Contributed modules...future compatible?
dugawug - March 12, 2007 - 21:48
i'm curious how the contributed modules work. many i see are already not 5.X compatible. i'm a little worried that the more modules we install, the more problems we might have in future if we become dependent on them and they aren't supported after some time. what's the deal here? are all modules always eventually updated to work with the latest drupal version? are we going to install some and then they might not be developed to work with later drupal versions?
there's some cool stuff i want to install but they already don't work with 5.X, the version i would want to install and start off with.
that's the way it is
Unfortunately, that's the way it is. Contributed modules are contributed :-) These have maintainers.... and if the maintainer does not have the time to upgrade the module to the latest version then you don't have an update for your installed module. But it is not really so bad as it seems. If another user can update a module to be compatible with the latest Drupal version, then they try to help out. If the maintainer feels that he/she doesn't have the time anymore to maintain the module, then some other person takes over the project.
What you can do is check the status for 5.x module updates (search on it, can't remember the exact address) so you know the maintainer's plan on supporting 5.x. Or you can submit a feature request by creating an issue. If the maintainer has no available time at the moment, hopefully someone else sees the request and help out. In my own experience, project maintainers are always kind enough to respond to your request. Maybe they'll tell you that they will do it right away, or maybe they explain to you why they can't do it at the moment, or why they will not do it at all.
And these were my opinions on the matter.
John
---------------------------------
De norske Drupal håndbøkene (brukerveiledninger på norsk) finnes på:
http://www.drupalnorge.no/bok
thanks for the info. i'm
thanks for the info.
i'm basically planning a drupal site and the modules i'll need or want. if this is the case, what you say, it sounds like i should stay on the safe side and only go with modules i absolutely need as opposed to adding a bunch of stuff that i think might be cool.
i'm surprised it seems like roughly half of the modules are 5.x compliant. with that, i'm feeling to stay on the conservative side of things.
Some modules
Some modules are not updated because there are easier, better ways of doing what they provided for, now that Drupal 5 is out. D5 has some pretty profound improvements in a number of areas. For example, I have not tried to count the number of older modules whose functionality and/or goals now can be handled with CCK and/or Views in D5.
Laura
_____ ____ ___ __ _ _
design, snap, blog
ok, good to know. but maybe
ok, good to know.
but maybe i should ask this: how easy is it to later "uninstall" particular modules? say i want to upgrade one day to Drupal 7.0 but some of my modules from before aren't going to run. how easy is it to get rid of them if i choose to do so?
In theory, all you have to
In theory, all you have to do is deselect them from you modules list. Some modules may require action on the uninstall tab as well. There is also the possibility that if they were modules that altered or organized specific content types, certain nodes may lose their characteristics and become flat content. Typically an upgrade involves a clean install anyways and then an import of your old database, a copy of old content, and a reinstallation of all your modules. (Which is why it's a good idea to install your modules to ./mysite/sites/all/modules/ rather than ./mysite/modules as it makes upgrading easier and less likely that you'll overwrite new core modules.)
Drupal's so easy, even I could do it.
great, had no idea how
great, had no idea how install/uninstall of modules worked, nor how upgrading goes. clears up a lot, thanks!