[development] Module backwards compatibility

[Peter Wolanin]

Dear Jordan,

guess you haven't been on the devel list long.  I predict the answer is "no".

There was module for 4.7.x called "legacy" that was supposed to ease
the 4.6.x -> 4.7.x transition.  So, it has been done before in a way,
but 4.6 -> 4.7 was probably a more radical change than 5.x->6.x.

See for example of past discussion:
http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/development/2007-January/022265.html


On 8/11/07, jordan at theoverclocked.com <jordan at theoverclocked.com> wrote:
> Improvements to Drupal's core is great, but trying to get developers to
> update their module for the latest Drupal release gets old fast. What I am
> proposing is an added compatibility layer for Drupal, so all the module
> written for previous versions will still work without modification.
>
> We will start at Drupal 7, all modules for Drupal 6.x will be compatible out
> of the box.
>
> To accomplish this feat there is a few things involved. Instead of removing
> functions from the core we should leave them in there but modify them to
> work with the current Drupal core. So if a module used that function it
> would still be there and work for it, but the downfall would be new features
> and possibly performance.
>
> With module backwards compatibility, it would allow users to upgrade to the
> latest Drupal core as soon as it is released rather then waiting for module
> developers to upgrade their modules. Sometimes modules never get upgraded
> and it is a real shame IMO to see all that work goto waste.
>
> -Jordan
>