[development] Drupal 4.5 unsupported

[Larry Garfield]

On Saturday 27 May 2006 12:24, Khalid B wrote:
> > Why not keep them for historical purposes ?
> > Maybe create an "Archived releases" section somewhere and
> > keep them there ??
>
> They can always be checked out from the CVS repository using
> the DRUPAL-4-5 tag.

If you're not a developer, CVS access means bupkis to you.

I have to agree with Lisa on this one.  Whether we like it or not, Drupal has 
evolved from an open source project into an open source product.  That means 
we do need to pay attention to things like PR, support, customer relations, 
etc.  Marketing comes automatically if those are done correctly (ah, the 
wonders of the Internet).  

The fact that we mention 4.5 on the site doesn't automatically mean that we 
have to provide extensive support and upgrades for it.  As long as it is 
properly marked as such, then it can be a convenience service but an 
important one.  Say:

- Development release: (CVS snapshot)
- Current release: (latest 4.7-tagged version)
- Legacy release: (latest 4.6-tagged version)
- Archived releases: (any old tarballs from previous tags)

And then describe on the page that devs should use Devel version, everyone 
else should use Current, Legacy is for security patches only, and Archived 
is "unsupported, but provided as a convenience".  

Remember, 4.5 isn't that old.  It was the stable version at the beginning of 
last year.  I know a government office that is using a 4.6 site I built for 
them last fall as an internal application.  I'd hate for them to suddenly be 
unable to even find 4.6-targeted modules this fall when 4.7++ is released and 
we go through this routine again.  

-- 
Larry Garfield			AIM: LOLG42
larry at garfieldtech.com		ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, 
which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to 
himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession 
of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it."  -- Thomas 
Jefferson