[drupal-devel] [task] Drupal Install System

Bèr Kessels drupal-devel at drupal.org
Sun Jul 24 06:47:37 UTC 2005


Issue status update for 
http://drupal.org/node/5496
Post a follow up: 
http://drupal.org/project/comments/add/5496

 Project:      Drupal
 Version:      cvs
 Component:    base system
 Category:     tasks
 Priority:     normal
 Assigned to:  adrian
 Reported by:  adrian
 Updated by:   Bèr Kessels
 Status:       patch

Stefan, the tarball contains over 20 new files. A patch would be a
horror in this case.




Bèr Kessels



Previous comments:
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 09:10:25 +0000 : adrian

I am in the process of developing a new Install API for the drupal core,
which will
allow a completely web based install / set up process, as well as allow
contributed
modules to integrate more directly into this system.


A more detailed description of the system is available in this thread.


This task has been created to place each of the successive patches in
the patch queue.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 09:20:48 +0000 : adrian

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/install_api_first_level.patch (6.42 KB)

Kjartan correctly identified one of the problems
in creating a unified install system.


There's a lot of code that gets run by simply including the core files
(bootstrap.inc, database.inc, session.inc and common.inc). 


A lot of this code relies upon the database connection going off
without a hitch, like for instance the current system variables, themes
and session code. To work around this i created a new drupal_init()
function, which needs to be called when you want the system to
initialize. 


drupal_init has a 'db_init' argument, which allows you to bypass the
loading of all the database related code with a simple flag.
install.php needs to run drupal core, while ignoring any database
connections .. until atleast the point where the configuration settings
for the database are entered, and confirmed to work.


There is a new function created called 'database_connected()' , which
returns a boolean true only if the database both connected and the
table was selected successfully. This patch does not have a suitable
error message for index.php upon not being able to make a database
connection ,but that message should very likely be discussed and
finalized.


In the next level of the patch I will introduce the major changes, or
rather additions. I haven't modified any existing files beyond the ones
in this patch (at this time).




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 12:24:15 +0000 : Kjartan

This patch has some serious flaws though.

<?php
include_once "includes/bootstrap.inc";
-drupal_page_header();
 include_once "includes/common.inc";
?>


By removing the drupal_page_header() you break the whole point of
bootstrap as the common.inc stuff is included when its not necessary.
It needs some more thought. Maybe you should take the time to make a
workflow of the current Drupal init process before modifying it.


Also the naming of constants, I would prefer calling them
DATABASE_ATTEMPT as it makes it easier to tell them appart.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mon, 09 Feb 2004 20:18:35 +0000 : adrian

I have reworked the patch into a very minimal set of requirements.


To prevent the .inc files from running any code when you don't want
them to , you 'define' a
constant called 'DRUPAL_NO_INIT' before including bootstrap.inc.


This relatively small patch is required for the install stuff to work.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mon, 09 Feb 2004 20:22:35 +0000 : adrian

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/drupal_no_init_flag.patch (3.88 KB)

i'll even attach it this time.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mon, 09 Feb 2004 20:48:06 +0000 : adrian

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/database_init_return.patch (1.96 KB)

The following patch is a modification to the includes/database*.inc set
of files,
to make db_connect return a boolean value depending on wether the
connection was
successfully made. 


I have changed database.inc to die() upon connection error with the
message "Database Connection Unsuccessful".
Cleaning up that message and placing a help page might be a good idea
from an user experience point of view.


This patch is required for the install system, in that it needs to test
wether it has made a successfull database
connection before it allows you to actually install the schema.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tue, 10 Feb 2004 01:15:14 +0000 : adrian

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/install_system_alpha.tar.bz2 (11.59 KB)

This is an alpha version of the new install API code. It is completely
capable of installing the drupal core system
without requiring any interaction with the database side.  There are
currently 5 configuration screens ,
but the API is sound for us to add / remove / change these screens as
we need.


In it's current state, it isn't capable of updating the base system,
however the backend stubs exist, and have been tested.


In the push to get the install process running smoothly i simply
disabled the update interface. 


The previous 2 patches on this node need to be applied, but have been
combined into install_system_alpha.patch which is included
in this distribution.


The rest of the files are new , and should not interfere with the
drupal core at all.


They are


includes/install.inc
 ... the file that hosts the install api.
install.php
 ... the front end script that initializes the install api (a total of
5 lines)
install/system.install
 ... the install module for the core. It contains the bulk of code from
update.php,
     and all the configuration information needed to successfully
install the core.


In the future , the install api will be able to easily install any
contrib module through
the modulename.install file that will hopefully become well supported.


Note: I need to update the postgres compatibility in this .install
file, and as such only mysql
is fully tested now.


I have posted some screenshots at my site




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tue, 10 Feb 2004 18:22:02 +0000 : adrian

Unconed just pointed out there is a conflict with windows installations
in that
there can not be an 'INSTALL' file and an 'install' directory (which
contains the system.install currently)


He suggested that we rename the README and INSTALL files to README.txt
and INSTALL.txt.


I personally move that we store the .install files within the modules
directory , as in the future
installing a contributed module should be as simple as dropping the
module directory (containing .install , .module and whichever external
files)
into modules/ , and then installing the module within drupal.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 12 Feb 2004 05:10:16 +0000 : moshe weitzman

I played around with the patch, and successfully installed a new Drupal
instance on the fitst try. Nice work, Adrian! I reviewed the code too,
and found it quite Drupalish and satsfactory.


Here are some notes from my install:
- On the configuration file page, I selected from the radio button
options a file which was not conf.php and thus did not exist. I
strugged with the 'file is not writeable' error for a while until I
realized that you expected me to create the file and then the installer
would edit it ... in general, this page is a pretty complex introduction
into drupal.  I suggest simply assuming 'conf.php' here. I haven't
thought about this much though.


- Similar to above, I figured Drupal would create a database for me.
Not so, I had to create it and then Drupal takes over. Some simple help
text adddresses this point.


- Use form_password() or similar when requesting a database password


- The default $base_url was missing a slall for me. It said
'http://medrinstall' instead of 'http://me/drinstall'


- After completing the DB install, there is no page telling you what to
do next. A link to the home page is all thats needed IMO.


-The site_name chosen during the install was not saved in the
'variable' table.


- When you return to install.php some time later, you have no
indication what a working site already exists. Not sure thats the right
thing to do. Not a big deal though.


P.S. Adrians suggestion to store the .install files in module specific
subdirs under modules makes sense to me. Thus system.install would move
to modules/system/system.install




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 04:04:29 +0000 : skip

I had to set up a pMachine blog yesterday for a client.
I have to say... it was the easiest install process I've ever gone
through (CMS-wise).


Very user friendly.
Lots of feedback to the user.
If you haven't seen it before, you should check it out for ideas.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 05:26:10 +0000 : adrian

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/install_phase2.tar.bz2 (12.96 KB)

So I have spent far too much time over the last few weeks battling with
this install system. My current results are in this here tarball. This
time I am even less sure of it fully working in all cases, than last
time.


With this release I added extensive error checking to the install
process, finished MOST of what is needed for the update process , but
most importantly... it is a lot more secure than previously, and is
specifically built to allow people to host their multiple drupal
installs from just a single root. I have handled this by adding a
global variable to the config file (allow_override_config) , which is
checked by the install script before a new configuration file is made
that would override the currently active one.


There are three settings to this : 'no' , 'any' and 'auth'. I feel auth
is generally the best option, as it requires anyone trying to override a
working configuration file to enter the username and password for the
site he is trying to override. Added checking also exists for the
minimum requirements of running a drupal system (the tests probably
need to be fleshed out), aswell as refusing to install a database dump
into a db_url/db_prefix which seems to have a valid site installed.


When a working configuration is detected on startup , the default
action is to require the administrator user of the site to log in. This
is for security reasons. The install script has lots of code that stops
it from ever overwriting any config file that has already been created,
but as I said .. it allows for the creation of a config file that will
be parsed before the current valid install, but only with the express
permission of that config. 


Config files have been moved to './conf/' , and the default config has
been renamed to 'conf/default.php'.
I have split install.inc into install.inc and install.module, as there
was a lot of interface code specifically for the update/install
sequence (and it is best available for reuse .. so i didnt wanna put it
in install.php).
This has an unrelated quirk for xtemplate .. I left it in the patch
because for some reason I was unable to get a working default theme
because xtemplate refused to populate the 'path' template variable.


I also have an extensive 'gallery' of the new changes if you just want
to see what it looks like.


Directions for use : 


untar in a drupal cvs tree , and 'patch -p0 < install_alpha_2.patch'
go to http://mysite/install.php  ... previous configs in includes/ will
be ignored


for extra fun , create a hostname entry to
sitea.siteb.sitec.sited.mysite , and watch the install script pick up
the valid configs.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 15:14:02 +0000 : TDobes

Adrian, thanks for all your work on the install system... I'll check it
out once I get home this evening. Just FYI, here's a link to the
XTemplate bug [1] you mentioned. (It's a simple two-line patch.)
[1] http://drupal.org/node/view/5858




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sun, 20 Jun 2004 20:29:41 +0000 : adrian

taking out of patch queue. 


Still on my todo list, but I have to get some other things done first.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tue, 27 Jul 2004 15:25:33 +0000 : JonBob

The install system should (will?) handle version numbers. Some related
issues to examine:


None of these are really duplicates of one another, so while I'd like
to close them I can't. Consider this a reminder to do so if and when
the install system addresses the problems.


New 'version' system field and Drupal version [2]
Module dependencies [3]
Show drupal version to admins [4]
Meta tag with drupal version [5]
Version number [6]
[2] http://drupal.org/node/view/5811
[3] http://drupal.org/node/view/8402
[4] http://drupal.org/node/view/2986
[5] http://drupal.org/node/view/2828
[6] http://drupal.org/node/view/8762




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:03:52 +0000 : publian

It made it based on install_phase2.
It makes it with drupal CVS as of 2005.03.14. 


The improvement point is as follows. 


1) The installation query command execution read
database/database.mysql or database/database.pgsql.
2) Two head bytes of $_SERVER 'HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE' were seen, and the
installation language was
distinguished automatically.
This sees the install.lang file in the languege folder. (funcution lt()
like funcution t()) Making)
3) In the installation process, the mother tongue can have been
selected. (The import is done from the file in the translations folder.
)
4) Additionally, a detailed place was corrected. 


The bug moves though thinks many still.


--
Drupal Japan




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:10:10 +0000 : publian

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/install_phase3.tar.gz (134.72 KB)

It is as for appending.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 08:11:40 +0000 : judah

I was just about to start creating an install system for modules when
someone mentioned you were already working on one.
Here is my design specs,
http://drupal.org/node/19427


I could not contact you via any other means so please advise what the
current status is on this.
Thanks




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wed, 30 Mar 2005 23:13:04 +0000 : adrian

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/install_api_phase_1.tar.bz2 (21.49 KB)

Attached is the first iteration of my new install system.


To install :
Extract tarball into a clean checkout, and apply the
install_api_phase_1.patch file.


This patch implements the following : 

* Core install api. /(includes/install.inc)/
* Modifications to drupal_load that disables a module that has an out
of data schema. /(includes/bootstrap.inc)/
* Does not allow modules to be enabled unless they have been installed,
or updated and the allow for them to be
installed and updated directly from admin/modules.
/(modules/system.module)/

This patch does NOT :
Install or update Drupal core, however it is possible to do so with the
api (and I have done
so before), significant changes to Drupal need to happen before it is
practical to handle core with it.


Description :
This is the first phase of a four or five phase project, so it's not
meant to solve the whole problem. I am
writing a post for the Drupal forums at present detailing the progress
with the install system, and directions
I want to take it.


To enable a module to be installable, you add an implementation of
hook_info() to it , i.e. :

<?php
  function buddylist_info($key) {
    $info['schema'] = 1;
    return $info[$key];
}
?>


This tells the system that a schema version  of 1 is required to
operate this module. 


You then create a file called modulename.install (preferably in the
same directory in the module, although it doesn't
really matter. You then need to specify which schema version it
implements by :

<?php
  function buddylist_schema($key) {
    $info['version'] = 1;
    return $info[$key];
}
?>


Although, in the current implementation this function is optional when
you only have a single schema version (the default is 1).


Then you implement your hook_install().

<?php
function buddylist_install() {
  $query = "
CREATE TABLE {buddylist} (
  uid int(10) UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  buddy int(10) UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  timestamp int(11) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (uid, buddy)
)";
  db_query($query);
  db_query("ALTER TABLE {buddylist} ADD received tinyint(1) NOT
NULL;");
}
?>




This function would be called for any database type that has not
specified it's own function.
To add Postgres support, the function would be called
buddylist_install_pgsql();.


If the schema of your module ever changes, to allow for it to be
updated, you proceed as follows : 



* increment the 'schema' value in your hook_info() function.
* increment the 'version' value in your hook_schema function, within
your modulename.install file.
* modify your schema as required, by changing it in the hook_install()
function.
* provide an update script for users of the previous version.

The following is an example of an update script.

<?php
function buddylist_update_1() {
  db_query("ALTER TABLE .... ..... ");
}
?>


These updates can also be database specific (ie:
buddylist_update_1_pgsql() etc).


When a module needs to be updated, it will execute each of the
functions
in order (exactly like one would in updates.inc currently.)


I have included copies of the Trackback and Buddylist modules for
testing.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 01:26:39 +0000 : FactoryJoe at civicspacelabs.org

No idea if this is of any use, but I thought it would be cool if there
were feeds for each module:


http://www.speirs.org/appcasting/


Drumm calls it RSS for RSS' sake. Perhaps, but it's worth considering.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:09:12 +0000 : adrian

Yeah. I've been planning that from the start (before it had a fancy
name), I'm currently planning to have it
happen around phase four or five.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mon, 09 May 2005 23:13:11 +0000 : adrian

Here is that overview of the install system i promised weeks ago :
http://drupal.org/node/22472


This is the first phase.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 20:15:39 +0000 : adrian

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/install_api_phase_1.tar_0.bz2 (19.5 KB)

Updated this patch to work with HEAD.


as before, there are copies of the buddylist and trackback modules,
just to illustrate the usage of the patch.


1 ) Extract into a HEAD install
2 ) patch with install_api_phase_1.patch
3 ) 'delete from cache' in your database (the menu cache is much
maligned by myself)
4 ) Go to admin/modules and see the install links in place of enable.




------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 03:27:33 +0000 : stefan nagtegaal

adrian, could you please post a patch instead of a packaged patch?
I know it will be quite big, but makes code reviewing a little
easier...







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