Mambo 4.5 and 5.0 Roadmap

Mambo 4.5 and 5.0 Roadmap

Introduction

Mambo is quickly becoming one of the most popular free open source software projects. It's catch-cry has long been "Power in Simplicity". This document outlines the current thinking of the Development Team for the maintenance of version 4.5 of the Content Management System and the development of version 5.0 incorporating both new technologies and long sought after features.

Version Convention

Versioning of Mambo releases follows an X.Y.Z convention where:

X = The major release number
An increment of this number generally indicates a significant change to the code base. The increment may be completely incompatible with prior versions.
Y = The minor release number
An increment of this number usually indicates a significant change to functionality or architecture but with a moderate to high level of backward compatibility with previous versions.
Z = The maintenance release number
An increment of this number usually indicates bug fixing within the X.Y release and possibly small enhancements and limited new features. These versions are expected to be fully backwardly compatible with previous increments.

Structure

The support for version 4.5 is planned to end no earlier than 31 December 2005. During this time all updates to existing features, barring fixes relating to security issues and some bugs, will remain backwardly compatible with version 4.5.1a. This provides for consistency and stability of development during 2005 and allows for the writing of documentation and training materials with a reduced risk of the changes in core functionality making such documents out-of-date. It also provides third party developers a period of stability within the core API so that they are not updating their products with every incremental release of Mambo.

Version 5.0 will be developed in parallel with the maintenance of version 4.5. This version is not intended to be completely backwardly compatible with version 4.5.x. This enables the Development Team to explore new and cutting edge technologies, improve ergonomics, database and API design and to fix legacy issues that have plagued the core files.

It is intended that version 4.5.x will be maintained for a 'settling in' period after the initial release of 5.0. While the exact length of this period is yet to be determined it is likely to last until at least the availability of the first 5.0 maintenance release (that being version 5.0.1). Once version 5.0 is considered to be nominally stable, and when new documentation and training material is prepared, a date for ending the official support of version 4.5.x will be determined.

During the development of 5.0 we intend to have a general lead-in period of alpha and beta versions to allow for the upgrading of existing third party products.

Goals

The general goals of the maintenance of version 4.5.x are:

To address reported bugs
To maintain backward compatibility with version 4.5.1a
To keep third party libraries included with Mambo (eg, DOMIT) up to date
To provide in the final versions export capabilities for version 5.0

New features planned for version 4.5 include:

Translation of the administrator
Additional libraries that may prove useful for proving pre-5.0 features
Soft port to the ADODB database abstraction layer
Element installer improvements
Content export routines for upgrading to 5.0.

The broad goals of version 5.0 are:

To improve the granularity of the access control system
To implement multi-database support, initially targeting MS-SQL and Postgres
To provide a more object-based API to allow for 'common' functionality to be handled by the core, allowing for developers to concentrate on the idiosyncrasies of their data
To improve the organisation of content by unshackling the current restraints of the Section-Category hierarchy
To improve the separation of data, business logic and the presentation layer by adopting a Model-View-Controller (MVC) approach. This will be facilitated with a templating system
To improve the compliance with XHTML standards while also considering the needs of people with disabilities and also languages that display right-to-left
To extend multi-language support from just static labels to content itself
To implement a workflow engine for content approval and display

Milestone Plan

The following is subject to change as development progresses.

Version	Date	Summaray of major items
4.5.2	14 Feb 2005	Bug fixes patTemplate libraries added for testing, enhancements to file permissions
4.5.3	Mar 2005	Bug fixes Administrator language support Implement ADODB
4.5.4	May 2005	Bug fixes
4.5.5	1 Jun 2005	Bug fixes
5.0.0 alpha	Mid (?) 2005	New ACL Multi-DB support Object based API Unlimited folders format replaces fixed Section/Categories MVC implemented in conjunction with patTemplating engine Better web standards (XHTML, RTL languages, etc) Support for translation of content Simple workflow engine
5.0.0	Late (?) 2005	First stable release
5.1.0	2006	Workflow engine expanded

Last Updated( Monday, 07 February 2005 )