Mono Project Roadmap

Last update: November, 2008

Per-component Plans are available.

Versioning

Starting with Mono 2.0, we are switching to a new version scheme for Mono releases: 

MAJOR.MINOR.SUBRELEASE

Even-numbered minor releases are stable releases, while odd-numbered releases are unstable releases, they are typically used during development and is contained as part of the code that is only checked in on subversion or that is available as part of the daily builds.

The subrelease indicates a minor release or an update to a specific release.

Current Release

 Mono 2.0 Released: Oct 6th, 2008

Major new features in Mono 2.0 since Mono 1.2:

  • API status:
    • ASP.NET 2.0
      • Missing: WebParts, Mobile control rendering.
    • ADO.NET 2.0
    • Windows.Forms 2.0
  • C# 3.0
    • LINQ
    • LINQ to XML
  • Visual Basic.NET compiler (with Generics).
  • JIT
    • Generic code sharing
    • IL Verifier
  • Tools for Windows Developers
  • Mono Debugger, command line interface.

Mono 2.0 Release Notes

Upcoming Releases

These are some of the the major themes planned for upcoming Mono releases. It indicates our current goals, which may be adjusted as needed.

 Mono 2.2 Planned Release: Dec 8th, 2008
  • JIT
  • MoMA Web Tools
  • ADO.NET Updates:
    • Updated TDS 8 (Transactions)
  • ASP.NET Routing
  • Native Windows.Forms engine (Windows only)
  • Intrinsics Support
  • C# Shell
  • C# Evaluation API (Mono.CSharp.Evaluator)

Release Notes Mono 2.2

  • Nov 10th: Branched from trunk.
  • Nov 10th: Preview 1 released.
  • Nov 17th: Preview 2 released.
  • Nov 24th: RC1 is released.
  • Dec 1st: RC2 (optional).
  • Dec 8th: Final Release.

 Mono 2.4 Planned Release: March 2009
  • JIT
    • Metadata verifier
  • ASP.NET
    • 3.5 APIs
  • Windows.Forms:
    • OS X Update
  • MonoDevelop 2.0
    • Built-in GUI debugger
  • LINQ to DB integration
  • MSBuild Alpha
  • Jan 5th: Branched from trunk.
  • Jan 12th: Preview 1 released.
  • Jan 26th: Preview 2 released.
  • Feb 9th: RC1 is released.
  • Feb 23rd: RC2 is released.
  • Mar 2nd: RC3 (optional).
  • Mar 9th: Final Release.

 Mono 2.6 Planned Release: June 2009
  • ASP.NET
    • ASP.NET MVC
    • Silverlight 2.0 Preview
  • Visual Studio Mono Plugin:
    • Debugger
    • Deployment and Packaging
  • Beta version of new multi-runtime, multi-target C# compiler

 Mono 2.8 Planned Release: September 2009
  • Silverlight 2 Beta
  • MonoDevelop 2.4
  • Compacting GC
  • C# Compiler
    • Replace all SRE-based compilers with the new compiler
    • Initial support for C# 4.0 dynamic keyword
    • Alpha version of Mono compilers framework
    • Fully garbage collected C# Evaluation API

 Mono 3.0 Planned Release: December 2009
  • C# Compiler
    • Full C# 4.0 support

To be determined..

Subprojects projects

Other projects like the debugger, the documentation browser, Java integration through IKVM, Olive and Gtk# will remain on their own schedules. This page will be updated to contain that information when it becomes available.

Mono and Silverlight

See our page on Moonlight for details on the work underway to support Silverlight with Mono.

Partial Implementations

The following APIs and technologies have partial implementations and are under development.

As part of the Olive Project:

As part of the Google Summer of Code:

Unsupported technologies

Some technologies are very hard to implement or are being phased out by new .NET components. So we are not likely going to implement these features.

If someone cares deeply about these APIs and implements them, we would likely bundle them with Mono, but they are not actively being worked on.

Large Projects

These are large projects that we are unlikely going to work on unless there is a massive shift, or a large independent effort to work on. There might be some code on SVN but we are not currently planning on implementing:

  • Windows Presentation Foundation (.NET 3.0).
  • Windows Workflow Foundation (.NET 3.0).
  • Code Access Security (.NET 1.0).

Deprecated APIs

We are not working on any of the following deprecated APIs:

  • System.EnterpriseServices
  • WSE - Extensions to System.Web.Services.

Windows-specific APIs

These are APIs that are very tied to the Windows platform and do not map to Linux or Unix:

  • System.Management

Mono Developer Strategy

Mono Developers should read the Mono Hacking Roadmap

Comments

Feel free to send us your comments or questions about the roadmap.

Roadmap History

For our previous roadmap information, please see Roadmap History.