Hi Michael, Thank you for sharing your detailed feedback, I completely understand your perspective and agree that OFBiz’s configurability and the strength of its data model are major advantages.
You’re right that components can be disabled selectively; however, there are still inter-component dependencies that often prevent fully isolating or unloading specific modules without impacting others. This means any customization usually requires patching or maintaining a separate vendor branch, which complicates upgrades and long-term maintenance. My suggestion to move applications out of the core framework isn’t intended to weaken OFBiz, but rather to make it more modular and flexible, enabling users to adopt it as a true framework for building ERP or microservice-based solutions without being constrained by the default applications or the 750+ database tables that come bundled by default. While I agree there are other frameworks available, positioning OFBiz this way could increase adoption and community engagement, especially among teams looking for a lighter and more customizable foundation. You’re right that application maintenance could become a concern, but as we’ve seen, there hasn’t been significant new functionality added to the default applications in recent years. Users who want the default apps can still use them, while others could easily include only what they need, with upgrades remaining unaffected. We could even consider adding Gradle tasks or scripts to clone or include applications dynamically, making customization cleaner and easier to maintain. I believe with proper planning, we can find a balance between flexibility and maintainability that benefits both framework and application users. Kind Regards, -- Deepak Dixit *www.hotwax.co <http://www.hotwax.co/>* On Fri, Oct 24, 2025 at 2:18 AM Michael Brohl <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Deepak, > > interesting thoughts although I have difficulties to follow the reasoning: > > If you want to build a custom ERP and don't want to use the default > applications, you can simply configure the system to not load the > applications. Since the datamodel is already decoupled from the single > applications, you can still use the datamodel. > > If you also don't want to use the datamodel (which I see as one of the > strength of OFBiz and essential for an ERP system), you can also > configure it to not being loaded (as a whole or for parts of the > datamodel). > > I am sceptical if the core OFBiz framework would be adopted as a > framework as there are some strong alternatives out there. In my view, > it ist the framework plus the datamodel, API/services and the > backend/webtools making OFBiz so special. > > We are using OFBiz for nearly 25 years now, building complex custom > projects using more or less parts of the datamodel/services and > sometimes even without any UI to serve as a database plus REST API > (using a very much enhanced REST-API plugin). We never had any issues > with "too much functionality" because of the configurable loading > mechanisms. > > And the datamodel is always a strong companion when it comes to the > design of business cases because of it's generic design end the > enhancement mechanisms. > > So, I do not the any "constraints" preventing anyone from using OFBiz in > many different ways. > > What I see as a potential problem is that the applications will suffer a > similar fate to the plugins and will no longer be maintained. Some > plugins have even been gradually deactivated because no one wanted to > deal with maintaining them and fixing bugs and security vulnerabilities > anymore. > > I honestly would not be happy to see the project going this way. > > Best regards, > > Michael Brohl > > ecomify GmbH - www.ecomify.de > > > Am 23.10.25 um 14:02 schrieb Deepak Dixit: > > Hi Team, > > > > I would like to propose restructuring the OFBiz architecture by moving > core > > applications out of the main OFBiz framework — similar to how plugins are > > currently managed. > > > > This change would enable developers to build *custom ERP solutions* > without > > being tied to all the default applications and their associated 750+ > > database tables. By decoupling applications from the framework, we can > > provide a lighter and more modular foundation for building > domain-specific > > or microservice-based solutions. > > > > I strongly believe this approach will *significantly increase OFBiz > > adoption* and flexibility, allowing users to leverage the framework > purely > > as an enterprise-grade development platform rather than being constrained > > by bundled modules. > > > > > > Thanks & Regards > > > > -- > > > > Deepak Dixit > > >
