What Drupal puts in its database?

Question

I want to redistribute a drupal site to a large public, but i can't simply copy my site files and dump my database in order to distribute it for it contains all my user data.

So, if i install a clean version of drupal (using the same version used on my site), which will generate its own clean database, and then copy the files belonging to my site over these, modifying setting.php to point out the new database... what i'm gonna loose? That is, what really drupal put in its database?

Answer 1

The database from Drupal (depending on the version) is very complex and all the settings you made in Drupal (content types, modules installed, etc) are all kept in there using different tables. Some of your personal data would be under table "node". Any content you add to Drupal will have an entry in there. Also "users" would have all your users listed, and so on... But if you change the content types (add fields) then there will be more tables you need to JOIN to "node" to see the data. There is a module called "Views" that will help you find all the data (you probably know about it)

To answer your question, there are multiple tables that hold your data so it's not easy to find them depending on how complex the site is.

Remember that Drupal is open source so you would not be able to change a licence fee for it if you want to distribute it to others.

Hope this answers your question.

Answer 2

You will loose all settings from modules, theme settings and of course the content (nodes, users, entities...) You simply will have a new drupal install only with standard modules enabled.

Drupal saves all settings in the database.

Answer 3

First (through Drupal7) is to use (Drush make)[https://drupal.org/project/drush_make] and the Features module. Drush make automates building a drupal site from a build file, so it'll pull in the source files from various places (drupal.org, svn, git, etc..). (Features)[http://drupal.org/project/features] will export configuration (for modules that support it) to a module that you can distribute and use like any other module.

You'd then turn your modules (along with any custom ones) into installation profile available to:

Installation profiles combine core Drupal, contributed modules, themes, and pre-defined configuration into one download. Installation profiles provide specific site features and functions for a specific purpose or type of site. They make it possible to quickly set up a complex, use-specific site in fewer steps than if installing and configuring elements individually.