I'm currently working on a passion project to strengthen my Salesforce development skills. I'm creating a lightweight, open-source development framework, and I'm trying to figure out what method makes the most sense to allow for distribution and modification (I.e. Others can install and freely modify the code within their org or packages).
Here are the options I've researched so far:
1. Unmanaged Packages
Pros
- Can modify the source code within the target org to extend or modify functionality as desired
Cons
- No concept of downgrading like Unlocked packages
- Uses 1GP packaging
2. Unlocked Packages
Pros
- Uses the newer 2GP packaging paradigm along with the benefits it brings
- Supports both upgrading and downgrading (within limitations)
Cons
- Cannot directly modify source code within target org (from what I could find)
3. Straight Metadata Deploy
I have the least knowledge about this method. I know frameworks such as fflib leverages this method via the githubsfdeploy Heroku app, but I'd assume a straight deploy would overwrite the target org's metadata every time.
So, to reiterate, what method is the most appropriate for distributing an open-source Salesforce framework?
