If I'm understanding correctly, the point is not "Don't
do what you've been
doing in sandboxes," but rather "Do it in the
/contributions/modules
directory instead, it's better there".
As folks have pointed out, the sandboxes have served a
valuable role for
contrib modules. As developers, many of us have used our
sandboxes as places
to work up experimental code. We have benefited from access
to others' code.
But do we need to do this particularly in sandboxes?
The use of sandboxes for developing code valuable to the
community has had
some costs, e.g., multiple versions of the same module (not
clear which one
is current), obsolete code not deleted when a newer version
is in
contributions/modules, loss of CVS history when code is
moved, etc.
Personally, I've used my sandbox because I hesitate to put
code in the
'sacred' /contributions/modules directory. What I'm hearing
is, don't worry
so much.
Starting an experimental project, not yet (maybe never)
ready for
distribution? Go ahead, create a new directory at
contributions/modules and
do it there. Not ready for download? Simple, just don't
create a project -
yet - on drupal.org. Only people doing CVS browsing or
checkouts will see
it. All developers will have CVS write access to the
directory (just like
has always been the case for sandboxes), so you can
collaborate. Experiment
to your heart's content. Later, you can always delete the
project, or create
a drupal.org project for it if/when it's ready, or request
to have it moved
elsewhere (e.g., into an existing project's directory, if
it's meant as part
of that project). Look through the /modules directory right
now and you'll
find plenty of directories like this.
So, I'm thinking, we're not really losing anything. We're
just going back
to how it was always supposed to be: develop new code in its
place, rather
than in a sandbox. As an added bonus, we won't lose CVS
history for
projects. In general (CVS maintainers, please correct me if
I'm wrong), we
can summarize the message as "The contributions/modules
directory, rather
than sandboxes, is the right place for (experimental or
otherwise) code for
contrib modules".
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