Several posts have asked for a "vision" statement, with a roadmap and timeframe for CI4.
The general vision: simple, lean, useful (no change there).
The CI4 plan: rewrite the framework, taking advantage of lessons learned & community wishes, and exploiting more modern PHP.
Which features & which lessons? that is part of what this subforum is about - getting community input on what needs improving (or discarding) with CI4.
Roadmap? The planned features will drive the roadmap, not the other way around.
Timeframe? Depending on the feature list, and the contribution capability of the core team, my best guess would be a year or two.
All of the above are intertwined. Some desired features are becoming evident by the lopsided poll results, while some are still contested and more are sure to emerge.
At some point "soon", I hope that the community desires will be clear enough that the CI council can huddle, come up with our best plan to build CI4, and present that back to the community as a roadmap.
This reminds me of a situation I have encountered several times doing freelance development...
Quote:A prospective client will describe a vague webapp they want built, with the UI hand-drawn on a napkin, and then ask me for a "ballpark" time & cost estimate, which they won't hold me to (yeah, right). My stock response to this kind of request: $1,000,000 and 1 year; but let's work out some of the details and features needed, and I am pretty sure that estimate can be reduced 
If you still insist on a "ballpark" roadmap and firm release date for CodeIgniter 4: April, 2025. Guaranteed. And it'll have lots of good stuff in it.
James Parry
Project Lead
