Posted by christefano on March 30, 2013 at 6:39am
I just need more time before Drupal 8 is released (and Drupal 6 is discontinued) to upgrade my Drupal 6 sites
21% (7 votes)
I don't plan to upgrade to Drupal 7 or Drupal 8 and need better tools for maintaining and monitoring Drupal 6 sites
33% (11 votes)
I need reputable companies or individuals to pass these Drupal 6 sites off to
6% (2 votes)
I need a dedicated Drupal 6 security maintainer even after Drupal 8 is released
27% (9 votes)
Other (leave a comment below if none of the above fit, or if 2 or more do fit)
12% (4 votes)
Total votes: 33
Comments
Drupal 6 end of life when Drupal 8 is released… or not?
A larger discussion around my thoughts behind this poll is at http://groups.drupal.org/node/291243
In any case, I'm curious how this poll turns out. I think this needs a better survey tool than Drupal's core poll module, but it's a start.
Where's the option for
Where's the option for "everything is fine as is." ? I know the title of the poll excludes those folks, but it seems like a reasonable "denominator" to the question.
knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
Good point. I admit to some
Good point. I admit to some bias that everything is not "fine" as is, but as you point out the title of the poll eludes to that assumption.
If people participating in the poll believe that everything is "fine" then I encourage them to vote for the "Other" option and post a comment about it.
Thanks for the question.
I think everything is fine. 2
I think everything is fine.
2 questions to folks who are saying they want support for Drupal 6 to be extended:
My personal sense is that the people I know who are able to do it are not willing to do it. So, unless there are people who are able to help fund the role to motivate someone to do it...it's a bit of an impasse.
knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
Here's the conundrum....
When a novice starts out with Drupal, and puts something together using standard modules and themes, it can work fine. It is not built the way it should be, but that's OK, because they don't know any better (and are probably too lazy or excited to read exactly where module folders should go etc). The main thing is - it works!
When you have a requirement to move to Drupal 7 (or Drupal 8) because the platform is no longer supported, what options does this person have?
- stay as you are and keep going (secure or not / supported or not) because it is still working.
- find someone to pay to fix what is wrong in the setup, and then to migrate to Drupal 7 (or Drupal 8)
- try to upgrade to Drupal 7 (or Drupal 8) and find that the migration won't work, because the setup they have is broken.... they can then choose to try Option 2 out of desperation (because their site is now broken) or they migrate out of Drupal and start from scratch with something else - (because "Drupal is a bad platform" - not the real case, but that's the perception they have).
I would like to suggest that some effort is put into a migration tool to migrate from one version of Drupal to the next (or to upgrade to Drupal 8). An automated install of updates would be a good suggestion, and it might even keep things secure for all those sites out there that still use older versions - or keep the newer versions more secure!
My 2c worth, but it might be worth thinking about.... I have described a little of my experience with Drupal. I am still running Drupal 6 and developing in Drupal 6 because I feel that Drupal 7 is a huge learning curve (it might not be). Provide some guidance on upgrading to a new version and we'll have less support required for old versions of Drupal.
Option 1 or 2
For several of my nonprofit clients (for whom we launched D6 sites in 2010-11, with a fair amount of custom code and a range of 50-100 contrib modules), the cost of an upgrade to D7 followed by a subsequent upgrade to D8 is a budget-breaker. They would be far happier if they could either continue indefinitely in D6 or at least count on another year or two of reliable D6 lifetime. Security is a concern, though, as is the ability to add occasional new functionality.
Keep 6 alive until there's a realistic upgrade path to 8
I would like to see Drupal 6 kept on life support (= at least critical security fixes provided) until there's a realistic way (= enough module support) to upgrade directly to Drupal 8. This would double the period of time needed to do major upgrades, if you could just skip one major version. Like in Windows many skipped Vista and went directly from XP to 7.
Keep 6 alive until there's a realistic upgrade path to 8
Agree. None of my clients would expect or be willing to pay for the upgrade. It now seems I might have been wrong in recommending a CMS that requires a major investment (upgrade) every few years.
I think I read that now support will end 3 months after 8's release not 12 as originally stated. No way will enough contribs be ready and stable in that time.
My main client uses 40 or so contribs and 6 I wrote. It will be a huge undertaking as many of the contribs were not even ported to 7.
I personally have written several modules but have not the skills to backport security patches.
I am sure if someone/company were willing to provide ongoing support, solely for security patches, many would be willing to pay an annual subscription for this service.
Considering the numbers who are stuck with 6 because they cannot afford to pay for an upgrade (around 150000 i think still using 6?)
If 1% of those were willing to pay $20/year that is $30k.
I for one would be willing to contribute financially.