Framework Mono is a software platform designed to allow developers to easily create cross platform applications. It is an open source implementation of Microsoft's .NET Framework based on the ECMA standards for C# and the Common Language Runtime.
For most use cases, Framework Mono has been superseded by modern versions of .NET, which include a fork of the Mono runtime called monovm.
Framework Mono is still needed for the following use cases:
- Running .NET Framework binaries (exe or dll) on a non-Windows platform, without Wine as a compatibility layer.
- Using System.Windows.Forms natively on Linux/X11.
- Creating cross-platform CLR application binaries (modern .NET must compile applications for individual platforms).
For Wine Mono, the fork used in the Wine project to run .NET Framework executables targeting Windows, see WineMono.
