XOOPS 4.0 – Vision, Direction, and Roadmap (Discussion)

Over the past months, a significant amount of work has been done to move XOOPS forward in a practical and future-proof way. I’d like to consolidate that into a clear starting point for discussion, feedback, and alignment.

Core Principle: Evolution, not Revolution

XOOPS 4.0 is designed with one key goal:

Do not break existing modules and themes — extend them.

• Existing modules will continue to work
• Developers can adopt new architecture incrementally
• No forced rewrites or disruptive migrations

This follows XOOPS’ long-standing philosophy: stability + gradual evolution

Key Building Blocks

1) XMF 2.0 (Modernized Foundation)
• Refactored core library with modern architecture
• Incorporates Domain-Driven Design (DDD) concepts
• Cleaner structure, better maintainability, future-ready




2) XOOPS Business Objects (XBO)
• Structured domain layer for module development
• Encourages better separation of concerns
• Works alongside XMF 2.0



3) XTF – XOOPS Theme Framework
• Unified framework for frontend and admin UI
• Eliminates duplication between themes
• Built on modern standards (Bootstrap-based)



4) New Admin Theme (Modernized UI)
• Built on XTF
• Extends the “Modern” admin concept
• Cleaner, consistent, and responsive UI



5) XMF Widgets System
• Reusable UI components
• Simplifies module and theme development
• Foundation for more dynamic layouts



6) PageBuilder
• Visual page composition
• Flexible content layout system
• Built on top of widgets and modern UI


More Info: https://xoops.org/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=6107

7) Developer Experience Improvements

• XOOPS Helpers (simplified APIs)


• Smarty Extensions


• cssHolmes integration (CSS debugging & quality)



8) Impact on Modules
• Existing modules continue to work
• New architecture available progressively
• Developers can migrate at their own pace




Proposed Roadmap (for discussion)

2.7.x (LTS)
• Stability and bug fixes only
• Long-term support baseline

2.8.x (Optional Bridge)
• Limited, well-scoped improvements
• Preparation layer for future changes
• No large architectural shifts

4.0 (Next Generation XOOPS)

Focus areas:

1. Modern architecture (XMF 2.0 + XBO)
2. Unified UI framework (XTF)
3. Improved developer experience
4. Backward compatibility with gradual migration path
5. New capabilities (Widgets, PageBuilder, etc.)

Vision overview:



Priorities (what makes the most sense next)

To keep things practical and aligned, here’s a suggested priority order:

1. Stabilize 2.7x as LTS
2. Define minimal scope for 2.7.1+ (if needed)
3. Release XOOPS 4.0 as pre-alpha for feedback
4. Document migration paths for modules/themes
5. Iterate based on real usage and community input

Discussion

To keep things transparent and accessible, let’s use this thread to discuss:

• priorities
• roadmap adjustments
• feature ideas
• concerns or risks

The goal is simple:

Align on a clear direction and move XOOPS forward together

Hello everyone,

Before discussing new features, it is important to remember that the first step is to clarify the project governance. We believe a clear framework is necessary so that all future decisions are coordinated and consistent.

Following several recent issues regarding governance and coordination, we have initiated this discussion to clarify and improve how the project is managed.

The main points proposed are:
- Establishment of a strategic committee to define and approve the overall XOOPS roadmap.
- The committee will work collegially and appoint an operational project lead responsible for implementing decisions in the development branches.
- Operational teams can work autonomously on features and PRs, while respecting the strategy defined by the committee.

For technical reasons, we have launched a vote by email among active project members to determine if they agree with the creation of this committee.

We have set a one-week deadline to gather opinions and avoid delaying the project.

We hope this discussion will be open and constructive:

Members can give their opinion on governance by a committee.
Users and contributors can share their ideas and suggestions on XOOPS governance directly in this post.

Thank you all for your participation!

No, your post is not a discussion, example after few words :
" Existing modules will continue to work"
Who decided that ?
This décision would be an huge impact on the new structure of the Core.
Kevin wrote:
“One of the main problems today is that the XOOPS core hasn't kept up with the times.”
It may therefore be better to rebuild a new core without the constraint of module compatibility, in order to achieve a high-performance kernel.
I’m not saying that “modules won’t work in the new core”; I’m asking if it’s better to start from a new core.
What is the impact of maintaining compatibility in the core if we want to achieve a high-performance core?

You have good ideas, but this lobbying with videos isn’t a discussion.

And I repeat:
“Once the direction has been defined by the committee, we will look for solutions—in that order. ”
Vision, direction… Choices, approved by the committee.
Then the technical solution.

Thank you.

Alain

Alain,
Quote:
It's not a decision, this has been a long-standing commitment of XOOPS to ensure that we don't break modules and create extra stress and pain on XOOPS existing users. We always went the extra mile to ensure an easy upgrade for modules and themes.

So are you suggesting that we stop carrying about existing XOOPS users and break the compatibility of existing modules???

Seriously, Alain????

Quote:
In order to have a meaningful discussion, we need to have a common starting point to understand what we're discussing. So the role of the videos is to provide more background information.

It's just a start of the discussion, and you can now provide YOUR views on what you agree or disagree. That's what discussions are all about.

And if anything is not clear, please ask and I'll be happy to answer.

The vision for XOOPS 4.0 is improving and evolving, based on the feedback we're receiving.

Based on suggestions from MekDrop (Thank you!), I converted the XOOPS Smarty Plugins into XOOPS Smarty Extensions

Code: https://github.com/mambax7/smartyextensions

The XOOPS Smarty Extensions is a library that will be use via Composer, simplifying deployment.

Check out the video to see the advantages that it will bring to XOOPS development.

Is this a discussion about creating a vision and a roadmap for the future, or discussion about a roadmap that has already been decided upon?

Because right now, it feels a lot like the latter and I am quite certain that that is not where we need to stand right now. A few days ago, there wasn't even a mention of XOOPS 4 and right now there is a roadmap ahead for the next few things:
- XMF 2.0
- XOOPS Business Objects (XBO)
- XOOPS Theme Framework
- XOOPS Modern Admin Theme
- XOOPS Widgets System
- XOOPS Pagebuilder
- XOOPS Smarty 4 Plugin Library
- cssHolmes

Next to that, a decision has already made about module compatibility, there are marketing posts up for things like the Smarty 4 Plugin Library (that feel like they are AI generated) and a post about XOOPS 4.0 being announced while no consensus about XOOPS 4.0 was reached at all.

The videos that are added are also not a good medium to convince people - the reality is that few people will want to view multiple AI-voiced videos, slides and on average less than 10 people have seen each video.

Before we go to concrete lengths and decide on specific things to implement and how, we need to first check and align in what the vision of all of us is going to be for the future.
That means that no decisions should be made yet about what is going to be included in the next version of XOOPS, but rather, that we align and try to propose what things are that need to be realized in the future.

In all honesty, with how broad and expansive the changes that are already outlined in your first post, mean that there is a very high chance of this version of XOOPS 4.0 to never release or remain in development hell for a long time.

A lot of the changes impact a lot of XOOPS, but instead of adding to XOOPS, we also need to be able to question what is already there: XOOPS has a lot of areas that need touching up and polishing.

I'm also not opposed with XOOPS 4 introducing breaking changes for modules - XOOPS is not a museum and the reality probably is that only a few modules are seeing active use. It's better to focus on quality modules rather than quantity, as times have also changed.

In order to have a healthy discussion about the future, we need to start with a blank canvas for the vision and road map - not put us in front of a road map that was decided without consensus.

I'll try to post some suggestions and visions for the future later this week.

Kevin

Kevin,
Quote:
It's a valid point, but nothing to worry about!

XOOPS 4.0 is already up and running on a test site, and you can see two modules developed with it already:

xmfBlog: https://aispark.us/modules/xmfblog/

xmfPortal: https://aispark.us/modules/xmfportal/

Many of the XMF 2.0 features, that have been created to make life for developers easier, have been already implemented in these module:

• Versioning
• Taxonomy
• Image manipulation
• Cloning
• Activity Audit
• Few others…

I'm still cleaning up the code, but in couple of weeks I'll be releasing everything as a Pre-Alpha, so everybody can check it out, test it, and provide feedback and improvement suggestions.

The key point is XOOPS 4.0 is NOT some imaginary dream, but a real framework, already working.

So please be patient for few more weeks