All of the improvements to the install profiles are steps in the right direction, and I hesitate to bring this up because I have no desire to see this same thread rehashed, as it has been multiple times. Install profiles are made more complicated by the inability to distribute some 3rd party code along with modules. In my specific case, I'm thinking specifically of tinyMCE and the getid3 libraries. The need to get these libraries as separate steps eliminates/balances out some of the utility of the actual profile. Given that most of the profiles that exist to date target users with less technical proficiency, this can be a barrier to entry that makes the profile a less useful option. NOTE: I am *not* saying we need to revisit this issue. Please, let's *not* revisit this issue. Nobody needs/wants to have Yet Another Conversation about the place of 3rd party code on d.o So, in responding to chx's initial post, I would have to say the biggest issues I see are, in this order: 1. The inability to target specific versions of a module. 2. The inability to create an install package on d.o (which would take care of 1 if done well, but is also a LOT of work, and again, not something I'm saying needs to be done by anyone soon). 3. The inability to include 3rd party libraries as part of the package (and to emphasize: let's not have this discussion again) I would put the the ability to move packages (ie, all the cool stuff you can do with the CivicSpace APIs -- http://customprofiles.civicspaceondemand.org/api/file ) as 4th, simply because these other details are more basic usability issues. As a long term improvement, however, the packages work would save more people more time than any of these first three. With all that said, I also think that this conversation should be put on hold until after D6 is out. Any install profile improvements will start by leveraging the improvements mentioned by Gábor, and for D6 they should live in contrib. Cheers, Bill Gábor Hojtsy wrote:
On Nov 11, 2007 1:20 PM, Simon Hobbs <emspace.com.au@gmail.com> wrote:
Adrian
You've identified a major issue for me. If my goal is to make happy with the usability, I can't seem to escape having a supporting module. I really appreciate the razor you've applied to this problem! I'm with you on this.
An added benefit of the profile being active after install (based on my D5 experience here) is the ability to have a wizard.
D5 install profiles can have one screen to display after the database configuration, Drupal 6 profiles can have their own "state machine" built into the installer after the "Configure site" screen and the "Finished" screen (also the Configure screen is form_alter-able). So any kind of install wizard is possible, without having a module. We are trying to fix bugs to make this kind of feature play nice with localization even here: http://drupal.org/node/190283
Gabor
-- Bill Fitzgerald http://www.funnymonkey.com Tools for Teachers 503.897.7160