[development] Drupal 6 code freeze

[Larry Garfield]

Dries,

A few of those items had multiple patches involved in them.  I've lost track of which file patches went in and which are still pending, for instance.  Can you post links to the specific issues that get "just one more chance", so we know where to focus efforts?

--Larry Garfield

On Mon, 2 Jul 2007 19:46:48 +0200, Dries Buytaert <dries at buytaert.net> wrote:
> Hello world,
> 
> as of today, the Drupal 6 code is frozen.  This means that we first
> shift focus towards usability improvements and performance
> improvements and that we are extremely strict about breaking APIs.
> We'll only accept patches that break APIs unless required to fix
> critical issues.
> 
> The first 2-3 weeks, patches that improve either usability or
> performance might still be considered assuming they don't break any
> APIs.  However, we're going to be extremely strict about patches that
> attempt to add new features for usability's sake.
> 
> After the first couple of weeks, we'll enter the second stage of the
> code freeze during which only bug fixes are accepted.  Finally, when
> all critical bugs are fixed, we'll release Drupal 6.
> 
> In addition to that, I'd like to grant six extensions/exceptions.
> These extensions buy 6 issues another *two* weeks to get committed to
> Drupal core.  Two weeks isn't a lot of time so chances are that these
> won't make it.  However, I'm confident that some patches will.
> 
>   1. We need the menu module fixes to go in, and these might alter
> the APIs.
> 
>   2. We need the update module to go in and it's 95% ready. It would
> be a shame to hold it back.
> 
>   3. We want the file API to go in and it's 95% ready.  It would be a
> shame to hold it back.
> 
>   4. I'm going to grant an extra 2 weeks for the book module patch.
> I'm not promising that I will go in, but I'd like to see us carefully
> analyze it some more and maybe strip or massage it a little.  It is
> an important patch for both Drupal's future and the Drupal.org
> documentation team, so let's focus on making them succeed.
> 
>   5. I'd like to see us split SQL read and writes as drupal.org would
> benefit from this a lot.  (Important performance improvement that is
> likely to break APIs.)
> 
>   6. I'd like to see us merge the node, node_comment_statistics and
> node_counter tables. (Important performance improvement that is
> likely to break APIs.)
> 
> Other than that, we're going to spend a lot of time fixing bugs and
> banging CPU cycles out of Drupal!  It looks like this might be
> another amazing release for us, especially if we can make Drupal 6
> easier to use and snappier than Drupal 5.  Please adjust your
> mindsets to this new focus!
> 
> I'd like to solicit some feedback surrounding this, and then finally
> announce the Drupal 6 code freeze on the drupal.org main page first
> thing tomorrow morning.
> 
> Thanks for all the hard work,
> 
> PS: I realize it is tempting to beg for more extensions, but please
> think twice before you do.  I've carefully compiled this list, and by
> asking for more extensions, you jeopardize the success of the six
> patches.  I want to see us take care of these 6 patches more than
> anything else.
> 
> --
> Dries Buytaert  ::  http://www.buytaert.net/