[clue-admin] On Drupal (forking: CLUE steering meeting)

[Crawford Rainwater]

Pardon the fork, but I figured it might be helpful.

Comments about Drupal and some answers to Dennis' questions below.  Linux ETC uses Drupal with PostgreSQL (formally MySQL, but we are migrating off of that) back ends since the late v4.x days.  Our current web site is a "simple" Drupal one for reference with quite a few things "hidden" to the general public.

----- dennisjperkins at comcast.net wrote: -----
> 
> We might have a second meeting too. Regarding our current setup, I
> know we have an email server and a web server and something written in
> PHP. Drupal is written in PHP and needs a database; either MySQL or
> PostgreSQL will do. If we migrate, what needs to be moved?
> 

Basically a "cut and paste" job of "current" site to Drupal site I suspect.  I would personally and professionally suggest PostgreSQL for the DB back end.  A basic static site could be up (does not include the MailMan side) fairly quickly.

> I don't know what Sean's setup is yet. That is why I asked him to
> provide information. I think he hosts for a number of businesses,
> hopefully from some business facility. He uses Proxmox for VMs, and he
> said it has a Drupal module.
> 

Deferred to the "hosting fork" thread.

> I've been experimenting with Drupal, but I should ask if Greg would be
> willing to get involved. I want certain people to be able to make
> their own edits: the speaker coordinator and Dave Anselmi are two that
> should be able to. I want forums. Dave Anselmi wants a blog and it can
> do that too, but I don't know if I want every member to have one.
> There are a number of modules that can be added but not everything
> needs to be done at once.
> 

That is the "big question".  Greg could probably elaborate some more as well on securing the site a bit.  I can see "admin", "site moderator", "site content editor", and "general user" for Roles on the side with folks requesting sign up with an "admin" or "site moderator" doing approvals.

> I want to see about having the forums and mailing lists work together.
> That might be the most difficult part.
> 

Possible to do via Drupal.  Greg, feel free to chime in here some for more specifics.

> I want a set of procedures drawn up for maintaining the site, so it is
> easier for anyone to take over.
> 

As long as the database back end and the Drupal directories are kept up to par, migrating from server/system A to B is not hard (assuming same DB back ends and PHP versions here).  "site content editor" (i.e., David A. and Jed currently) would go in and update respective pages as needed and publish from there.  Back end patching and admin work for Drupal is fairly simple save I have to RTFM each time to remember the process for version upgrades.

--- Crawford

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