[support] Best way to deploy Drupal.

[Unai Rodriguez]

Dear All,

Thank you so much for the contributions. 

I have classified different parts that currently compose our Drupal system
along with a suggested method of "putting everything in code and update
functions":

a) THEMES.- We just copy the code over, there is no settings to be applied
really
b) VIEWS.- We will be using what is suggested here:
http://treehouseagency.com/blog/steven-merrill/2008/11/05/speed-and-version-your-views
(This is similar to what Seth sent but applied to Drupal 6 -- THANKS SETH!)
c) MODULES DEVELOPED BY US FROM SCRATCH.- We will make sure that all the
settings that need to be put into the database are being updated on the
hook_update function. Ideally these settings could come from a
configuration file in php. We will use DRUSH to invoke our update.php upon
deployment, as suggested by Kathleen.
d) 3rd PARTY MODULES (aka contributed modules by the Drupal Community).- I
am not sure how to proceed with this one; for now I am trying to check if
the modules that we use implement the hook_update function and modify if
possible so the settings get loaded from configuration files, similar to
(c).

My questions are:

1) How would you handle (d)? What I have now in mind seems a bit tricky...

2) What do you think of the classification? Am I missing something? Does it
make sense?

Thank you so much.

With Best Wishes,
unai