[TYPO3-core] Status of TYPO3 6.2 LTS

[Christian Reiter]

Hi,
 > As I'm already using 6.1
 > I would like to have a FAL migration-wizard to 6.2 like 4.5 users get
 > for their installations. *sigh*

AFAIK there is a step for splitting out metadata into the newly 
introduced sys_file_metadata table in 6.2 if you don't have that, and 
just recently an upgrade wizard to create the newly introduced 
identifier_hash appeared. In fact I didn't go 4.5 to 6.2 but have done 
smaller steps because the sites I dealt with had so much old custom 
code. SO I went 4.5,4.7,6.1 and from there to 6.2

I'm happy with the direction FAL is taking in 6.2 because with the new 
sys_file_metadata table, the little sysext/filemetadata that extends it 
and the built-in categorization I can finally begin to do the basics of 
proper file data management without having complex extensions.

In 6.1 of course we have the media extension and the we_dam2fal to 
import to it but this is built on a different model than 6.2 now has, 
and is again a big extension when I just want solid basics for most 
projects, so I really want to avoid this.

 > the preparation for 6.2 would be easier if some of the new features/
 > behaviours alreday would be backported (as extensions?) to earlier 
versions

Actually I'm against that.

The installation base needs a big motivation to  finally leave the old 
stuff behind.

If developments out of 6.2 get backported old versions this takes away 
the pressure to upgrade,

it forces too much "compatibility" again and uses too much resources of 
the core developers.

Right now 6.2 is developed, FLOW is developed, 6.1, 6.0, 4.7 and 4.5 are 
maintained, and then 6.2 developments should be backported? And then 
maybe some extbase features are missing in the older versions that it 
should be backported to, etc; and suddenly you are opening a huge can of 
worms.
Wordpress isn't porting new stuff from 3.7 back to 3.0 either ...

 > .. to get used to it
 > .. to get a smoother migration

I was disappointed with the stability of the 6.2beta1 but pleasantly 
surprised with the migration. It has been easier than I thought so far.
I am really dealing with some dinosaurs - sites that were built anytime 
from TYPO3 4.1 to all the way back to 3.6, and that have been dragged 
along to 4.5. I would have expected this to be absurdly painful but it's 
doable. However I am not waiting for a big "smooth migration" button 
that will do everything by itself.

best regards,

Christian