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Here? There? Everywhere?

Submitted by greggles on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 16:20
greggles

Posts: 16
 Joined: 12/12/2007

So, we've got http://drupal.org/project/uc_coupon and http://www.ubercart.org/contrib/1991

Both have issues, some duplicate even, and both work sporadically (some report success, others have problems).

1) In this specific case, can we get the two merged back together? Both versions have been through changes and through the whole period of "I need this for a client so I built it/fork it" and then "my client is gone so I'm not giving it as much attention as it deserves." So, let's get them together, eh? I think that's happening...and I've got cvs commit access to the Drupal.org project to be able to help there.

2) In general, I think this shows how forking a module is painful for a community. But it also shows (at least me) that the comment threads on contribution pages just won't cut it for keeping track of problems and fixes. I'd like to propose that, for any non-trivial module, the Ubercart project uses Drupal.org module pages and issue trackers. Much like forking code can cause problems, forking the community can cause problems, so we need to be coordinated about this. I propose that in the future if a module outgrows the Ubercart contrib pages that a final comment is made pointing to the relevant Drupal.org pages the contrib page has it's comment settings changed to "read only".

Thoughts on either topic?

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permalink #1 Tue, 04/29/2008 - 18:24
torgosPizza

Posts: 1314
 Joined: 08/14/2007
Bug FinderEarly adopter... addicted to alphas.Getting busy with the Ubercode.

Looks like that's what happened with the Coupon module. A good idea, IMO. I'll be happy to move my Upsell contrib over there, once it gets some more testing under its belt.

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"Pain don't hurt." - Dalton

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permalink #2 Wed, 04/30/2008 - 08:44
Ryan

Posts: 5378
 Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratorHead Code Monkey - I eat bugs.

Hey Greg, thanks for the input on this topic. I think it suffers additionally from not having anyone with the time to push it in a better direction, so thanks for the offers to help, particularly regarding CVS access. Smiling Responding to your points:

1) I'd love to see them get merged back together and have issues be handled through CVS. That was one of the first modules made, and the author hasn't been able to be around since then. Sticking out tongue (I think there may even be a third place to download it if he's got it up on his personal page.)

2) I agree. The comment threads weren't intended to be used for bug reports and support, so I probably should've just turned comments off for contrib postings. I kept the directory up for W.I.P. and non-module contributions, but I'd love to see any significant module development go through d.o. I haven't really had time to lead the way by posting my contributed modules over to d.o, but I think it would do wonders for our profile and exposure there as well. Perhaps I can include a link CCK field for drupal.org project page/issue tracker and make it more apparent in the submission instructions that that is the place to do serious module development. The main trouble is going to be the barrier to entry w/ CVS... which I still struggle with occasionally. Thoughts on alleviating that? Perhaps I need to carve out time to write a tutorial for Smart CVS?

Also, at what point do you think it's ok to post modules to d.o? Some folks post up code that's still very much in development for feedback... and sometimes those don't ever get completed, which seems like those sorts of in development works should probably not be posted to d.o.

permalink #3 Wed, 04/30/2008 - 11:27
cYu

Posts: 304
 Joined: 11/19/2007
Bug FinderGetting busy with the Ubercode.

Ryan wrote:

Also, at what point do you think it's ok to post modules to d.o?

This is something I've struggled with while looking at a few of my contrib modules. I think I've come down on the side of moving any module that I've seen people try to use and that I'm willing to maintain over to Drupal.org though. I'd like to see others do the same.

I'm not sure how others feel about this, but I think that a user who has no interest in the Ubercart community or getting code in development should never have to come to Ubercart.org. Ubercart.org handles supplemental sub-project functions in a way not possible or feasible at d.o or g.d.o, but I'd like to see Drupal.org perform all of the essential project functions that it does handle well.

permalink #4 Wed, 04/30/2008 - 11:33
cYu

Posts: 304
 Joined: 11/19/2007
Bug FinderGetting busy with the Ubercode.

@torgosPizza: I felt the same way at first, that I didn't want to move anything over that hadn't been well tested. But the project can just be tagged as dev at d.o and the testing can occur there, complete with d.o's issue tracker and cvs commit tracking.

permalink #5 Wed, 04/30/2008 - 15:54
Lyle

Posts: 2271
 Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratoreLiTe!

I think leveraging the d.o issue trackers will be key for maintaining contrib modules. I've gone ahead and posted Manufacturers and Marketing for just that reason. Manufacturers is simple enough in scope and function that I doubt it needs much help. Marketing still needs some polishing, so I left it as a dev release. Hopefully that'll be packaged up and downloadable sometime tonight.

permalink #6 Thu, 05/29/2008 - 19:55
greggles

Posts: 16
 Joined: 12/12/2007

I think you can post stuff at Drupal.org as soon as you have mildly working code. There's nothing about a project on d.o that means "this stuff works perfectly". In fact, some people feel you should create a project page before code so that other people will know that you are working on stuff. The cvs access and issue queues are really important, as several of you have mentioned, for group collaboration on projects.

I've seen lots of projects pop up on d.o recently with "UC" in the titles =D I hope that the current migration of project from ubercart.org to d.o has been successful. Anyone have thoughts on the benefits or drawbacks of hosting projects over there?

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permalink #7 Fri, 05/30/2008 - 09:02
Ryan

Posts: 5378
 Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratorHead Code Monkey - I eat bugs.

I think it's been great. Smiling It's helped me get a lot more comfortable w/ SmartCVS for one, but we also have 20+ modules related to Ubercart hosted on d.o. I think I still have a couple more that need to be migrated, too. It's exciting to see them pop up in the new modules RSS feed I bookmarked.

Since Ubercart itself is hosted on d.o and I added a highlighted project page link on our contrib pages, I think it's still a largely natural process for folks to head to d.o for downloading contribs.

Also, sweet new profile pic (I think that's new, right?). Are you up in the Andes mountains? Sticking out tongue

(As a side, I don't suppose there's any way you can help out on this issue to make it more clear that Ubercart modules are included on Drupal?)

permalink #8 Fri, 05/30/2008 - 13:08
greggles

Posts: 16
 Joined: 12/12/2007

That's great that you see it as a plus. I weighed in on that issue which I've been thinking about but didn't quite have the time/priority to take action, so thanks for the nudge.

The profile picture is from the Salara de Uyuni in Bolivia which was my favorite part of my South American trip. Now, I'm in Los Angeles and after some more time in CA I'll be headed back hom to Denver Smiling

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