MS MVC source
With Darceys arrivial this month I've not really being pay much attention to the various announcements. However I went over ScottGu's MVC framework announcement again and something caught my eye.
Starting with this next preview, we are also going to make the ASP.NET MVC Framework source code downloadable as a buildable VS project solution. This will enable you to easily view and debug the ASP.NET MVC Framework source code. We are also going to include a license that permits you to optionally make patches to the ASP.NET MVC Framework source code in the event that you run into a bug in an application you are developing with it.
The license won't enable you to redistribute your patched version of ASP.NET MVC (we want to avoid having multiple incompatible ASP.NET MVC versions floating around and colliding with each other). But it will enable developers who want to get started building ASP.NET MVC applications immediately to make progress - and not have to worry about getting blocked by an interim bug that they can't work around.
Seems to have been missed and how dam cool is that ! Mind you it does raise a few questions though.
#1 Let's avoid the OSS debate, I know it's all legal etc etc but a block on any kind of patch sharing may cause a lot of frustration. The patched code cannot be shared but the patch it's self could be. Not sure if VSTS or codeplex can work in a readonly form but if the source was obtained that way (and again if VSTS\CodePlex supported it) and patches be created that could then be saved down on codeplex. If patches can't be shared then you will be reinventing the wheel a lot to overcome issues, with a patch model you will avoid the frustration. Most OSS projects work in a no-commit fasion to encourage devs to follow project standards before allowing commits, these come in the form of patches that are applied by project admins. No stopping folks applying shared out patches to there own copy if they have the means of doing so. I know I am barking up the wrong tree here but it's worth saying all the same.
#2 Does it come with a unit test suite?