[TYPO3-core] Development Report: File Abstraction Layer

[Steffen Ritter]

The file abstraction layer is one of the most anticipated features for 
TYPO3  in the last few years. For one and a half year TYPO3 developers 
worked on a concept for file abstraction. Since the first code sprint in 
November 2010 in Düsseldorf a lot has happened.An enthusiastic team 
started to integrate them. As a result, a general file abstraction API 
has been created, which serves as a base for all future file related 
developments.

This is especially important for extensions like DAM (Digital Asset 
Management) that can then rely on a file abstraction that is part of the 
core and because of that fully integrated throughout it.

The current state of the project is a stable file abstraction layer API 
which is used in the dedicated Incubator branch already. During 
collaborative reviewing of these base components at the TYPO3 Snowboard 
Tour 2012 new challenges with "special case scenarios" like full 
workspace integration, or combining FAL with the existing media handling 
came to light.

Since a fundamental principle of the TYPO3 Core is to be completely 
stable and reliable the Release Team decided to postpone the delivery of 
FAL to the next major release. Large projects will benefit from a smooth 
and more flexible migration path when dealing with a lot of files. We 
also want to ensure that upgrade wizards work flawlessly, when upgrading 
from a previous version with usage of DAM or other media related extensions.

As this project - like every TYPO3 project - is a community development, 
we need you to help to make it happen. We will release TYPO3 4.7 beta1 
tonight, meaning after the release no new features will be integrated 
for version 4.7.

As we don't want to stall development on FAL, 4.7 will be branched 
directly after the release. This means that master as of tonight will be 
dedicated to the next major release.

We will merge the FAL API to the new master then and everyone of you is 
  invited to check it out, test the features, report problems or wishes 
and help to develop the next great TYPO3 feature. The File Abstraction 
Layer API itself is really awesome and fun to use. It would be fantastic 
if you could test some "real life scenarios" like your company or a 
customer web site.

However, the general focus of the v4 development will be on stabilizing 
TYPO3 version 4.7 until the final release which is scheduled for April 
24th 2012.

For questions, problems, comments and rants feel free to contact us 
within this thread.