Drupal without modifications (Re: [development] Extend database abstraction layer, to include table creation.)

[Bèr Kessels]

Op zaterdag 13 mei 2006 18:56, schreef Earl Miles:
> This is patently untrue. Only my very first Drupal implementation has
> modifications to core code, and I later learned how to do those things I
> wanted without core code.

I just did a very quick CVS diff over my 21 sites multisite installation:
 Core is omdified, but only because of security reasons (I dont want PHP eval 
stuff).
 But 17 of the 21 sites contain one or more modified modules. 
 6 of the 21 contain modules that I wrote specially for them 
 15 of 21 contain newly built or modified themes.

Conclusion: I am NOT able to deploy a Drupal site without touching PHP or 
hacking up the system. It depends on what you define as "Drupal". If that is 
only core, then its possible to run a site unhacked. If Drupal is "the whole 
PHP clunk" then its nearly impossible to "just run it".

Good news is that Drupal is PHP. And PHP is scripting, thus easy to modify.
Bad news is that Drupal core is getting more and more complex. In the past one 
could simply add an if() around some pievce of code if you wanted to 
eliminate a certain form element, but we now need quite difficult (yet higher 
level) FAPI alter hooks.

I think we should recognise (a lot of devels already do that) that Drupal is 
not just a Ready To Run system, but a developers platform. And that 
facilitating these hackers by providing easy core and usefull methods/apis 
could be a main target for a lot of people.

Bèr