The CiviCRM extensions community is thriving. Presently there are 270 extensions listed in the Extensions Directory and countless more scattered around the Internet in GitHub repos and the like. Last year, 35 extensions were submitted for review in 2016, a 400% increase from 2015!
Unfortunately, only about 50 extensions are available for one-click installation within CiviCRM. The sharing of code is central to the ethos of our community, but our ability to reap the benefits of collaboration depends on our ability to communicate about our efforts. Increasing the number of extensions available for in-app installation will lead to:
- increased attractiveness of CiviCRM as a platform, since new functionality is just a click away (à la Wordpress); and
- less duplication of effort (last year I developed an extension that largely duplicated another partner's work because I didn't know their extension existed).
The Plan - i.e., How You Can Get Involved
Extension Developers
The volunteers who make up the Extensions Working Group have developed a process for requesting automated distribution of an extension. Extension developers, please make sure your request for review has been registered according to the new procedure.
Extension Reviewers
The Extensions Working Group is just a handful of volunteers; we cannot satisfy all of the requests for review without your help. Many of the skills required to review extensions are the same ones needed to write them -- if you're an extension developer requesting a review, please consider becoming a reviewer yourself.
To do so, please contact me on MatterMost -- I'm GinkgoFJG -- and send me your Drupal and JIRA usernames. To take advantage of the synergy that comes from many people working on similar tasks at the same time, we will piggybacking on Stoob's idea of Community Fridays and organizing virtual extension review sprints on February 17th and 24th.
With enough volunteers, I'm confident we can clear the 2016 backlog of extension review requests this month.
Comments
Thanks for your dedication to this. Look forward to the Friday review sprints.
The Florida Native Plant Society is a Civi member. Like many, low on financial resources. But, we have potential volunteer support. I be happy review extensions per recent request.
Also happy to participate in development of apps relevant to our organization. BTW - I am a volunteer, medium php experience, medium Civi experience, definitely good for testing, maybe good for coding. As a volunteer, not much good for money.
email: ecotypes@verizon.net
Shirley Denton