[development] Why I don't Upload a Module to Drupal

[Kyle Mathews]

And for a lot more along the lines of what Ken is mentioning -- this post by
Larry Garfield is a great intro to building reusable building blocks:
http://www.palantir.net/blog/building-sustainable-building-blocks

--Kyle Mathews

kyle.mathews2000.com/blog
http://twitter.com/kylemathews


On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 8:57 AM, Ken Rickard <agentrickard at gmail.com> wrote:

> In this case, I think the real trick for giving back is to try to
> avoid one-off custom solutions, and instead try (as best you can for
> each project) to patch or extend existing projects.
>
> That said, we have a 'custom' module installed by default on all new
> projects, and lots of one-off code invariably gets in there.
>
> But here's a concrete example: I got very tired of using the theme
> layer to code links to custom paths in Views. The result:
> http://drupal.org/node/349178, which went into the core Views module
> (and merlinofchaos spiced up with added layers of awesome).
>
> If one such patch comes out of each project (or, say, if you managed
> to close 2 issues in the core issue queue per project) then you're
> giving back. The key, for me, is not coding in a vacuum that ignores
> improvements to core and features in contrib.
>
> - Ken
> agentrickard
>
> On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 10:09 AM, Robert Douglass<rob at robshouse.net>
> wrote:
> > You lazy blood sucking pig! (did that confirm your worst fears? ;-)
> >
> > I think you describe what is actually the _typical_ Drupal developer -
> > the vast majority of people doing Drupal development work just like you
> > describe, and there's nothing wrong with that. Not everyone is going to
> > be able to be a module maintainer, for one reason or another, and that's
> > fine.
> >
> > If you want to release your code and hope that it takes a life of its
> > own, write blog posts about it, attach the zip file, and make sure it
> > gets aggregated by Drupal Planet. You can add lots of caveats like
> > "Needs cleaning up, needs install and uninstall routines, has some
> > specific settings that could use an admin settings page." Make sure it
> > is GNU 2.0 licensed from the start. In doing this you'll help others
> > while helping yourself. You'll help others by making the code available,
> > in case it's useful for them, and you'll help yourself by having useful
> > information and code on your development blog which will further your
> > reputation and bring you the next round of great clients. Plus you may
> > even get feedback that will lead to better code.
> >
> > Thanks for sharing this concern. I wonder how many people on this list
> > feel guilty because they feel they "haven't contributed enough"?
> >
> > -Robert
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Sam Polenta <sam.polenta at gmail.com>
> > Reply-to: development at drupal.org
> > To: development at drupal.org
> > Subject: [development] Why I don't Upload a Module to Drupal
> > Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:57:22 +0300
> >
> > I have made a few custom modules for clients. Some of them maybe other
> > people would want. I would be happy to give them to whoever wants
> > them, BUT it's not necessarily so simple as that.
> >
> > Mostly they have some customization for the particular site so I would
> > have to generalize them like with a settings page etc. Then I would
> > have to clean up the code a bit. Some would need an install and
> > uninstall routine which I didn't do because it's only for one site
> > anyway.
> >
> > I would be happy even, in theory, to release them on drupal.org but
> > aside from the time to prepare them, which I don't really have, I also
> > don't have time to support them. So I figure even if I did fix it up a
> > bit and put it online, I am then expected to support it. I am not a
> > lazy person nor do I just suck the blood of everyone else who
> > contributes to Drupal without giving back. I do try to help people on
> > the forums a bit and the truth is that I help to "make the world a
> > better place" in other ways. I volunteer at a local NPO to help
> > people--when I sit down at the computer, it's mostly to work. I need
> > to make a living and this is how I do it.
> >
> > So I don't think I'm a total pig--not at all really because I do
> > volunteer my time, but just for other causes aside from Drupal.
> >
> > Do people think my reasons are wrong for not releasing my code? I
> > guess the main thing is that I'm not prepared to support any issues or
> > requests etc. that may come up.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Ken Rickard
> agentrickard at gmail.com
> http://ken.therickards.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/development/attachments/20090817/6572e632/attachment.htm>