Roadmap update proposal

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(WORK IN PROGRESS)

This is a proposal to update the roadmap at Roadmap. The current one is not very useful, because it has become a wishlist of miscellaneous things that do not have any planning or design behind them. Moreover, planning for a specific release doesn't look like a good idea, because frequently no one steps up to implement a given feature. Therefore relaxing the roadmap into three broad categories: short term, medium term and long term goals - might be a good idea.

This list is a start for discussion and is by no means official.

Note: after a quick review, there appear to be major issues with about a third of these. So please keep in mind the earlier caveat that this is just the initial start of a discussion. JonCruz

Short term goals (should be done for next release)

Goal Description Status, implementors Relevant files
Kill livarot Remove the livarot library in favor of 2geom; extend 2geom where necessary Some boolops and offset code ready in 2geom, though not yet used in Inkscape splivarot.cpp
Color storage in preferences Preferences should store color values as human-readable hex rather than bogus integer numbers Not started preferences.cpp
Document settings framework A more robust and easy to use way to store per-document settings. On the XML side, it should store everything in an <inkscape:document-settings> element with sub-elements for page settings, snap settings, etc. On the application side, it should expose an API similar to Inkscape::Preferences. Some implementation details could be shared. Not started; Per-document settings are stored in the legacy SPNamedView class sp-namedview.cpp, preferences.cpp
Better export dialog The export dialog should allow exporting to any format, including vector formats and all bitmap formats supported by GdkPixbuf. The Save dialog should be reduced to only include roundtrip-capable formats (e.g. saving in this format and then loading the document back should result in the same SVG representation). Not started

Medium term goals (2-3 releases)

Goal Description Status Relevant files
Kill SPCurve Remove SPCurve in favor of Geom::PathVector; provide all necessary operations in 2geom 2geom side almost ready, Inkscape side not started display/curve.cpp
Signal review Remove the emitting object parameter from all signals, and convert the code that needs a reference or pointer to the emitting object to sigc::bind.

See Using libsigc++ signals for an overview of signals.

not started For example, selection.cpp and desktop.cpp
Windows Metafile support Support saving in WMF and EMF on all platforms; use this code to support directly copying and pasting between Word/OpenOffice and Inkscape System-wide clipboard done; EMF save support is Windows-only ui/clipboard.cpp, extension/internal/emf-win32-inout.cpp
Cairo-based renderer Replace as much of libnr with Cairo as reasonably possible Outline mode already uses Cairo display/ directory
Use Gtk::Action Attempt to replace Verbs with Gtk::Actions, using one derived class per verb, preferably along with a system of dynamically registering new actions from extensions and tools; Use Gtk::UIManager to build all menus and toolbars; remove SPAction, InkAction, etc. Actions are used internally for example in widgets/toolbox.cpp, but overall this area remains a mess verbs.cpp, interface.cpp, widgets/toolbox.cpp
Tools refactoring Port event contexts to C++ and rename to "tools"; augment with clipboard handlers and UI hooks to get rid of the toolbox.cpp monstrosity Initial design of the internal architecture as part of GSoC2009 node tool rewrite; External tool API not started *-context.cpp, widgets/select-toolbar.cpp, widgets/toolbox.cpp

Long term goals (unknown)

Goal Description Status Relevant files
Better memory management Remove the Boehm garbage collector; use smart pointers and clear ownership semantics (like Boost pointer containers) where appropriate; create tutorials on running Inkscape under Valgrind to catch memory leaks Not started gc-*.cpp
Better documentation Document all important areas of Inkscape codebase: object tree, undo stack, XML tree, renderer, custom widgets, etc. Write developer tutorials on working with them. Reasonably good documentation for the XML tree and the preferences subsystem, but most areas undocumented all
Full SVG 1.1 support Provide support for all features of the SVG 1.1 standard ? all
Animation support Create and edit interactive SVG animations using SMIL or JavaScript Not started ?
Inkcore Separate reusable UI, XML, object tree, and renderer components into libraries reusable by other applications Currently there are lots of interdependencies and nothing can be separated ?