[development] changes to contrib repository?

[Earnie Boyd]

Quoting Karoly Negyesi <karoly at negyesi.net>:

>> Yeah, there has been a change wrt sandboxes.
>>
>> Sandboxes were intended to allow for the development of core patches,
>> but usually got used for a lot of different stuff. That's why as of now
>> people need to apply for a sandbox.
>

I am coming into this conversation late because I'm new to the list so 
I am trying to understand the issues.  I can foresee that if every 
maintainer were allowed to create whatever package in the sandbox that 
a resource issue could quickly ensue.  Is this the reason for the 
decision for "people need to apply for a sandbox"?  Disallowing new 
creations would be a good control but if maintainers already had code 
in their previously allowed sandbox I would think a grandfathering 
technique for the existing modules would be good to prevent this kind 
of grief.

> And when I said this is a stupid rule because sandboxes are good for 
> example alpha quality stuff or whatever useful code that's just 
> pushed out in the name of sharing I got two answers:
>

Not necessarily stupid just not convenient for those already using the 
sandbox.  If resource issues are present or close to being present then 
this decision makes sense.  If it was a matter of I own the ball so you 
play by my changed rules or I take the ball and go home then I'll need 
to think about my proactiveness in using and promoting Drupal.  Drupal 
is one of the better CMS packages I have found and I've been looking 
for a long time.  I dislike seeing this political issue as the first 
item I receive from joining the list.

> a) create and host your own repository, it's not hard. -- I would 
> rather not even comment this one, I have no polite answer to this one.

I will take the liberty to comment.  If Drupal is having resource 
issues perhaps we should take a look at what we need to do to help 
Drupal to have more resources.  I don't see anywhere that Drupal is 
backed by some institution so where are resources coming from?  Again, 
the response to "create and host your own repository, it's not hard" 
sounds as if Drupal is having resource issues.  Based on other projects 
I think the contribution maintainers have been pretty lucky to have had 
this type of service anyway.

> b) maybe we need to have a forge-like something -- yes we still need.
>

There are many and we probably don't need another one besides where is 
the funding coming from?  If the Drupal Community leads supported this 
then I'm all for it.  One of the things I see happening is the naming 
and categorization of modules.  There are already conflicting modules 
existing which may be a good thing in some eyes but if some unknowing 
user installs and  activates both then what happens to his system?  I 
think that more control of contributed modules supported and 
distributed by Drupal is needed.  I don't think that everyone with 
access to CVS should be allowed to create whatever module they need.  A 
module application process would be good with a review of the 
description of the module and if the module is similar to some other 
module already existing that requestors be pointed to the existing 
module and asked to cooperate with the current maintainers to extend it.

> Example. I had written a module which let people to tag users. I 
> never had the time to really maintain it but several months later 
> someone found it, ported it to 4.7... I have --and I think was not 
> alone--

Great, so how did this person port it to 4.7?  Certainly this person 
didn't have access to write to the CVS.  Did he not just submit a patch?

> learned how to write node access modules from JonBon's primitve 
> modules which were never intended to be released. I am

I am still learning how to write Drupal code but I've submitted already 
many patches for 5.0 to various modules.  I've never seen JonBon's 
primitive modules but I haven't yet started creating new things.  I'm 
more interested in what already exists.  There are nearly a hundred 
modules.

> working with Robert Douglass on memcached sessions and both of us has 
> his memcached code in his sandbox. What will come out of this work is 
> not yet clear but it's crystal clear that without a place to share, 
> our work would be hindered.
>

But if Robert Douglass didn't have a sandbox on Drupal's CVS don't you 
think you could have come up with some method to share the code?  SF 
hands out project access to many would be project requests and you 
could use their CVS or SVN services.  You could even install Drupal as 
the web CMS interface for your module.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm 
just suggesting an alternative to the if you had to do it differently 
scenario.  I do like the fact that Drupal acts much like a pulled 
together community and every thing is in one place including the 
development sandbox.

> What about this rule: "sandboxes are to be used for code that 
> benefits the Drupal community"?
>

Sounds good.  So I guess I need to apply for sandbox access; perhaps 
you can to.  What is the URI for the form to apply?

Earnie
http://for-my-kids.com

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