Managing Drush make files for an installation profile

Drush make is a powerful tool for assembling all the dependencies needed for an installation profile to work as a full Drupal website. It is included as part of Drush as of Drush version 5. It is the central tool used for Packaging a distribution on Drupal.org.

However, to build a fully functional site including the installation profile code itself, things get a bit complicated. You need multiple .make files that work together.

drupal-org.make

This file defines all of the contributed modules, themes, and 3rd party libraries used by the installation profile. This file will be used in a few circumstances:

1. When the Drupal.org packaging script builds distribution releases of the installation profile.
2. When drush make builds the installation profile recursively. More on this below.

A trivial example might look something like this:

api = 2
core = 7.x

projects[views] = 3.3
projects[ctools] = 1.0-rc1

For more details, see Full example drupal-org.make file.

drupal-org-core.make

This file is optional. If the distribution requires patches to Drupal core, a -dev release, or a specific Git revision, Drupal.org packaging system needs to know about this in a separate file. For the gory details about why see #1455614: Packaging script doesn't allow distributions to patch core or specify a git revision. But, for example, this file might look like this:

api = 2
core = 7.x
projects[drupal][type] = core
projects[drupal][version] = 7.12
projects[drupal][patch][] = http://drupal.org/files/issues/object_conversion_menu_router_build-972536-1.patch
projects[drupal][patch][] = http://drupal.org/files/issues/992540-3-reset_flood_limit_on_password_reset-drush.patch
;projects[drupal][patch][] = http://drupal.org/files/i673020_deliver_1-make_0.patch

build-[distro].make

This file is used to build a fully functional website that includes core, the profile code itself, and all of its dependencies. Drush make has a feature where if it downloads something that includes a .make file, it will recursively build that .make file. This can be confusing and at times annoying, but it can also be really helpful. The build-[distro].make file utilizes this feature to build core, download the profile, and then let drush make build all of the profile's dependencies automatically. For example, in the OpenPublic distribution, you'll find a file called build-openpublic.make (there's no magic about this filename -- "build-[distro].make" is just a convention) that looks something like this:

api = 2
core = 7.x
; Include the definition for how to build Drupal core directly, including patches:
includes[] = drupal-org-core.make
; Download the OpenPublic install profile and recursively build all its dependencies:
projects[openpublic][version] = 1.0-beta6

This .make file includes the contents of the drupal-org-core.make file in the same directory and directly builds that. It checks out Drupal core version 7.12 and applies some patches. Then this build make file continues and downloads version 7.x-1.0-beta6 of the openpublic installation profile into the profiles/openpublic subdirectory of the version of core it just built. After it's done downloading, it finds a drupal-org.make file in that profile directory, and recursively builds that to pull in all the modules, themes, and libraries that OpenPublic depends on.

So, if you're a developer working on OpenPublic or are just trying to build a copy of it yourself directly, all you need is a copy of those two files, and then you run the command:

drush make build-openpublic.make /path/to/webroot

If the profile doesn't require a drupal-org-core.make file and is happy with an official release of core, the build make file might look like this, instead:

api = 2
core = 7.x
projects[drupal][version] = 7.12
projects[openpublic][version] = 1.0-beta6

See also:

• Drush Make - Drupal Distributions Packaging Automation Tool
• Drush Make theory for happy profile development