[development] module duplication in Drupal contrib

[Larry Garfield]

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:20:17 +0100, Ivan Sergio Borgonovo <mail at webthatworks.it> wrote:

> Larry was pointing out one problem of writing duplicates... waste of
> resources... but well first you'd be able to find if there is a
> duplicate module, then you've to evaluate it (compare it with more
> than one module), then you've to see if you can contribute[1] to the
> one you think is most similar to your needs.

I think a lot of people are confusing different issues here.

No, it's not inherently a problem that there are 4 different modules that handle images in 4 different ways.

Yes, it is inherently a problem that there are 4 different modules that all try to un-break the input format system in very similar ways.

Deliberate duplication is fine, and is a healthy part of open source.

Unintentional duplication is a waste of time and energy and only leads to confusion for users.

Let's try to solve unintentional duplication without making deliberate duplication impossible or overly difficult.

"Vetting" of projects to avoid duplication is a no-go.  Giving developers better tools to avoid unintentional duplication is a worthwhile investment.

--Larry Garfield