[consulting] managing many sites

[John Sechrest]

Dries Buytaert <dries.buytaert at gmail.com> writes:

 % > 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.   

 this only helps if you have control over where your clients host thier
 site. Sometimes this can be your site, but most often this is 
 not. And so this only helps a small fraction of the time. 

 More importantly, if I take on responsibility for the client website,
 I often become responsible for thier mail and slowly evolve into a full
 service ISP.....


 % 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.


 Yes... The idea that all sites die at once is just scary. So I see
 what you are pointing at. 





 % Dries Buytaert  ::  http://www.buytaert.net/
 % _______________________________________________
 % consulting mailing list
 % consulting at drupal.org
 % http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/consulting
 % 

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John Sechrest          .         Helping people use
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