Server upgrade and install profiles/distributions
Couple questions regarding the upgrade and install profiles/distributions...
Will this change affect the current reseller accts (aside from the email bit)? Will there be a lag time between Bryght 5.0 and Drupal 5.0 (when it's actually released)?
I know we've been back (http://support.bryght.com/node/456) and forth (http://groups.drupal.org/node/1886) a few times, but I'm still a bit unsure how the install profiles/distributions are going to work. Are there any set rules on how they're going to be built? Given enough demand, Bryght will build them? Would it be more of a collaborative effort or partnership with individuals/organizations within the Drupal community? Will there be cases where you'll be providing hosting to a profile/distribution that has been built elsewhere? All of the above. What constitutes enough demand?
Any info you can provide will be most helpful!
评论
More info on install profiles
There are no easy answers here, Gus. We foresee some distributions being built "externally" by interested communities, and since we already have the infrastructure in place, we can easily turn those into one click installs.
By my estimate, a really slick install profile that is highly customized would take 2 - 3 people about 3 months for a version 1.0 release. Do the math on how much that would cost: "enough" demand means we can recoup our investment if we decide to go ahead and just build an install profile.
We are more likely to have some "simple" profiles to start: bundles of configurations and modules with standard themes that are 80% of the way configured to being a particular kind of site.
We're going to be a lot more proactive on our new infrastructure on making new versions available in a "base" form. We are aiming to have Drupal 5 available shortly after release. Any existing profiles will take longer to release, since we have to build upgrade paths from existing modules / accounts.
Right now we're talking about a Drupal for education install profile for a January time frame, and that's the only one that's halfway to being confirmed.
Hope that helps, Gus.
Looks like you'll have it covered....
Helps a lot, thanks! Didn't think there were any set ways, but it looks like you'll have your bases covered. Personally I'd like to build out the distribution in an open collaboration with interested individuals and/or organizations (hopefully that'll include Bryght). I think a well built, well maintained 'music-centric' distribution should easily cover the development cost (possibly before completion) but also create opportunities to consistently give back to the Drupal community (akin to public broadcasting). I can pester you off the board about specifics...
I do have a quick question about the terminology. Is an install profile the proper term used for a single, plug and play solution? Then a distribution would be a group of related install profiles?
Ok - thanks again - look forward to the continued dialogue...
Semantics, as per usual
An install profile is a simple file that contains configuration information for a particular setup.
A distribution would be a much more complete solution -- an install profile along with all the modules, code, etc. needed to run the profile. So, like CivicSpace.
Install profiles are an easy starting point. You can get people to download the necessary modules, and then just run the install profile. Having to do an entire distribution, bundle the code, and do security updates is a much higher bar to meet, and pretty much out of reach for ad hoc communities.
So, install profiles are an on-ramp to distributions. Kind of a recipe for how a site should be configured.
Ok - I think I follow...
So Backstage is/would have been a distribution. Then I'm probably using the wrong terminology when talking about a multimedia rich, newspaper/magazine style installation profile (in this post). Assuming the aforementioned post makes a lick of sense (even if it doesn't), it would helpful to get your perspective - There's been a few folks (in newly minted Newspapers on Drupal group ) already discussing building and funding distributions. It could be a good incubator for some sort of collaborative effort.