Standards/recommendations for Drush make files included in contrib modules

Question

What are the standards/recommendations for Drush make files that are included in contrib modules? Specifically, should these make files be included by default (module_name.make) or not (module_name.make.example)?

If they should be included, what is the recommended/supported method of overriding/ignoring them? Is there any documentation to point module maintainers to when discussing this in their issue queues?

EDIT: Found this post by jhedstrom from June 2012 recommending naming make files with '.example' suffix. Is this still the recommendation, or have things changed since then? https://drupal.org/comment/6160018#comment-6160018

Answer 1

@jhedstrom recomendation is valid. Modules should not include a module_name.make file, to prevent drush make running them on recursion. Adding module_name.make.example is desired, and is helpful to build makefiles, specially when the module has several dependencies, including libraries.

OTOH profiles do include makefiles. It is a common practice for a different use case, where discovery and recursion is desired.

Answer 2

Adding an example .make file is the recommended practice, that way when drush make builds the site, the modules all end up in the same directory. For example OpenAtrium puts its contrib modules in /profiles/openatrium/modules/contrib, not /sites/all/modules. This prevents module conflicts and makes site maintenance easier.