[development] 'old' core 6 & new 7, working together..? +crossite

[Kyle Mathews]

The "event" module is actually a great example of why the current system
works. Event hasn't been upgraded -- not because it was too hard to upgrade
or because "developers prefer to spend time on getting 5 better instead of
upgrading modules". It hasn't been upgraded because "Event", as a module
that solves the "I-want-to-store-and-display-dates" problem, has been
entirely superseded by the cck/date/calendar/views stack of modules.
*Nobody* afaik uses the Event module in Drupal 6 just because
cck/date/calendar/views is so clearly superior. It's much more flexible
because date is a cck field, "date" nodes" have excellent and extensive
integration with Views, and the Calendar module provides again a powerful
and flexible method for displaying "date" nodes in a calendar format. I've
used both setups, Event back in my Drupal 5 days, and
cck/date/calendar/views more recently, and the two solutions don't even
compare.

To borrow a biology metaphor, Drupal is evolving rapidly year after year and
some modules/module-stacks such as Event prove to be evolutionary dead-ends.
It does suck I agree (having done it a number of times) to have to migrate
data between module setups -- everyone would prefer easy migrations -- but
giving the environment Drupal lives in, the web, that's not going to happen
for a long long time. Maybe when the web becomes stable and boring,  Drupal
will also become stable and boring. But in the meantime, we have to race to
keep up.

--Kyle Mathews

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


On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 6:45 AM, Ad <cyb.org3 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> Some arguments here are not completely true. Look here how developers spend
> much time on new issues for core 5 !
> http://drupal.org/project/event
> It's only an example & there is more; this is a clear statement that some
> developers prefer to spent time on getting 5 better, instead of getting all
> other lacking modules from 5 to 6, so website owners don't have any reason
> left to step over from 5 to 6. Waste of time?
>
> Yes, one can pay for development. But who is gona pay me for my volunteer
> work? Many sites are social sites, or small to medium commercial ones. It
> will cost an enormous lot of money to pay for custom made modules at
> programmers fees. The smaller social ones that can, have to rely heavy on
> subsidy and that money can change the social movement in the political and
> even corrupt direction of the money givers. So I pay for myself, above my
> volunteer work that ofcourse doesn't generate money to invest in this social
> network. That situation won't change that easy in a few years.
>
> Drupal programming is a blend of non-centralised volunteer work with some
> agreements through negotiations, and commercial driven projects (even the
> social ones, if they can arrange money). That's its power, but also its
> weakness.
> The positive effect for introducing core 7 in the first year, will maybe
> lay only in a wake-up call that some modules from 5 can't wait anymore to be
> transformed to 6, so MAYBE in a year from now websites have no rason left
> not to stick with core 5 anymore.
> But for core 7 to run on most drupal installations, will take 2 years? Two
> years before a development can be practically implemented, is an ENORMOUS
> waste of time too.
>
> So most like to have a core 6 AND 7 website (or even with a 5). But -except
> for quite simple/basic sites- nothing can be transformed to the 7 website,
> because there is no integration AT ALL. Not even automatic login for all
> members of the 6 site? Hey guys & girls; wake-up; most want such a smooth
> transition. Yes, I understand that bridging and integrating all aspects
> COMPLETELY, will be an insane waste of time.
>
> But what can be bridged PRACTICALLY?
> (again; I'm not suggesting bridging everything, what indeed would be a
> waste of time)
>
> And can/needs core 7 be revised before the first release, to make bridging
> less complex? Ofcourse without touching the pro's of core 7.
>
> Then I'm not only suggesting what the title says; bridging in general WITH
> NON DRUPAL programs/sites, is a hot item. Ofcourse not everything is
> practically possible in bridging.
> BUT: If the core 7 uses some standardised coding (lack of a standard?), it
> will be easier to bridge to other programs that use the same standard.
> So the same work to (partly) bridge 6 to 7, as well as to (partly) bridge 7
> to many other programs and sites.
>
> All in one basic bridge module/API, implemented on a possible re-written
> core 7 for more standardisation in these. ABOVE this basic bridge API for
> core 7 only, specific bridges like core 6, Twitter, Facebook, Mediawiki,
> social networks, Google Wave: http://code.google.com/apis/wave/ ,
> etcetera.
> Maybe even 'copy' Google Wave standards into a Drupal API ?
> If Drupal looses this development, a lot of sites and people might migrate
> from Drupal to Google,not now, but somewhere in future.
>
> Another argument here is that Drupal programmers aren't interested in
> bridging, mostly because of some unnecesary experiences to bridge to some
> specific fora. Well, thats old school; there are many new developments and
> trends...
>
> Most Drupal programmers have a good general education and understanding of
> social issues too. One needs to realise the so called "cultural barriers",
> withdrawing in subcults, For example: Is the way Mediawikis think wrong, or
> how Drupals think? They both think in their own same street/culture. But to
> get to a higher culture, one needs to think how the other thinks and then
> make some general thinking that is good for both. Also getting a culture to
> a higher or another culture, will always meet enormous tense resistance.
> They will kill the first sheep that dares to walk over the dam. If they kill
> the first sheep, the power balance is back to the old culture. But if the
> first sheep is very stubborn and succeeds inspite of all the resistance,
> then slowly others start to follow and met lesser resistance, untill the
> mass starts moving towards the other culture. But its very difficult, even
> if the other culture has many more advantages for all. In filosophy cultural
> study there is something like this in other words, I forgot the official
> terms.
>
> Anyway, all the best.
>
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