In my backups I store database structure and content separately, and only back up the structure of Drupal cache tables. I am wondering whether ctools_*_cache table content should be included in my backups? My interest is because if this content can be omitted, and is regularly turning over, eliminating it may substantially reduce backup storage space as the backups are stored as by-table text files in version control.

Tried to read some of the past issues about caches in ctools, in case this had already been covered. I admit, the issue queue here is so large, it is hard to be confident I've read enough. In #945310: ctools_object_cache table not rebuilding merlinofchaos wrote:

the ctools_object_cache table is non-volatile storage for temporary data and cannot be rebuilt. It should never be cleared.

However, in other issues it appears some of these caches are being cleared on hook_flush_caches (e.g. #426652: Can't Clear ctool's CSS cache through Drupal interface). So I'm left unsure whether it is safe to omit this content or not. Obviously, I want to be able to restore a fully functioning site from the backups.

Comments

scor’s picture

scor commented

it does appear that at least ctools_css_cache can be omitted from the backups (7.x-1.x). I do wonder why a regular core cache_ctools_* table is not used instead btw.

merlinofchaos’s picture

merlinofchaos commented

I believe the ctools_css_cache table existst he way it does because the CSS cannot be reliably regenerated during read operations all times.