Install profile developer's guide

An installation profile is a simple file that tells the Drupal installer to enable a set of core and/or contributed modules, as well as to configure some default settings. Using installation profiles, as of Drupal 5 the installer can be customized, allowing for special set-ups for specific user groups. For example, an installation profile for "Drupal band sites" might automatically install modules for e-mail newsletters, events and downloadable audio files.