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  • From: "Mathieu L." <lejatorn AT smgl.homelinux.net>
  • To: SM-Discuss <sm-discuss AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [SM-Discuss] Drupal (and other) install setup
  • Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 14:43:55 +0200

On Thu, May 31, 2007 at 10:44:50PM -0700, Eric Sandall wrote:
> Fellow web app users,
>
> In looking to update Drupal to 5.1 (I'm trying out Drupal for my wedding
> to SweetPotato website ;)) and talking to a friend who uses Drupal
> (binford2k), it seems that our current setup is dangerous.
>
> Let me briefly explain. Our current setup, by default, installs to
> /usr/share/www/drupal/. When installing the same version as already
> installed, this causes no problem, but when we do an update, Drupal has
> a few steps[0] which must be taken before the site goes live. When our
> spell updates, it will be replacing the currently installed Drupal
> version with one that is, most likely, incompatible with installed
> themes and modules and, possibly, which will break (or break with) the
> current database.
>
> My proposal:
> Install Drupal to versioned directories (e.g.
> /usr/share/www/drupal/5.1.0/) and leave the old directories alone (a la
> kernel modules via the excluded filter). This will allow for updates to
> Drupal to be installed, but the prior version still running from
> httpd.conf's DocumentRoot still set to the old version (e.g.
> /usr/share/www/drupal/4.7.6/). The admin may then at his/her leisure,
> copy the sites/* files to the new directory, dump the database for
> safekeeping, disable all non-core themes/modules, set DocumentRoot to
> the new location, run the upgrade script, and copy modules/themes over
> to test and update them for the new version.
>
> This will allow for future upgrades of Drupal to be installed *without*
> wiping the current install of Drupal. The admin may upgrade at any time
> afterwards.
>
> I believe this should be done for *all* spells which install to
> /usr/share/www (which should be all web-based apps, IMO), but that's for
> another day. We can say Drupal is the proof of concept for this. ;)
>
> My quandary:
> How do I setup this new method (assuming no one finds significant
> problems with it ;)) without breaking the old? Possible solutions are:
> 1. Use another directory for the new Drupal setup (e.g.
> /usr/share/www/drupal_roots/)
> 2. Continue to use the current directory (/usr/share/www/drupal/) and
> somehow migrate the old files to the new layout (probably just use 'old'
> as the mentioned version folder). This would break the current
> httpd.conf, which I don't like.
> 3. Continue to use the current directory (/usr/share/www/drupal/) and
> just put the versioned directory under it (e.g. drupal/5.1.0) and let
> the admin clean out the old Drupal files when done. This does not break
> the current Drupal install (I asked) and also doesn't have two Drupal
> directories. The worst this one does is, possibly, confusing the admin
> if they are not aware, but it should be obvious.
>
> I prefer option #3, with #1 a fallback if there are too many problems.
> Option #2 is there for completeness and I most likely will not use it.
>
> Thoughts? Complaints?

Question:
Why do we install web stuff in /usr/share/www ?
On other distros and on most guide/howtos I've seen it done in /var/www
and it makes more sense to me because I see /var as the place where one
stores important data (like all one webserver's contents). Also it makes
backup easier on a server since one only has to backup /var to save all
the logs and these aforementionned important data.

Cheers,
Mathieu.

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