[consulting] Costs of forking

[JasonN]

> > I don't think you can easily valuate the time or money costs to
> > forking projects.  I realize the method of module management that
> > Drupal has assumed makes contributing back to the hive difficult at
> > times.
>
> Can you expand on this? I have never found it difficult to contribute
> back....

Boris, first let me apologize.  I don't read this list every day. 
But, I expect this is more a long-term investment of consideration so
hope you'll accept my belated contribution to the discussion.

Clarifying my comment about the Drupal module managers.
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Contributing back to Drupal modules simply requires the module manager
(owner ?) participate.  Sometimes that means really cool forks,
improvements, etc. don't make it to the core module.  The owner may be
uninterested, etc.  It's just something that requires human
communication and that's always more difficult than avoiding it
completely by just keeping your own work to yourself.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Drupal or the community. 
I'm just pointing out the obvious, that contributing to present day
Drupal modules requires cooperation.  Some people may consider that
more costly than just coding up their own fork.  They may be wrong in
the long run, but it's easier in the short.

--

Jason A. Nunnelley
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http://www.jasonn.com/