What are the pros and cons of using Acquia Drupal install packages?

Question

My firm is considering using the Acquia Drupal install packages at http://acquia.com/downloads as a default boilerplate to start with for new client sites. What are the pros and cons of taking this approach?

Answer 1

Boris Mann once described Drupal as a big box of Lego. Acquia Drupal is just a bigger box of Lego. It still doesn't do anything out of the box, it just gives you more pieces. Given how much stuff went into Drupal 7 core it is mostly redundant - download core, views, wysiwyg and admin and you can start building good sites.

In terms of pros for Acquia Drupal I'm struggling a little. The first is that it helps inexperienced users get onto the Acquia Network. The other is that you don't have to download everything, but this is also a con as you get everything Acquia thinks you need.

One of the biggest cons as I see it is that they dump all the modules under modules/ which is considered bad practice in the Drupal community. Not only is this annoying if you decide to switch back to stock Drupal + contrib or Pressflow + conrib, but it teaches users bad practices from day 1.

I must admit I played with it once and decided against using it. These days I assemble my code using drush make as it gives me only what I want and I'm not dependent on a third party to provide security releases after a module is updated I can just update my make file and reroll my stuff.

[rant]These days the community has moved on to building true distros, not just throwing more Lego pieces in a box.[/rant]

Answer 2

If I understand, according the datasheet of Acquia, http://acquia.com/files/marketing/Acquia_Overview_datasheet-web2.pdf Drupal Acquia has the same Drupal core, but include preinstalled modules and configurations to get versions of Drupal ready to common needs.

Accordign this, about pros, I think that with Drupal Aquia you will have guidance an experience in the selection of modules and configurations, also time savings. Cons, I do not see cons related specifically with your question.

It is my opinion. I will pending of other opinions to learn about other points of view.

see other opinions http://groups.drupal.org/node/17838

Answer 3

Pros would be a setup which is primed and ready for a number of uses including addtional contrib modules which are commonly useful...

Cons, its generic so it might include some configuration / modules which you will need to remove...

In most cases it will not be a problem and will give you a simple head start on development

Answer 4

Using Acquia Drupal is like having automatic transmission in your car. It takes care of a bunch of things so that you don't have to worry about them. However, if you'd like more control (e.g. specific versions of modules), then you better go with standard Drupal.

One of my clients wanted to go with Acquia, so we did, but it was necessary to drop it later because we needed more up-to-date versions of contributed modules.