Inkscape 2017 Development Plan

Feb. 8, 2017, 11:53 p.m.

The Inkscape project is aiming to support a stable-focused 0.92 version, with point releases every three months or so this year, as well as experimental versions, as necessary transitions to git, Gtk3, and C++11 are introduced.

0.92.2-targeted bugfixing work can begin on the 0.92.x branch once the 0.92.1 tarball's been cut. A schedule will be established at that time as well, targeting a 0.92.2 release in April.

A 0.92.3 release sometime around July seems likely. We're hoping to continue with subsequent point releases on a roughly 2-3 month interval, so users can depend on the 0.92 series as a 'long term stable' (LTS) product.

Work towards 0.93 is already under way in Inkscape's trunk repository.

In order to modernize Inkscape for ongoing maintenance, there are several large transitions we need to undertake, including a move to Gtk3, re-engineering the Mac OS X installation packaging, introduction of C++-11 code constructs, dropping of our legacy automake build system, migration of the project to git, and more.  We had elected to hold off on these transitions for 0.92 so that release could focus on long term stability first and foremost, with 0.93's focus being on taking the more aggressive steps to move Inkscape forward.

We are hoping that a 0.93 release can be achieved within the calendar year, though much work remains. Assistance with testing is invaluable and I hope many people will join in following the trunk codebase. However, we know that building Inkscape can be a challenge, and we lack nightly builds on a few platforms, so we may attempt some form of interim snapshot preview release this summer to enable some broader testing before we're too far through 0.93's development cycle.