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By xenefox on
I'm in the middle of developing a website and am confused which release I should use.
I'd like to use 6.0 but many of the modules I need haven't been converted to 6.0. Conversely, 6.0 seems such an improvement.
Should I pass on 6.0 and move forward with 5.7? I really fear having to update to 6.X after 6 months.
Any thoughts from experienced Drupal developers?
~ XFox
Comments
Yup, I have this problem
Yup, I have this problem too. Can anyone explain to us why we should use 6.0 ? and why we should use 5.7 ?
5.7
Many Drupal 6 modules are not ready yet (most importantly CCK and Views). You should use Drupal 5.7 if the site is going live soon.
Anticipated time release
Is there a *typical* expected time frame when the modules are updated? What kind of time does it usually take? 1 month? 3 months? 6? Just trying to plan ahead.
Speaking as an intermediate
Speaking as an intermediate Drupal developer, for now I'm sticking with 5.7.
It all depends on what modules you need. The major ones, CCK and Views, seem to have significant work done already (CCK is waiting for Views to be complete, which is currently in alpha mode) and are actively updated. Lesser used modules probably won't have such a quick turnaround.
For me, I just don't see any core features in 6 that I absolutely need to have.
I too am working on a
I too am working on a website at the moment and I think that I am going to stick with 5.7 for the time being. Developers need time to update their modules and themes for 6 as well, so If you need any additional functionality (above and beyond forums and blogs etc...) stick to 5.7 until the contributed library for 6 is better stocked.
Derek
Thanks all
I will use 5.7 then. Thanks for all your response.
Don't forget the themes
Drupal 5.x themes are not compatible with 6.x so if you're planning on using an existing theme or basing your theme off one of the existing themes you should check that there's a 6.x version available.
Its too bad Drupal doesn't
Its too bad Drupal doesn't have backward compatibility but I suppose thats the price paid for better sustainability and faster progress.
You gave the reasons for
You gave the reasons for non-backward compatibility yourself: better sustainability and faster progress. Furthermore, if a new version of Drupal would have to make sure to be compatible to age-old modules, the code would become heavier with every release, and at the same time every increase would become less and less useful because of the increasing age and decreasing use of the modules.
That being said, I sometimes feel there ought to be some kind of connection between the new Drupal release and the release of some really essential modules (Views, CCK, to name but these two). My site, and I think about 95 % of all Drupal sites, require working versions of these key modules. I won't be moving over to any new Drupal version until these modules have been updated. Isn't it possible to somehow have the release dates of Drupal and of these key modules closer together? I guess that would require some kind of orchestration among the Drupal coders and the key module coders, which might not be easy to organize, but still, it would be ever so nice.
Well the Drupal developers
Well the Drupal developers are trying to move a lot of the major modules into core. A lot of CCK is already in the core and I think there's talk of moving parts of Views into core as well for D7. In general I think...
1) If a module is heavily used there will be many developers working on code as well as many users submitting bugs. Unfortunately more people doesn't always mean earlier releases (see: MS Vista or Mythical Man-Month).
2) If the Drupal core developers notice that a module is very heavily used they try to move it into core.
3) If a company has an interest in a module they may provide an incentive or personnel to ensure the module is developed.