FOP Status
Current Status of FOP
Status
[last updated 9 January 2007]
This is the development status of Apache FOP. Development on the maintenance branch where FOP 0.20.5 came from has been halted. The code base has been largely redesigned. The new code base has reached release 0.93.
Development Status
The FOP code base has been largely rewritten, to address design issues for layout and performance. The new design makes it better possible to be conformant to the spec and be able to handle large documents.
The redesign of the code base has largely been completed. The new code reached production quality with release 0.93. In the course of 2007 we plan to release version 1.0.
If you're looking for a long-term 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! There's a document in the Wiki where you can get a glimpse of what points we're currently focusing on.
Status of the individual components
Not all the components of FOP currently have the same quality. The following table tries to give you an overview:
| Component | Status |
|---|---|
| API | stable |
| FO Tree | stable |
| Layout Engine | stable |
| Area Tree | stable |
| Intermediate Format Support | stable (could use a speed upgrade) |
| PDF (Library and Renderer) | stable (SVG: stable) |
| PostScript | stable (SVG: stable with restrictions) |
| Java2D, AWT, Bitmap Renderers | stable |
| Text Renderer | stable (not much feedback) |
| RTF Handler | beta, restricted functionality compared to PDF/PS |
| PCL Renderer | stable (not much feedback) |
| AFP Renderer | status unknown (not much feedback) |
| SVG Renderer | non-functional in sandbox, help needed |
| Font Support | stable |
| Image Support | stable, but in need of a redesign |
| Hyphenation Subsystem | stable |
Maintenance Status
The latest release of the maintenance branch 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 new code base.