[TYPO3-mvc] Why don't we suck at TYPO3?

[Steffen Müller]

Hi.

On 03.05.2011 11:09 Martin Kutschker wrote:
> Am 03.05.2011 10:38, schrieb Jigal van Hemert:
>> Upgrading the core means heavy testing to make sure the extension is still fully functional.
>> That is the logical result of the decision to use alpha/beta software as the base. Nothing bad about
>> such a decision, but one which should be made very consciously.
>
> Perhaps it makes sense now to split up the working Extbase part (which needs "only" to be
> maintained, ie it's bugs getting fixed) and the experimental parts (the backports of new FLOW3
> features).
>
> Two solutions come to my mind:
>
> a) each new backport is a seperate extensions until it's reasonably stable
> b) there is an Extbase "replacement" available on forge onöy which incl. all the fancy stuff
>

Well, the most simple solution to prevent growing incompatibility and 
legacy code is:
c) Finally decide _and_ apply a feature freeze for FLOW3.

I know it is promised, that beta is very near. But this was already 
promised a year ago. So how can people trust? This was discussed and 
criticized many times before.

As long as FLOW3 is changing its API constantly, Extbase and FLOW3 will 
drift away from each other. The result are extensions which get 
"non-transitional", although Extbase was meant to be the "big transition 
tool".

So what does "big transition tool" mean at all?
1) Extensions written with Extbase can be easily ported to FLOW3 packages.
2) People of the TYPO3 (v4) community get used to FLOW3 techniques and 
can move upstream if they feel comfortable.
3) FLOW3 concepts are tested in real world environments by Extbase 
extensions. Issues found in Extbase can be targeted upstream.

ATM it seems we focus on 1). But this is just one part of the story.
2) and 3) are also relevant. And they result in responsibility of FLOW3 
developers to make it stable now. Otherwise TYPO3 community might 
abandon Extbase and FLOW3 or never put hand on it. Officially releasing 
a transition tool IMHO signals that there is a stable system be able to 
transition to. That's obviously not the case yet.

If FLOW3 is perceived like "Duke nukem forever" [1], people will be 
discouraged to invest time and money for contributions. Maybe this is 
one reason why there are only few contributions.


[1] Irony. Don't get me wrong. I honor the work of FLOW3 team. 
Seriously. They created great software which is already there in 
opposite to DNF.

-- 
cheers,
Steffen

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