[Zope3-dev] Downstream Users making changes.

[Chris Withers]

Tres Seaver wrote:
> Sure, the CMF's "skin customization" allows that use case now;  the
> problem is that they when Chris *does* release a new version of
> Swishdot, the site manager who has installed and customzied an earlier
> version has no help in evaluating / merging Chris' changes with the
> customizations. 

This is what I was on about.

 > Leaving the customized version in place untouched can
> mean that the site will not have access to features or bugfixes in the
> new release.

Yeah, that's the 'nicer' of the options. It could mean that the customised 
script/template relies on this which no longer exist or work differently as so 
break completely.

> For consulting purposes, where we expect the client to customize skins
> during a project, for instance, we have adopted a pattern to help cope
> with this problem:  each filesystem-based template or Python Script
> embeds its CVS repository info into the source;  because the CMF copies
> that information when creating the "custom" version, we can track where
> the "branch point" was.  Resolving the conflict can still be *extremely*
> tough, especially with ZPT, which tends to be "diff-unfriendly".

Indeed. There's also an element of art/skill here. Most customisations people 
make _can_ be factored out so that the "Swishdot author" won't ever have to 
worry about making changes that would break customisations. But, it's something 
that I haven't seen a piece of Zoep software get right yet...

cheers,

Chris