[last updated March 24, 2005]
This is the development status of FOP. A branch has been created for maintenance releases while the development is done to address various performance and design issues.
Development for 1.0DR1 is addressing the design issues for layout and performance. The new design focusing on making it possible to be conformant to the spec and be able to handle large documents.
The developers release should have the following: similar functionality to previous FOP releases, a rough API and a suitable design for developers to work on more functionality.
The timing of these events depends on progress made so it is not possible to predict any dates. However, we think that at the current rate of progress we can start releasing again in the second half of 2005.
At the moment we're concentrating mainly on the layout engine which is the central and trickiest part of the whole package. The infrastructure around it is in relatively good shape already although there are still areas for newbies to jump in and help.
Of course, we also welcome any help on the layout managers. So if you want to push your brain to the limit, come and join us!
If you're looking for a road-map we have to disappoint you. This is Open Source and we're mostly voluteers working in their free time. What we have is an idea where we want to go. How fast we get there depends on the available time, on how well our ideas work out while developing and on you!
The latest maintenance release is FOP 0.20.5, released on July 18th, 2003. See release notes for more details. The maintenance branch has been frozen in 2004 so the team can concentrate on the redesign efforts.