[development] Files table includes file_directory_path

[Bevan Rudge]

> Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:09:21 +0200
> From: Clemens Tolboom <clemens at build2be.nl>
> Subject: [development] Why is the Drupal File System relative to
>        website root and not relative to admin/settings/file-system path?
>
> Having a development test acceptance and production environment it's a
> drag when moving the production database and files to an acceptance or
> development environment.
>
> One has to update the files database table and more tables or do
> trickery with symlinks to get the site running clean.
>
> If we could make the filepath in the files table relative to
> the /admin/settings/file-system path the real files are relocatable
> without pain. Just do a db load and a rsync to get the files and change
> the dmin/settings/file-system path.
>
> What do you think? Did I miss something important?

There is a featurebug in Drupal core that has been around since Drupal
5 or before, where the file API allows modules to save and retrieve
files using a path relative to either the Drupal root or
variable_get('file_directory_path', ...).

A number of people have tried to fix this (including myself) in Drupal
core, but it is a rather overwhelming issue since so much code in core
and contrib now expects not only the file API, but also the files
table to include variable_get('file_directory_path', ...).  Attempts
to fix it in the past sometimes gets distracted by related issues such
as sites/sites.php and default files_directory_path, which don't
actually solve the featurebug.

At CivicActions we have a tool (pushdb --xFix) that fixes the paths in
the files directory and elsewhere in the db, which we run when copying
an instance of the site to a staging environment.  However this
approach is becoming unsustainable and we are considering using a
separate instances of Drupal core in each and every staging
environment so that they all use sites/default.

What this means is that much of the time this featurebug is such a
PITA that Drupal's multisite features don't work for staging
environments.  In my own sandbox I don't use multisite for staging
environments at all, because of this issue,  Do others?

> Message: 6
> Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:02:38 +0300
> From: ufuk bayburt <ufukbay at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [development] Why is the Drupal File System relative to
>        website root and not relative to admin/settings/file-system path?
>
> See http://drupal.org/node/366464.

That's the cleanest fix for this bug I've seen yet, but still seems to
have wider ramifications than that patch fixes, and that's just Drupal
core.  I think it also needs an update handler that fixes paths in the
files table for Drupal 6 sites upgrading to Drupal 7.

> Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:08:44 -0500
> From: James Gilliland <neclimdul at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [development] Why is the Drupal File System relative to
>        website root and not relative to admin/settings/file-system path?
>
> Set up your production filesystem path first and set that before
> developing your site?

You misunderstood the initial post.  The poster is asking about the
case where he/she creates a staging environment from the live
environment, not the other way around.

However you've raised another issue derived from this featurebug.  If
you are developing a site on a domain which will not be the final
domain name (e.g. because the site you're developing is replacing a
non-drupal site), and your conf_path() is not sites/default, then you
need to set your files_directory_path beforehand and/or create a
system of symlinks to workaround the featurebug (or be screwed if your
on windows).  The foresight usually come with the experience of having
been burned by this featurebug – probably when you deployed a site and
all the files broke a previous time.  This hurts the developer
experience.

> Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:39:17 -0400
> From: Moshe Weitzman <weitzman at tejasa.com>
> Subject: Re: [development] Why is the Drupal File System relative to
>        website root and not relative to admin/settings/file-system path?
>
> fixed in d7 with sites/sites.php. you can map one path to another so
> the that two environments can be made to look the same. see
> http://api.drupal.org/api/function/conf_path/7.
>
> of course d6 still needs some tricks.

While that's a great feature it doesn't fix this featurebug, it just
provides another workaround for when it breaks and for those with
foresight.

Bevan/