2 <head><title>Mono Roadmap</title>
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71 <font size=1>Miguel de Icaza (miguel@ximian.com)</font>
78 <p>This document describes the high-level roadmap for <a
79 href="http://www.go-mono.com">Mono</a>.
81 <p>The Mono project started in 2001 as an effort to implement
82 the .NET Framework to Unix. To bring both the new programming
83 model based on the Common Language Infrastructure and C# as
84 well as helping people migrate their existing knowledge and
85 applications to Unix. Mono today supports a wide variety of
86 operating systems, CPUs and a large chunk of the functionality
87 available in the .NET Framework.
89 <p>At the October 2003 PDC conference a number of new
90 technologies were announced. From the Mono release schedule
91 perspective, we should think about these technologies from
92 their release time standpoint, and the features that must be
95 <p>This document outlines the roadmap for the Mono project
96 from my perspective: what we can effectively deliver on the
97 dates outlined. Since Mono is a large open source project,
98 things might change and new features can be incorporated
99 into the plan if external sources devote enough attention to
102 <p>This is the timeline:
105 <img src="roadmap.png">
110 <p>So far Microsoft has published two versions of the .NET
111 Framework: 1.0 and 1.1, the later with incremental updates to
114 <p>The Mono project has been tracking some of the
115 improvements available in those two releases, some of the
116 highlights of our work so far are:
119 <li> Core: mscorlib, System, System.Security and
120 System.XML assemblies.
122 <li> ADO.NET: System.Data and various other database
125 <li> ASP.NET: WebForms and Web Services are
126 supported. Work on WSE1/WSE2 has also started.
128 <li> Compilers: C#, VB.NET and various command line tools
129 that are part of the SDK.
131 <li> Open Source, Unix and Gnome specific libraries.
134 <p>Other components like Windows.Forms, Directory.Services,
135 Enterprise Services and JScript are being developed but are not
136 as mature as the other components but are under development by
139 <p>Some other smaller and less used components do not have yet
140 a Mono equivalent (System.Management, System.Drawing.Design).
142 <h3>Mono release strategy</h3>
144 <p>The levels of maturity of Mono fluctuate depending on the
145 development effort we have put into it, and the use we have
146 given to them. For example, the virtual machine and the C#
147 compiler very mature, while less commonly used functionality
148 in Mono like Windows.Forms or VB.NET are still under heavy
151 <p>Our strategy is to release the mature components as Mono
152 1.0, and have upcoming versions of Mono add extra
155 <h3>Mono 1.0 goals</h3>
157 <p>The Mono 1.0 release would include the following
163 <li>VM, with JIT and pre-compiler.
165 <li>IL assembler, disassembler.
167 <li>Development and security tools.
169 <li>Core libraries: mscorlib, System, System.XML.
171 <li>System.Data and Mono database providers.
173 <li>System.Web: Web applications platform and Apache
176 <li>System.Web.Services: client and server support.
180 <li>System.DirectoryServices
182 <li>JIT support: x86 and PPC architectures
183 (interpreter available for other architectures).
185 <li>ECMA profiles: special build options to build
186 Mono as an implementation of the various ECMA profiles
189 <li>Java integration through IKVM.
191 <li>Embedding interface for the runtime.
197 <li>mono: will contain the above features implementing
200 <li>mono-1.0-compat: Will include a build of the
201 libraries with the .NET 1.0 API, this is a
202 compatibility build for people running .NET 1.0
205 <li>mono-unstable: Will contain a snapshot of the
206 other technologies under development for developer's
207 convenience, but will be unsupported at this time.
208 These include the Generics edition of the C#
211 <li>mono-ecma: A build that only includes the ECMA
215 <p>Release target: Q2/2004.
217 <p>Bug fix releases would be done on a monthly basis.
219 <p>For a detailed list, see the <a
220 href="mono-1.0.html">mono-1.0 feature list.</a>
222 <h3>Microsoft's Whidbey</h3>
224 <p>To understand post 1.0 editions of Mono, it is important to
225 put it into perspective with the Microsoft Whidbey product, to
228 <p>The new features in the Whidbey release of the .NET Framework
232 <li><b>Generic types</b><br>
233 These introduce changes to the compiler, runtime and
236 <li><b>ASP.NET 2</b><br>
237 Many tools to simplify web application development:
238 Master pages, new controls for common operations,
239 personalization and themes.
241 <li><b>Remoting</b><br>
242 New security channels and version-resistant remoting
243 (good news in the interop department).
246 XQuery debuts on this release as well as an improved
247 XmlDocument system based on XPath: XPathDocument.
249 <li><b>Networking</b><br>
250 FTP client, Ssl streams.
252 <li><b>Console and Serial ports:</b></br>
253 Console terminal input/output is available as well as
254 serial port handling.
256 <li><b>Windows.Forms</b><br>
257 Layout containers finally appeared on Windows.Forms as
258 well as various new controls.
260 <li><b>ObjectSpaces</b><br>
261 An API for simpler data-base access.
266 <p>The Mono team is developing in parallel some features that
267 wont make it to the 1.0 release in stable form. These will be
268 the foundation for the 1.2 release. The focus of this release
269 is to track the core API for the .NET Framework 1.2, but
270 again, only a subset of the total framework will be
273 <p>Mostly, Mono 1.2 consists of components that were not
274 stable enough for Mono 1.0, but that would be mature at this
275 point, plus the incorporation of some new features from
276 Whidbey. In addition to the Mono 1.0 components, this release
280 <li>Generic types support: C# compiler, execution
281 system and core class libraries.
283 <li>ASP.NET 2.0 improvements.
285 <li>Remoting improvements from Whidbey.
287 <li>System.XML: simpler improvements from Whidbey,
288 lacking the large additions (XQuery for example).
290 <li>Console and Serial ports support.
292 <li>New compilers: VB.NET and JScript support.
294 <li>WSE1/WSE2 implementations.
296 <li>System.Windows.Forms officially debuts with .NET
297 1.0 API; 1.2 API available as an unstable addition.
300 <p>This release will by default provide .NET 1.2 APIs, but
301 compatibility libraries for 1.0 and 1.1 will be distributed in
302 the mono-compat package. The unstable components of Mono will
303 be distributed on the `mono-unstable' package, the libraries
304 in this release will be unsupported.
306 <p>Release target: Q4/2004.
310 <p>A refresh update on the Mono 1.2 release containing the
311 missing components from the previous release and complete any
312 under performing pieces. Updates to System.Xml, ASP.NET and
313 Windows.Forms to match the .NET 1.2 API.
315 <p>Release target: Q2/2005.
317 <h3>Peer projects</h3>
319 <p>Other projects like the debugger, the documentation
320 browser, Java integration through IKVM and Gtk# will remain on
321 their own schedules. This page will be updated to contain
322 that information when it becomes available.
324 <h3>Unscheduled activities</h3>
326 <p>A missing component of Mono is the Code Access Security
327 (CAS). This functionality is not needed in today's Mono as
328 currently Mono is being used to run fully trusted
329 applications, and we are not using it on embedded scenarios
330 where assemblies would have different trust levels.
332 <p>This is an important component, but requires three major
336 <li>Runtime support for implementing the security
339 <li>A guidelines document outlining what and where
340 must have security demands in place.
342 <li>A full audit of our class libraries: method by
346 <p>All of these are major pieces of work, and we currently
347 have no plans to implement any of those. A volunteer effort might be
348 able to help with the runtime requirements and the document,
349 but until those are done, we are unlikely to start doing any
350 work on the actual class library audit and instrumentation.
352 <h3>Mono and WinFX: 2006</h3>
354 <p>WinFX is the name given to the new set of libraries that
355 makes up .NET in the Longhorn operating system: the existing
356 .NET set of class libraries, plus the new functionality
359 <p>WinFX adds things like storage facilities (WinFS), a
360 new versatile communications stack (Indigo) and a new
361 eye-candy packed GUI programming system (Avalon).
363 <p>Although WinFS, Avalon and Indigo are very exciting
364 components, at this time it is too early to tell when those
365 components will be available for Mono. Open source developers
366 will very likely start work on these, but since they are still
367 far from being officially released, they are not in the radar
370 <h3>Unsupported technologies</h3>
372 <p>Some technologies are very hard to implement or are being
373 phased out by components in the Longhorn time frame. In some
374 cases, we feel that they are not crucial to the future of the
377 <p>System.EnterpriseServices and System.Management come to
378 mind, and we are unlikely to put any resources into the task.
379 We would gladly host the code if someone cares to implement
380 it, but they would likely remain unsupported features of Mono.
382 <h3>Mono Developer Strategy</h3>
384 <p>Mono Developers should read the <a
385 href="mono-hacking-roadmap.html">Mono Hacking Roadmap</a>
389 <p>Feel free to send your comments or questions the roadmap to
390 <a href="mailto:miguel@ximian.com">miguel@ximian.com</a>
394 <i>Last Updated: Nov 1st, 2003</i>