[Floris]

Originally Posted by Xenon

it would be a bad joke if you wouldn't notice it at all ^^

Hi everybody,

I am very happy that Stefan and Faruk had an evaluation of the current situation and came to an understanding of what would be best.

It has always been clear on the vBulletin.org web site that there is quite a difference in the quality or complexity that some source code modifications bring. Many members, even some staff members like Chen have tried their best to find easier ways to install these modifications. Some users use eachother install.txt modules to create an easier interface for implementing custom phrases, templates and/or find/replace source code sections in the original files, or even total backup setups for the MySQL database changes. I believe it was Chen who created a hack installer that created some sort of file which was easier to read by a default installer and a generator for this. It has brought the same type of discussion as I see now with the introduction of the HTL. I believe it was the effort of Floren that took the install_hack.php file to a second level where it had step by step upgrade, install and revert and/or uninstall options for 'hacks' released on this site. With as alternative the .txt file.

Now the HTL is introduced which helps keep track of the installed hacks and their file changes, upgrades and whatever else. It is a great attempt to get things to another higher step, where both novice as experienced vBulletin source code modders can update their current releases or create new releases without too much hassle, with files which can be installed quickly through one system by the end-user. With control for upgrades and changes. This helps the quality of hacks and gets a better overview in my opinion.

I agree that there should be a downloadable .txt file, but this does bring a limitation for those users - it will be more (old way) work to install it, work on the files and that isn't always as easy to the novice users, as shown in the past. But that doesn't mean a reasonable readable understandable file that can open in notepad or pico shouldn't be provided.

The first version of the HTL is made to be a public release of 'what is can do'.
Feature suggestions and bug fixes will be released in the 1.x or 2.x releases for vBulletin version 3.x - at the moment the next release looks like 1.1 which will include an option to generate a .txt file without too much hassle. And I am sure more limitations that wasn't discussed or wasn't enough time to code in, will be included in future releases.


Adding on to the posts in this thread;
I really did not see the HTL post discussions as a 'war' which is now over.
Everything that is new, innotive and untested, brings confusion and misunderstanding. This is seen all over and hopefully when things become more clearly, those type of posts wear down. (Of which I am sure of, besides that, the rants about it could have been a bit more moderated to stop provoking others to participate without really understanding what they are blabbering about).

Thank you Stefan for posting this thread,
and thanks everybody else for reading it.

Productive, constructive or destructive, feedback is always welcome for it results in progress.