[consulting] managing many sites

[Dries Buytaert]

> I think I had asked on the docs list at some point that this CVS  
> method get documented for advanced users. Many developers use this  
> method to keep their sites up to date (usually on a staging copy  
> first, then applied to live). In fact, Drupal.org itself is kept up  
> to date using this method.

When not using CVS, using a multi-site setup can save you a lot of  
time because you only have to upgrade one Drupal installation.   
However, when using CVS, you'll find that a multi-site setup is  
suddenly a lot less attractive; CVS is a time saver on its own, and  
using a multi-site setup doesn't buy you much extra time over using  
CVS.  Furthermore, maintaining individual sites using CVS has a  
number of additional advantages: (i) you can upgrade one site at a  
time (no mass breakage), (ii) CVS will attempt to merge custom  
changes, (iii) you can get bugfixes before a new release is made  
available, and much more.  There might be exceptions to this rule but  
for nearly all use cases, CVS is superior compared to a multi-site  
setup. Period.

--
Dries Buytaert  ::  http://www.buytaert.net/