[development] Seems I need to take sandbox in my own hands

[inkfree press]

"Karoly Negyesi" wrote:

> I somewhat think you want to provide access to the sandboxes from
> http://drupal.org

> That's not something I would desire. We are talking of a space where
> developer-to-developer sharing happens.

I would challenge that premise (unless you are quoting some policy, of
course).  It is not true that the sandbox is useful for only "dev-to-dev"
sharing.

See below, regarding "barred from these".

> These not "might be" unstable but are
> almost guaranteed to be. They are very far from being ready for any form of
> end user consumption. Developers can use CVS (and ViewCVS in case of need) to
> get this code. End users should be barred from these.

While I'm not entirely sure if you mean to equate "these" with "CVS and
ViewCVS" only or if you mean end users should be barred from accessing the
sandbox entirely, I think you must mean the latter.

In that case, let me argue that end users can and do precisely benefit from
being able to review the contents of the sandbox.

Not only have I personally found modules, unsupported and in-progress, that
worked just fine in my environment.  Or, they were so close that only a
minor change was needed.  Furthermore, there have been occasions when the
on-going work discoverable in the sandbox preventing me from setting off on
a course which had already been traveled.

One of _the_ hallmarks of Drupal, from an end-user perspective, is this kind
of potential discovery and sharing.  From whole "modules" ready-to-go down
to small kernels of code (snippets, theme snippets,
in-progress-dusty-grungy-sandbox-grit), Drupal is _open_ and _accessible_.

Frankly, I would consider any kind of end-user "lock out" from the sandbox
to be the first sign of a walled gate.

I do understand all the arguments in the thread. Resources, policy,
cleanliness, standards, logical organization, and so on all are very
important. Discussions about the sandbox have been cogent and thoughtful, I
thought.

I only encourage that this same level of consideration be given to the
decision to "bar" end users from downloading code, if that was Karoly's
intent.

(Note:
Perhaps re-thiking the nature and purpose of, and therefore the on-server
handling of, the sandbox space will also suggest some alternative end-user
interface to the downloadable-accessible contents.  If it does not make
technical sense to provide end-user access through the current web
interface, then perhaps some additional "public" flags could allow
individual authors the choice to make certain content end-user accessible.)
-- 
inkfree press