Hello Group,
I am a long-time programmer (Apache/PHP/MySQL and quite a few others, since before there was such a thing as Windows, or even MS-DOS).
That said, I'm a newbie. I've been working with Drupal for just over a week, and though I am no stranger to working in a group, with version control, it has all been in corporate environments, and using Windows-based control systems like StarTeam and Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.
I've already found and fixed several bugs I've uncovered in assorted modules I've installed, and so my questions:
1) What is the shortest learning curve to submitting a patch? I do have CVS-NT and Tortoise (though the latter is not installed yet). System is Win2K Pro.
2) Since I want to work with something resembling production-quality, I'm on 4.6.2, not CVS, though some of the modules I've patched are CVS because they aren't available for 4.6.2 -- how are all these related? Are there functions and features in Core CVS that the CVS modules rely on?
3) What is the most accepted protocol for updating another author's module(s)? Email the author directly first? Report a bug but don't mention the patch unless there is a long wait for issue resolution?
On 8 Aug 2005, at 10:10 AM, Gunther Herzog wrote:
Hello Group,
I am a long-time programmer (Apache/PHP/MySQL and quite a few others, since before there was such a thing as Windows, or even MS-DOS).
Hi Gunther,
welcome to the community. Glad you're able to contribute your skills and experience.
That said, I'm a newbie. I've been working with Drupal for just over a week, and though I am no stranger to working in a group, with version control, it has all been in corporate environments, and using Windows-based control systems like StarTeam and Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.
I've already found and fixed several bugs I've uncovered in assorted modules I've installed, and so my questions:
- What is the shortest learning curve to
submitting a patch? I do have CVS-NT and Tortoise (though the latter is not installed yet). System is Win2K Pro.
There is documentation addressing this at
Have a look at CVS concepts, then CVS GUIs and clients for background specific to your situation.
- Since I want to work with something
resembling production-quality, I'm on 4.6.2, not CVS, though some of the modules I've patched are CVS because they aren't available for 4.6.2 -- how are all these related? Are there functions and features in Core CVS that the CVS modules rely on?
If you are interested in developing new features, or fixes which will persist into the next release, you should be developing against CVS HEAD. There will likely be no changes to released branches except to implement security fixes.
- What is the most accepted protocol for
updating another author's module(s)? Email the author directly first? Report a bug but don't mention the patch unless there is a long wait for issue resolution?
Have a look at http://drupal.org/support for some background:
The first step would generally be to search to find out if the issue is already being addressed.
Search the project issues (http://drupal.org/project/issues)
Next, if the module is actively being maintained, you can probably contact the author via one of the following:
*) her/his contact page on Drupal.org,
*) post a topic in the appropriate forums (http://Drupal.org/forum).
*) join the Drupal IRC at #drupal-support on the FreeNode IRC network (irc.freenode.net).
*) join the drupal-devel mailing list (http://drupal.org/mailing-lists)
Finally, if necessary, contribute a patch via the Project tracker (http://drupal.org/project/issues). Convince other people to test and review your patch.
Hope this helps -
Best regards, Djun
Gunther Herzog wrote:
- What is the shortest learning curve to
submitting a patch? I do have CVS-NT and Tortoise (though the latter is not installed yet). System is Win2K Pro.
I don't know CVS-NT, but I can say that Tortoise has a very nice, short learning curve. Once you've installed it, you can simply right-click on the patched file and choose "Make Patch". It creates a patch file in the appropriate format, saves it where you choose (default: desktop), and opens it for you so you can give it a quick once-over before submitting.
- Since I want to work with something
resembling production-quality, I'm on 4.6.2, not CVS, though some of the modules I've patched are CVS because they aren't available for 4.6.2 -- how are all these related? Are there functions and features in Core CVS that the CVS modules rely on?
Depends on a case-by-case basis. Some APIs have changed between 4.6.x and current CVS. They may not be backwards-compatible.
- What is the most accepted protocol for
updating another author's module(s)? Email the author directly first? Report a bug but don't mention the patch unless there is a long wait for issue resolution?
Submit a bug report against the module on drupal.org. If you have a patch, submit that with the bug report and set the issue status to "patch (code needs review)".
If there's a long delay, send an e-mail ping to the module author. (Use the Drupal contact form on their user account page if you don't know the address.)
-Eric
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Eric Scouten -
Gunther Herzog -
puregin