(RT means "random thought" and this is something the Cocoon people do a lot.)
FOP's layout engine is clearly not ready to be released, yet. We're working on that. Another part is the RTF output (formerly JFOR) which is practically independant of the layout engine. Over the past few months there were smaller improvements in that part and I'd say, that it's ready to be unleashed to the public so people can experiment. It's not that it's beta quality or feature-complete or anything. I simply think that part is usable and only takes little improvement until people can produce simple documents in RTF format. I'd like to test the waters and see what you guys think about separately releasing the RTF part, or in other words: FOP RTF edition. It might be a good sign to our users that our project's not dead. I understand that it would take some manpower to prepare such a release. I also understand that it may send false signals that may make people think that they can expect PDF output, too. So I'm not sure if I should push this just yet, but I'd like to hear what you guys think. Things that would need to be done: - What API for that part? Are we comfortable with our current API? - Clearly define the parts which make a FOP RTF edition. - Extend the build accordingly. - Some more tests. - Documentation update. - Release process. Jeremias Maerki
