[development] Some issues and their fixes with Drupal 4.6.6 and PostgreSQL

[Gary (Lists)]

"Boris Mann" wrote:

> 
> On 19-Apr-06, at 6:11 PM, Khalid B wrote:
> 
>> It is unlikely that bug fixes against 4.6.x would be accepted,
>> simply because
>> we try to restrict fixes to stable releases to secruity fixes only.
> 
> Which is kind of interesting. And we might want to revisit. I mean, if
> Postgres is supposed to work in core, and doesn't...well, kind of should be
> fixed, right?


I was under the impression that, once bugs piled up, a new version was
envisioned and everyone just moved on.  :)

There really are serious bugs that are more than a year (or more) old.  (We
are only 3 people, and although we've hammered out a few issues, we can not
address the whole of Drupal and still complete our own work.)

There are even bugs listed as fixed when they clearly are not (see Project
Module, for example.) (Bugs marked as 'fixed' and 'patch applied' are not
propagated to the actual code, in this case.)  And these will likely just
get "moved over" to 4.7, bug-intact.

The number one concern in our Tuesday meeting, (from last week), was this:

    We can not move any client to 4.7 because it's not a release, yet.
    We can not move any client to 4.7 because dependencies aren't ported.

    We can not add more clients with 4.6.6 because there is no support,
        and outstanding bug issues languish in 'who cares' land.

    We can not add more clients using CivicSpace 0.8.x, because that's
        built on 4.6.6, and the loop repeats.

    If we continue to devote all our time to fixing problems in the
        underlying software, then how can we continue to get to the
        actual work of helping clients communicate within their community?


There is mounting pressure on the 3 of us who do the daily work to find a
system where there is a clear development pattern and reliable sources of
support (the Drupal web site is quite the mess.)  This upsets us, because
we've devoted quite a few months to "learn Drupal", and our joy at finding
it is turning to concern over our strong advocacy.  [Admittedly, we did not
do all of our own homework, and we came out strongly for something that we
didn't understand was in such a state of flux. That's our problem, and not
Drupal at all.]

So, if "no bugs for 4.6" will be fixed, and there is not a subsequent
version yet that is not built on 4.6, then what would you have users
conclude?

It is not hard to conclude that Drupal development shares some
characteristics with the DSM-IV-R definition of Attention Deficit Disorder.

Drupal, at this point, is a developers-only prospect.

I think that should be made more clear to noobs who want a CMS, but have no
idea where to find 'front page module', let alone edit that module's code.

Prediction:  Version 5.5 will be useful to non-PHP programmers.

Prediction:  Adoption of 4.7 will be as slow as molasses in January.

--
Gary