[development] Freezing the Drupal API

[Bèr Kessels]

Op dinsdag 16 mei 2006 03:24, schreef Richard Archer:
> And as for trying to build a business around Drupal... well,
> there's surely a lot of money in helping people upgrade their
> installations. But personally I want to be able to offer a
> reliable, up-to-date, feature-rich hosting environment, and
> all Drupal promises me is a world of hurt.

My idea is that this is a very true fact, indeed. And because it is all OSS, 
it acts like water: it will find its way trough.

If you, just like me, need 4.6 (and for me there are a large range of reasons 
not upgrading yet, if ever) there are surely more people. And if there are 
more, with the same needs and wishes, then a group will form around 4.6 
(or .7) Maybe to maintain some backported features and/or bugfixes. Maybe 
(but preferably not) to maintain a future fork with these backported features 
and/or bugfixes. 
If there are enough people at hand, I am sure Dries et al will not be 
unwilling to continue minmal development (bug/sec. fixes) on the 4.6 branch. 
If there is enough need, maybe even for years, who knows. I am sure that 
drupal 4.6 will be used for years. 

One thing I have been playing with, is a module that acts like wrappers around 
the form api. So that we can (back again) call form_select(). For those who 
feel unconfy with the Fapi (like me). Or those not willing/able to invest a 
lot of time to learn Fapi (like me). The actual plan/implemenation set aside: 
if there is a need for some "old fashioned bakwards, and in the eyes of a lot 
of developers plain stupid" concepts. It will make it. 

My point therefore is: Lets please leave the current development as it goes. 
Some people need this progress. And let us also look at some other needs 
besides getting more and newer APIs. Because some people do not need the 
progress, but need stability.

But let us also speak up (as Richard did very well) about your own needs. 
Because if you do so, others with the same needs might think "hey I am not 
alone". And a team is formed ;). If you do not speak up, you will not be 
heard, its as easy as that. 

Bèr