[development] 3rd party sites/all/plugins

[Simon Hobbs]

Hiya

Is there best practice for 3rd party plugins?

Recently a tiny site was upgraded, the fckeditor module was updated
but the dev didn't re-add fckeditor. The owner didn't notice for ages
and eventually I have to work backwards through backups to make sure I
get the right (possibly customized) package.

So I've started creating a sites/all/plugins folder for all the
fckeditors / swfobject / jqueryplugins / pdfwriters / etc that I need
for a job. I then use symlinks, so in the scramble the fix is simple.

It's nice too I can put different versions of tools side by side, and
the symlink just points to the desired one.

In theory it would be great if modules expected a plugin folder.

For non-professionals we put them under duress with install
instructions that tell them to clutter their modules with plugins,
making upgrades harder for them, and I think we send the message that
altering modules is ok.

Thoughts or guidance?

Thanks
Simon Hobbs / sime