introduce community templates

[shiftkey]

This PR is my attempt to address some limits of how templates are currently organised, so I can potentially land some newer templates and not lose my sanity.

Rendered README

But why?

Here's my current hell:

• dumping all templates at the root leads to a mess - discoverability is hard, maintenance is hard, etc etc
• introducing version-specific templates leads to even more mess
• we have a lot of niche templates which would like to be added, but I've been hesitant to merge these as-is

This PR introduces an community subdirectory, to help better organise templates. The core flows I want to address are:

• there are major changes between versions of a template
• specialised templates based on a product or framework

The root of the repository will remain focused on active and popular templates, but organising things means we can support a more diverse range of templates in the future.

Supporting different versions of a framework

The first example is the current situation with Drupal. Here's two PRs waiting for my review:

• Create Drupal8.gitignore #2361 - Add Drupal 8
• Update and rename Drupal.gitignore to Drupal7.gitignore #2360 - Update and rename Drupal.gitignore to Drupal7.gitignore

Rather than have two versioned templates at the root for Drupal8.gitignore and Drupal7.gitignore we should move to this pattern for major frameworks:

• maintain Drupal.gitignore as the evergreen "latest" template
• define an community/Python/Drupal7.gitignore for those who need to access the older template

At some point in the future, if Drupal 9 has significant changes, we can go through the flow again:

• Drupal.gitignore is updated to support Drupal 9's rules
• community/Python/Drupal8.gitignore is added with the old rules

Another example is this PR:

• Rename Magento.gitignore to Magento1.gitignore #2712 - Rename Magento.gitignore to Magento1.gitignore

In this PR I've instead gone with this flow:

• define an community/PHP/Magento1.gitignore for those who need to access the older template
• someone later can come in and upgrade Magento.gitignore to the v2 format

Supporting specialized frameworks

A request to add Vue.js was added in #2809 but the template itself is just four rules:

# this duplicates Node.gitignore
node_modules
# this duplicates Global/macOS.gitignore
.DS_Store
# unclear what these are for
docs/_book
test/

This instead could live under community/JavaScript/Vue.gitignore and look like this:

# gitignore template for Vue.js projects
#
# Recommended template: Node.gitignore

# TODO: where does this rule come from?
docs/_book

# TODO: where does this rule come from?
test/

As a first pass expanding on this idea, I've been able to resolve 30+ outstanding PRs (some overlap because they propose the same change)

TODO

• find and incorporate PRs that fit this pattern
• gather feedback

[foca]

I like having the version specific templates separate, but would go a step forward and put the newest template as well in that directory and make the top level, “unversioned” file just a symlink to the latest template.

[shiftkey]

@foca interesting idea. I'd actually prefer to deprecate the use of symlinks because Windows support for it is still suboptimal, but I'll keep that in mind.

[foca]

Ah, that’s a good point. Shouldn’t respond to issues before my first coffee. Disregard, then :)

…

On October 27, 2018 at 10:50:31, Brendan Forster ***@***.***) wrote: @foca <https://github.com/foca> interesting idea. I'd actually prefer to deprecate the use of symlinks because Windows support for it is still suboptimal, but I'll keep that in mind. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2857 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAABte_KJeXoTEGzoyvwXpr--RILeV1lks5upGSngaJpZM4X9bog> .

[shiftkey]

I wonder if you've decided the leading letter's case of the community subdirectory? I found it a bit out-of-sync with the other items, but if there's a reason to do so, I'm fine with it.

@Lin-Buo-Ren personal preference mostly. If I was around for when Global was created I'd have preferred global instead, but the template names themselves can be Sentence Cased because they're associated with proper nouns and brands.

[lpalgarvio]

good work =)

[lpalgarvio]

@shiftkey just a minor correction, drupal is php but was by mistake placed under python. can you fix it? id provide a patch, but i have my week and weekend overdosed with work and responsabilities

[shiftkey]

@lpalgarvio I'm also swamped (and trying to wrap things up before going on holidays tomorrow) so either it'll get done after that or someone can submit a change...