[development] versioned schema?

[Philippe Jadin]

> I kinda like #2 the best, but #1 may make more sense with our current
> hook_update_N() system.  (#3 has the "advantage" that we might be able
> to automatically update from one version to the next, but it could
> also be very complicated.)  Perhaps hook_schema_N() and
> hook_update_N() should be tied together in some way so that the new
> schema and the upgrade path to get to it from the previous one are
> always specified together.
>

Have you considered querying the database to check what fields are
already there and add the missing ones based on the latest schema?

The problem is what to do when a field changes type / name between two
versions of the schema. But does it happen often?

This would make it very easy for module developpers : simply add the
field in the schema, and the schema api take cares of adding the
required fields. More complex operations could be handled with #1. We
did this with our cms, and it worked great. (this way you have schema
versioned like code in cvs). I would not touch the fields found in the
DB and not found in the schema, just in case :-)

Philippe


> Barry
>
>