I think there is a valid point in this question, although the wording might lead to different interpretations.

I think @tomschlick hit it spot on with his reference to the first Laracon (I wan't there btw).

What happens with Laravel is something happens to Taylor (let's hope it does not happen, but still hypothetically). Does Taylor plan on keeping the framework alive for the next 5 or so years?

I mean it takes a lot of his time and resourse, and as we all know those are limited, does he feel he is going to be that dedicated for the next couple of years. We should not forget apart from pull requests and Laravel Elixer (at least to my knowledge) it is only Taylor who is doing the heavy lifting.

And I can see why people might wonder if there are 'contingencies' once Taylor stops beeing the engine behind Laravel (what ever reason that might be, he could for example just get sick and tired of maintaining it).

Again, don't take the question in the OP in the wrong way, the guy just wants to know how Laravel is organizationally structured and if it only hinges on Taylor.

@MThomas the problem is that Taylor is already providing you with a good PHP framework, well tested, stable... and for free, and he also takes care of security updates, etc.

You can build your 2014-2015 projects with that framework, what happens if Laravel discontinues? Well build your next projects using another framework.

I still have one project built in symfony 1.4, another one in Laravel 3, both online, and even the fact that Symfony and Laravel frameworks continue today and have new versions, I can't do anything that doesn't imply rebuilding both projects.

This is how technology works. Now that's why I'd like to know the real concern behind this question, but again if you are truly worry about your project being bound to a framework maybe you should read about Hexagonal Architecture, you shouldn't bind your Domain Layer to the Application or framework layers... But you still bind your project to an specific language and language version.

You could also research about Codeigniter and see what happened to that project, most people moved to Kohana then they moved to Laravel. People adapt to new changes.

I recently read that Codeigniter will have a new "home", at this point I feel it's almost the same to start from scratch, it's not the name but the philosophy, ideas, design patterns, language features applied to a framework what makes it good.

@silence, I do agree with you, I just got the idea that this thread was moving in the wrong direction and that I could imagine what the OP meant by his post. I for example come from CakePHP, so I know how to move on etc.

I think if something is popular enough, it will continue to be updated and maintained. Laravel is already more popular than any other PHP framework that died off. Things created in L3/4/5 will still work if it does happen.

With Forge (plus extra things being released), Laravel isn't just a framework any more. I think it's safe enough to say, it'll be here to stay for quite some time.

Perhaps my wording was not the best and again I apologize. My question isn't so much about Laravel the framework. We've all seen frameworks come and go and the environment keeps changing. Thats a fact of our world and frankly why we now have Laravel. There was a need and somebody stepped forward. We now have an amazing framework and I believe that it will continue to thrive.

Just as @bashy said "Laravel isn't just a framework anymore" and I'm wondering if the larger Laravel project has a plan?

Yeah, I'm guessing there is. There's also been Laracons' which just proves people will put in money and effort for Laravel.

The grammar in my last reply was terrible, corrected it :P