Ecto 3.0 is out and stable API

EDIT: since Ecto 3.0 final version is out, this post was amended to use the final versions in the instructions below.

Hi everyone,

We are glad to announce the release candidate for Ecto 3.0 is out. Just update your dependencies list as follows:

{:ecto_sql, "~> 3.0"},
{:postgrex, "~> 0.14.0"}, # or mariaex

We are covering the changes in Ecto 3.0 in a series of blog posts and there is also a CHANGELOG, so I would like to use the forum to talk about something else: the stable API announcement.

With the release of Ecto 3.0, I would like to announce that I finally consider Ecto to provide a stable API. This means no more new features, although we will continue providing bug fixes and updates. For everyone running Ecto in production, rest assured that Ecto will continue to be a well maintained project with the same production quality and polish that it has today.

A milestone reached

Ecto is one of the oldest projects written in Elixir. It started in 2013 and now we are almost ready to launch the third major version.

Ecto 1.0 was an important and exciting milestone due to the scope of the project in itself. However, Ecto 1.0 had some glaring flaws, both on how it forced developers to structure their code and in its implementation.

For Ecto 2.0, the community stepped in, pushing Ecto to a better direction and James Fish led the fantastic work on DBConnection, which made Ecto simpler, faster and more robust.

Ecto 3.0 is the consolidation of this work and of the efforts done by the community over the last 5 years. It took three major versions but Ecto itself and the ecosystem are mature enough that it should no longer impose major changes. Generally speaking, I personally start software with the intention of eventually “getting it done”, I am glad to have reached this milestone with Ecto.

Therefore, I am announcing that Ecto has become API stable. I will continue to update it and fix bugs, but no new features are planned nor will be accepted. Instead I plan to focus my energy on advancing the greater Elixir ecosystem.

The path(s) forward

Many people are passionate about the problem domain Ecto aims to solve. I hope this announcement gives many of you the opportunity and the push to explore the design space and come up with newer approaches and inventive solutions.

Alternatively, if you feel like Ecto should go beyond the current stable API and you would like to take Ecto towards new green pastures, that’s definitely an option too. Getting involved with the project maintenance is a good way to get started and learn the ropes.

Finally, I would like to recognize that Ecto is built on top of smaller projects, such as DBConnection, Poolboy, Postgrex, Mariaex as well as third-party adapters. Those projects will most likely also be the foundation of the projects to come. I want to thank their authors and maintainers for the amazing work throughout the years.

Many of the large open source projects, regardless if written in Elixir or not, depend on many small projects that are fundamental to that community. So I also want to remind everyone to look at their dependency trees from time to time and make sure to thank the people involved in those small projects that support the whole community.

For everyone running Ecto in production, rest assured that Ecto will continue to be a well maintained project with the same production quality and polish that it has today. We are proud that Ecto has currently zero opened issues and we plan to keep it that way. If you would like to help with the maintenance effort, contributions are definitely welcome too.

Have fun!