Why fork the existing Book module?
The Book module in Moodle has been around for over 20 years, and it’s starting to show its age. The way it’s built makes it hard to improve, and the design feels outdated. Navigating between chapters can be frustrating, and the overall experience doesn’t match what today’s learners and teachers expect.
There’s also a serious safety concern. Right now, anyone who can edit a Book can add code that might harm other users or the site. This makes it risky to use in courses where students are contributing content.
One way to fix this would be to rethink how Books are built. Instead of each chapter being a big block of content, we could break it into smaller, safer pieces and let teachers use secure widgets to add interactive elements - without needing to copy and paste code from random websites.
But doing that properly would mean changing how the Book module stores and handles content behind the scenes. The old system just isn’t built for that, and trying to migrate data of existing Books automatically could cause more problems than it solves.
That’s why creating a brand-new Book module makes sense. It gives developers the freedom to try new ideas, improve the experience, and keep things secure - without breaking the old Books that people are still using. Both versions can exist side by side, so schools can switch over when they’re ready or where appropriate.