Stuff we would like to work on in the future

* Support for JSR 170
* Support for JSR 168
* Support for WebDAV
* Improved internal Link management (e.g. notfication when deleting a linked
file etc.)

There will be a "upgrade/bugfix" release in the near future, either end of
September of mid October. This will be a version 6.0.x. It will contain some
items from 1) but not all.

We are currently in the process of changing the development process to add
new features in a different branch, not always using CVS HEAD. We are still
trying out some things here. The plan is to have one "stable" branch (HEAD)
and one development branch. The stable branch will see only bug fixes and
minor improvements. All major development will be in the dev branch, using
version numbers 6.1.x. Tags in the dev branch will not be officially
released, but some will still be usable in live installations. There should
be a bugfix release update all 2 months or so. These will be the 6.0.x
versions.

Once the dev branch has accumalated a set of features that have been tested
ok, we will merge it to HEAD and release a new offical "major upgrade". The
next major update will be 6.2.0. It's likley that 6.2 will be a version with
all features listed in 1) and 2) above. It may be available end of Q1/06.

Please note that there is still a lot of uncertainty since a client may
cancel a feature or request another, or change the time plan of a project.
You should know that most of the OpenCms development by Alkacon is client
sponsored, and so certain things are beyond our control, that is why I can't
give precise release dates or feature lists months in advance. 

Best Regards,
Alex.

Alexander Kandzior
Alkacon Software - The OpenCms Experts
http://www.alkacon.com



 


________________________________

	From: opencms-dev-bounces at opencms.org
[mailto:opencms-dev-bounces at opencms.org] On Behalf Of Joe Desbonnet
	Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 9:43 PM
	To: The OpenCms mailing list
	Subject: [opencms-dev] OpenCms in the future?
	
	
	I wonder if those in the know can comment on the short and medium
term plans for OpenCms? I understand that a new release (6.0.1  or 6.1?) is
due before the end of September, but beyond that what's the plan? I see from
the CVS that people are working hard behind the scenes, but the occasional
posting on the development list from the core developers would be very
reassuring. Things like what's planned for version 7, will it implement JSR
170 etc. Also in what areas do the developers welcome contributions?
	
	Please don't get me wrong -- I'm not complaining. The software is
very much appreciated and I'm contributing the best I can by helping people
on the email list. When I'm finished my first few OpenCms projects I hope to
have some code to contribute ( eg the SVG image filter project at
http://www.wombat.ie/software/OpenCmsImageFilter/ )
	
	Joe.