[TYPO3-ect] Statistics: TYPO3 extensions without a TYPO3 dependency setting (Apr/2013)

[Jigal van Hemert]

Hi,

On 6-4-2013 1:32, Elmar Hinz wrote:
> 1.) Finding the docs:
> 10 years ago, it was already the same. There are so many docs and I
> don't know which one are valid and which one are outdated.
> Still today I have no idea, where the setting of ext_emconf.php is
> offically documented. In practice I open other extensions al look
> how they do it.

There is an active documentation team working on core documentation. 
They can certainly use some help to get the documentation completed and 
keep it up to date.
The settings for ext_emconf.php [1] seem pretty complete to me.

> 2.) Setting the range:
>
> Now you provide a link:
> http://typo3.org/news/article/announcing-ter-cleanup-process/ and it reads:
>>> You cannot set a maximum outside the range of supported versions. <<
>
> That implicates, that you have to update the extension with every new
> version of TYPO3.

Correct, unless it's not compatible with a new version. It's pretty 
logical that it's nonsense to set the maximum to 8.0.0.; nobody can 
predict if and when this version will be made and if you're extension is 
compatible with it.

> 3.) Motivation:
>
> It is fine in theory, to test if the extesion is runnig with the new
> release. In practice I don't get any feedback, if anyone is using my
> extension at all.
> So why donig this efforts, to test it each time?

You don't have to test it, but then the world knows that you don't 
maintain the extension actively. If people want to use your extension 
it's very useful -- perhaps even vital -- to know that it works with a 
certain TYPO3 version.
People have been asking for the feature that the Extension Manager can 
tell them which extensions and extension version are compatible with the 
TYPO3 version they are using (or with a version they want to upgrade 
to). This really depends on knowing which versions of the core an 
extension is compatible with.

I heard that the TER team is thinking about providing a way to give 
feedback if an extension is compatible with a certain core version. This 
might be used to augment the information inside ext_emconf.php
For more information, please contact the TER team.

Other plans were to make an interface on the typo3.org site where the 
author of an extension can easily update the compatibility settings in 
ext_emconf.php. Uploading an updated version to TER doesn't seem to be 
such a big deal to me personally, but for others an option to do modify 
this directly on the t3o site may work better. For more information, 
contact the TER team.

> Bottomline
> ========
>
> Expecting a maximum version number does not work for extensions, as
> long is there is no working solution by which the developers of
> extensions get regular feedback from their users.

Numerous times it happened to people who don't know the inner magic of 
TYPO3 that they installed an extension and were locked out of the 
backend because of fatal errors cause by the extension that was just 
installed. A valid maximum version will prevent this.

If someone really wants to build an extension and only maintain it if 
people contact him/her with problems they find that is fine. This will 
however be reflected in TER.

[1] 
http://docs.typo3.org/typo3cms/CoreApiReference/ExtensionArchitecture/DeclarationFile/Index.html

-- 
Jigal van Hemert
TYPO3 CMS Core Team member

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