When I read the discussions during Moodle 2 development's process about the new files' management approach, via repositories instead of a "course files" folder, it was stated (and I agree) that the old system has two main advantages from a practical point of view:
- Being able to upload files first, link files later, using that folder as a "file system"
- Being able to put files inside that folder by direct access to it (local folder, FTP...), giving the fact that each course's "course files" area was a physical folder inside the "moodledata" directory. Moreover, giving the fact that the files inside it could be directly linked from Moodle, edited files could be replaced by only replacing them physically inside the "course files" folder (via upload or via direct access)
One of the conclusions was to let site admins enable "Legacy course files", to re-enable the old behaviour. But "legacy course files" only enables half of the advantages of the old approach: the first point stated. The second one is not reenabled by enabling "legacy course files", because files are still stored as a "file pool of blobs", not directly as files in a physical directory where you can upload new ones to be directly linked later or update existing ones.
Is is argued in the docs that this can be replaced by using the "filesystem" repository, and putting files into one instance's folder via direct access. This approach has 2 main disadvantages, one covered in the docs, but not the other:
- Linked files are not automatically updated if files are updated in the folder, because there are not linked directly
- You can put files in the folder, BUT YOU CAN'T GET FILES INTO THE COURSE BIGGER THAN THE UPLOAD LIMIT, giving the fact that, when you add the files from the instance upload limits are checked at that time (a bug or bad design? maybe file limits only should be checked when using the "upload a file" repository?)
Both absences make files management a lot more cumbersome for admins and teachers, and the second one make almost impossible to really put some resources inside Moodle.
My comments are:
- Is this the behaviour intended, or "Legacy course files" should really work 100% as "course files" in 1.9.x (so the present behavior is a bug)
- If this is the intended behavior, "legacy" is quite misleading. When I see the word "legacy" I think in "trying to support the old system as far as possible" not "trying to superficially resemble the old system". I think also that this behavior should be made very clear in the docs (what part of "legacy course files" works as "course files" in 1.9.x and what part doesn't)
- What is the new suggested procedure to getting big files inside Moodle?
Greetings.
