[development] CVS HEAD, code freeze, zeitgeist

[Darrel]

Derek Wright wrote:
>
> On Aug 17, 2006, at 2:02 PM, Bèr Kessels wrote:
>
>> The good news is that that means more people using, developing 
>> testing and
>> investing in older versions: these versions simply stay alive longer.
>
> yet another example of why we need separate stable and dev branches 
> for contrib for *each* version/branch of the drupal core API. ;)  
> http://drupal.org/node/77562
>
> that said, i have similar concerns with a lot of what ber raised.  
> i've got 6 modules i personally maintain and there are about 4 others 
> i've got commit access to and help out with.  a few (dba and diff) 
> still aren't ported to 4.7.  it's going to be a lot of work to port 
> the rest to HEAD.  i've got tons of functionality i want to add to 
> these modules, but i simply don't have the time to do it all, try to 
> keep my eye on core development and help out where i can, be the 
> resident CVS guru, *and* port all my modules to the latest core API 
> every 3 months...
>
> i'm honestly torn.  on the one hand, it's great to have new stable 
> releases with useful improvements frequently, so that more sites at 
> least have *access* to the latest functionality if they want it.  
> however, given a) the rapid pace, b) the utter disregard for backwards 
> compatibility (which is great!), c) the therefore very real cost in 
> developer hours to keep contrib/themes/translations up to date with 
> the latest core, and d) our relatively limited development resources 
> (horsepower to write/review/test all the code involved), i wonder if 
> aiming for releases every 3-4 months is too short.  drupal core is 
> great and all, but show me a drupal site *anywhere* that doesn't use 
> at least *something* from crontrib. ;)  therefore, i know it's painful 
> to admit, but we really do have to be concerned about not having core 
> run off far in advance of contrib.
>
> either i can keep all 10 modules up to date with HEAD all the time, or 
> i can make them better, but, given the other constraints on my time, i 
> can't really do much of both.  maybe the problem is that i'm trying to 
> maintain too many things, but i don't see anyone else volunteering to 
> take over any of these contribs. ;)
>
> also, given that CCK in core is basically crippled as it stands (no 
> fields) and yet CCK in contrib doesn't work w/ CCK in core, and 
> flexinode isn't going to be ported to either 4.7 or 4.8 (according to 
> ber), i have serious concerns about freezing.  dynamic content types 
> are essential for basically every real drupal site i'm dealing with.  
> if core isn't going to provide fields, we absolutely *must* have a 
> plan for working fields in 4.8 contrib (and further acknowledge that 
> core basically requires contrib to be functional 95% of the time).
>
> i don't have a concrete proposal, but, since dries is fishing for 
> "zeitgeist", i just wanted to register my unease (not dissatisfaction).
>
> thanks,
> -dww
>
>

cck will be easy... There isn't a whole lot to do with it.... as for 
translations/contrib and the release cycle.. maybe a longer freeze 
period would be nice... Get the devs chomping at the bit again for when 
head reopens. force some planning... give everyone time to catch up... 
and maybe get a more stable core at the end of it all... Might also 
encourage everyone to work really hard on getting stuff in now if they 
know they're gonna have 3 months of freeze to wait before they can 
submit new features....