Alternative: new phpBB module

How is the conversion to 5.1 going? I really want to move to a Drupal based site but can not easily move to PhpBB 3.0 so this port will be very useful not just as a stop gap but for all of us with highly customized themes that prevent us moving to PhpBB 3.0 any time soon (even if it was available.)

Thanks,

Dave.

There's one thing that people forget, or choose to ignore: Drupal's built-in forums will never please everyone. I am quite happy with the way phpBB works. I am not saying that it is anywhere near perfect, but I am not sure that, even if you put 10 000 development hours into Drupal's forums, that I would prefer the feel of the end result over phpBB. It is very difficult to quantify what makes SMF more pleasant to use than phpBB, or vice versa. We can only hope that Drupal can do something better than reinvent the wheel, from the perspective of the user.

With regards to Toe's comments I question whether they are applicable, and wonder whether Toe has even looked at the module?:
1) With this module you can upgrade minor versions of both Drupal AND phpBB without worrying about the module. No code in phpBB or Drupal is changed. So you get the patches as quickly as everyone else, and I have in fact done this many times with phpBB. This should make you very happy?
2) I'm not sure whether you are discussing "Drupal's forum" or "forum that's integrated into it"? It is obviously true that an integration module will improve neither forum. The point of integration is that it will let you use whatever forum you want WITH the CMS you love.
3) "Nor does it do anything to promote Drupal". Maybe not. But I do run some of Norway's largest websites with Drupal at the core. I couldn't have done that if the built-in forums were my only option. Would Drupal have been better served if I had chosen something else? I doubt it.
4) "There's two types of bridges:..." Please have a look at http://mac1.no and http://linux1.no, create a user, try them out (same username will work on both pages). They're in Norwegian, but I am sure you can manage. How does your criticism apply to this module?

pcs305:
It is clearly stated that this module is not recommended for regular end-users, who should use the built-in forums instead? The reason I wrote that from day one, and the reason the installation remains a hurdle, is exactly because it will create a dependency that only skilled users can control.

I share the code in case it's of use to anyone else, or if anyone wants to turn it into something that actually is user friendly. I'd be happy to let others commit to CVS, or pass the torch if they convince me they're up to it. Porting it to phpBB3 would be more than enough to prove that point.

maartenvg:
I do agree strongly with Toe's 1st point (I disagree whether it applies in this case), which is why I make the integration as loose as possible. If you can figure out a nice way to achieve the same result, or change the URLs directly in phpBB, awesome. But so far I actually believe that the mod_rewrite technique is by far the most elegant aspect of this module. (Granted, there's not much there to brag about in the first place.)

The reason there are no import tools to go from phpBB to Drupal is that I manually merged a pnPhppBB and a nukePhpBB installation into a single Drupal-database. However, afaik there are other tools on Drupal.org for doing this, and those should live independently of this module anyway.

Cross_and_Flame:
It works with existing Drupal installations, but you have to get phpBB users into Drupal first.

ps. All this said: I do see DruBB as a distinctly different approach from the hack I have created. Therefore I don't think my module should be mentioned on your front page as much as it is now. DruBB is much more ambitious, and if you pull it off, I will gladly become one of your first adopters.