[development] Module developers, please do *proper* releases !

[Doug Green]

Moshe Weitzman wrote:
> The Drupal Association and the Security have discussed off and on how
> to improve the security of Contrib and the effectiveness of our update
> mechanism. And you are right that we are considering changes to how
> modules without stable releases are listed on drupal.org. We also
> discussed how update module should handle them. You can bet that any
> changes we make will further marginalize these modules, since they
> operate outside of update module which is a very bad thing.
>   
And when you do this, I'll take more care to create releases.

Earl Miles wrote:
> I agree that it is inconvenient that sloppy module maintainers do not
> create releases. ...
I am a "sloppy module maintainer", but IMHO not a sloppy programmer
whose modules should be avoided.  It's a time problem for me.  I wrote
and maintain, something like 20 modules.  I built most of these modules
while working on client sites.  It's open source.  I write something
because it scratches my itch and/or meets a need for a client.  I then
license it to the world where I know that many of these modules also
server others needs.

I should create a release at the time I finished my client site. 
However, since my client project is typically over, I've never
remembered to do this.  If the Drupal Association is going to change the
way these modules are displayed, then I'll probably start creating
releases at this point -- when my client engagement is mostly over and
when the module is running on a client site.

But now, the d.o issue's start coming along... and I maintain these
modules outside of the client development process.  At what point do I
create a new release?  After I fix the first bug/feature request?  After
the second?  After the third?  Multiply this by 20 modules, and for me,
it comes down to a question of time and help.  I tend to create releases
when a user reports that I forgot to create a release or when users
start reporting bugs in previous releases, that I know are already fixed
in dev.  This is a really difficult problem and question for me. 

-- 
Doug Green
douggreen at douggreenconsulting.com
904-583-3342

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