# Outdated docs on collections **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Tags:** documentation, collections\ **Created:** [January 12, 2026, 2:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/outdated-docs-on-collections/45086 "2026-01-12T14:30:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mirabilos](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/mirabilos/32/9721_2.png) [@mirabilos](https://forum.ansible.com/u/mirabilos)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 2:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/outdated-docs-on-collections/45086/1 "2026-01-12T14:30:40Z")
The [docs](https://docs.ansible.com/projects/ansible/latest/dev_guide/developing_modules_in_groups.html) say things like to have at least an empty ` __init__.py`, but the stock collections like `community.general` don’t have one. Instead, they have lots of complex files (JSON in toplevel, YAML and text in `meta/`, …). Are the docs outdated and/or incomplete? ---
**Author:** ![felixfontein](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/felixfontein/32/7530_2.png) [@felixfontein](https://forum.ansible.com/u/felixfontein)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/outdated-docs-on-collections/45086/2 "2026-01-12T18:03:25Z")
` __init__.py` isn’t necessary, maybe it was a long time ago? This was added 10 years ago in [Docs partner checklist (bulk modules) (#20794) · ansible/ansible-documentation@cd6792a · GitHub](https://github.com/ansible/ansible-documentation/commit/cd6792a058c1d9745f71e55a405de356ec00cc00) (and migrated at some point to collections), maybe it was different then? ---
**Author:** ![bcoca](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/bcoca/32/9269_2.png) [@bcoca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/bcoca)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 6:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/outdated-docs-on-collections/45086/3 "2026-01-12T18:59:04Z")
` __init__ ` was required when doing sub directories for ‘adjacent’ plugins (might still be, need to check), but collections for core \>2.10 should not need it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![gundalow](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/gundalow/32/99_2.png) [@gundalow](https://forum.ansible.com/u/gundalow)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/outdated-docs-on-collections/45086/4 "2026-01-15T18:10:30Z")
@mirabilos `community.general` (and `community.network`) are not the best examples. I’d look at the other [Community Collections](https://github.com/ansible-collections/?q=community.&type=all&language=&sort=) ---
**Author:** ![mirabilos](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/mirabilos/32/9721_2.png) [@mirabilos](https://forum.ansible.com/u/mirabilos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 4:07am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/outdated-docs-on-collections/45086/5 "2026-01-16T04:07:59Z")
Perhaps, but `community.docker` is the one I’m interested in how it works, since I need to fork and rename 3.13.10 for access to the older docker compose module for Debian bookworm and older. (In retrospect, upgrading the control node to trixie was a mistake, but then, we _had_ to do that to be able to manage trixie targets…) ---
**Author:** ![gundalow](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/gundalow/32/99_2.png) [@gundalow](https://forum.ansible.com/u/gundalow)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 7:56am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/outdated-docs-on-collections/45086/6 "2026-01-16T07:56:38Z")
@mirabilos How do you think we can improve the docs, any suggestion for improved wording? ---
**Author:** ![mirabilos](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/mirabilos/32/9721_2.png) [@mirabilos](https://forum.ansible.com/u/mirabilos)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 11:16am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/outdated-docs-on-collections/45086/7 "2026-01-19T11:16:53Z")
By documenting how to make a collection for Ansible 2.19/12 and the meta files.