[TYPO3-team-core-v5] FLOW3 folder structure

[Bastian Waidelich]

Hi everyone,

one of the things that can't be changed easily once the framework is 
released is the global folder structure. So, I'd like to take the chance 
discussing the current layout with you:

You all know, the current folder/file structure of FLOW3 is:

[root]
	[Configuration]
		[Development]
		[Production]
		[Testing]
		Components.php
		FLOW3.php
		Packages.php
		Routes.php
		Settings.php
	[Data]
		[Persistent]
		[Temporary]
	[Packages]
		[FLOW3]
		[MyPackage]
		...
	[Public]
		[Resources]
		.htaccess
		index.php

As you might have read, the FLOW3 Package Repository (aka F3PR) team is 
planning to reflect the context in the package folder structure (see 
<http://support.typo3.org/teams/core-v5/m/typo3-team-core-v5-flow3-first-code-sprint-of-f3pr-363760/p/3/>).

I have the strong feeling, that we should split the context on the root 
level to avoid branching in all levels. This could look something like:

[root]
	[_Development_]
		[Configuration]
		[Data]
		[Packages]
			[MyPackage]
	[_Testing_]
		[Configuration]
		[Data]
		[Packages]
	[Configuration]
		Components.php
		FLOW3.php
		Packages.php
		Routes.php
		Settings.php
	[Data]
		[Persistent]
		[Temporary]
	[Packages]
		[FLOW3]
		[MyPackage]
		...
	[Public]
		[Resources]
		.htaccess
		index.php

(I don't like underscores in directory-names, maybe you have a better 
idea, on how to keep the context folders stick on top)

By default, the context folders would be ignored. But when you're in 
development context, FLOW3 checks for requested 
package/configuration/data there first and falls back to the default 
path if nothing was found.
That way, you could easily test new configuration/packages in your live 
environment before you move them to the "production context".

For a real staging functionality we'll need some sophisticated 
synchronization mechanism obviously, but this could be a first step.

What do you think?
Bastian