SQLite is an incredible piece of software, and its commitment to backward compatibility is deeply admirable. But that same promise has also become a limitation.

v3.0 was first released in 2004—over 20 years ago—and the industry has changed dramatically since then.

I can’t help but wish for a “v4.0” release: one that deliberately breaks backward compatibility and outdated defaults, in order to offer a cleaner, more modern foundation.

Note: I'm not asking for new functionality per se. But just a version of SQLite that defaulted to how it should be used, deployed in 2025.