[development] Drupal Modules and Linux Distros

[Derek Wright]

On Oct 25, 2006, at 12:50 PM, Jonathan Lambert wrote:

> Look, the original request is, "I need you to change package  
> version numbers when you make changes to the underlying tar  
> files."  It's positively INSANE to me that there is any debate on  
> this point, as this is standard practice in package management and  
> software engineering.

there's no debate on this point at all (at least, not anymore).

it's all done and ready to deploy.  it's just pending:

a) further reviews by The Blessed Few(tm)
b) documentation

please, read http://drupal.org/node/90436 and the links in there for  
more on this before you write anything else about this topic.

> Drupal maintainers have a responsibility to members of this  
> community to fix this practice immediately.

[climbs onto soap box]

before you go throwing ultimatums around, you should consider how  
much time it actually took me to get this right.  i started grumbling  
about this in january, vocally ranting about it in april, winning  
support for my plans around then (no small task in its own right),  
raising money (since my day job isn't drupal at all, and i couldn't  
just take a few hundred hours of time off without pay) in august, and  
hacking the code in earnest in september.  here it is, end of  
october, and it's finally done.  i challenge you to find anyone who  
would have accomplished all of this any better or faster.

i just find it slightly offensive that you a) think this was a  
trivial matter to change and drupal maintainers were just dragging  
their feet because they didn't want drupal included in distros and b)  
are now telling us how irresponsible we're being unless we fix this  
immediately (which, by the way, is going to happen on the order of  
days from now, anyway).  if you're going to make a rant, at least  
make an informed one. ;)  better yet, instead of complaining about  
all the work you (wrongly) think we're not doing, please help  
contribute in some way ($, documentation, testing, code, whatever  
you're good at).

[off soap box]

> It's a good point, but it really is sidetracked from the original  
> request.  Also, you're directly ignoring Dries' polite request not  
> to add noise to the discussion (I'm not singling you out  
> personally).  This point should be a separate thread.

it *was* in a separate thread.  to single you out personally, you're  
the one that put any mention of michelle's thread about documenting  
projects into here... ;)

all that said, i hold no personal grudge, and i don't want to add any  
more flames or distractions in this thread...

versioned (and tagged) tarballs for contrib are an imminent reality  
for drupal, end of story.

to people who know what they're talking about: what else do you want/ 
need from drupal to make distribution easier for you?

thanks,
-derek (dww)

p.s. sorry for the harsh tone.  i've just poured so many hours of my  
life into this exact point that i'm a little touchy around this  
topic... please don't take it personally.