[TYPO3-mvc] [RFC] Make 4.7 run with 4.5 LTS?

[Claus Due]

Hi Felix,

> I recently noticed the question of running 1.4 / 4.7 on TYPO3 4.5 LTS popping up more often. I also think, it would be great to have something like this. But ...
> 
> In the Extbase Team Leader Meeting we discussed this issue. Of course this is just our first impression and open for discussion. ;-) The hole concept of LTS is to have a rock solid system for a long time. You pay for this right to run the same version for a long time by not getting new features.

There is one case though, which I run into constantly at work and which would be truly nice to have handled natively:

On an almost monthly basis I run into customers requiring 4.5 but not needing Extbase/Fluid for anything other than one single extension. As an integrator/developer it annoys me extremely, that the only reason I am not able to override the system extensions Extbase/Fluid is that nobody made a tiny effort to make the caching framework implementations compatible.

> We think it would be best to offer the "magic" to make 1.4 / 4.7 work in an additional patch or probably a "ready to checkout"-version in someone's github repo. This way it would be crystal clear, that the extbase team does not take any responsibility whatsoever, running newer versions on older TYPO3s.
> 
> What do you think?

My vote is a clear no on this external approach. There are a few reasons for this:

1) The compatibility is non-invasive. It does not change any current behavior, nor does it negatively affect performance. It is completely ignored on 4.6 - as stated by the Caching Framework guide [1] - which also happens by the way to use some deprecated stuff but that's another discussion.

2) The blockers were absolutely tiny. A missing try-catch and additional config that is only recognized by 4.5 anyway.

3) The compatibility requires zero maintenance. It's done, LTS won't change.

4) It is absolutely clear to anybody in their right mind, that if you install a Git master version of some core extension you risk messing your TYPO3 up and should always know that you are breaking the "rules".

5) ext_emconf.php even warns you not to install.

6) My customers - and your customers - could benefit from it which means it already has practical merit.

7) I think it makes sense to have this compatibility, with no responsibility of course, but included in the master so people will not have to patch and can even keep their Git clones updated if they wish it.

I have more reasons why it should go in the git master but I'll stop here :)

My opinion:

I think we've taken enough precautions to be able to say that we naturally take no responsibility, although we just made it possible, when you choose to install development state code on your LTS install.

I can't imagine anybody could rationally assume otherwise?

[1] http://wiki.typo3.org/Caching_framework


Cheers,
Claus