Hi David,<br><br>I am in pretty much the same situation as you are. Only I have no time in dealing with it right now. But look at modules patterns and staging and deploying drupal via svn. Maybe this is a little bit helpful.<br>
<br>best<br>Maurice<br clear="all"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 12:02 AM, David Christensen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dpchrist@holgerdanske.com">dpchrist@holgerdanske.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><a href="mailto:support@drupal.org">support@drupal.org</a>:<br>
<br>
I've been searching for a comfortable CMS for years. I deployed a<br>
personal Drupal site ~20 months ago and have been fumbling my way along,<br>
learning as I go (<a href="http://holgerdanske.com/" target="_blank">http://holgerdanske.com/</a>). I recently worked my way<br>
through "Using Drupal", and have come to realize Drupal's GUI CMS RAD<br>
nature. Slick, but...<br>
<br>
<br>
My current development-test-deployment process is as follows:<br>
<br>
1. Log in to the production server and take a backup using Backup and<br>
Migrate.<br>
<br>
2. Lock out the users.<br>
<br>
3. Hack.<br>
<br>
4. Do some manual testing. If testing fails, either:<br>
<br>
a. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until I succeed, then let the users back<br>
in.<br>
<br>
b. Restore.<br>
<br>
<br>
I'm now running Drupal sites for other people, and need a better<br>
process. I'm looking for Drupal features/ tools that allow me to:<br>
<br>
1. Export settings, content, uploaded files, etc. (e.g. everything<br>
"dynamic") from the production server and import the same into a<br>
development machine.<br>
<br>
2. Export additions, changes, fixes, etc., as deltas from the<br>
development machine and import them into a test/ staging machine.<br>
<br>
3. Import validated delta(s) into the production server, quickly and<br>
easily, with the ability to revert. (Referential integrity will need to<br>
be solved, or precluded.)<br>
<br>
<br>
I would prefer that exports and imports be in the form of a directory<br>
tree of files in suitable standard formats, so that the full range of<br>
command-line tools can be brought to bear -- version control, backup,<br>
archive, mv, cp, diff/patch, hand editing, scripting, etc..<br>
<br>
<br>
I would prefer that the export/ import functionality be available via<br>
both a Drupal administration control panel and via command-line<br>
utilities.<br>
<br>
<br>
STFW, this is not a new issue:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/support/2009-July/012439.html" target="_blank">http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/support/2009-July/012439.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
I'm wondering what the Drupal project has in mind for solving it, when,<br>
and for who (e.g. 4.x? 5.x? 6.x? 7.x?)?<br>
<br>
<br>
TIA,<br>
<br>
David<br>
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