Guide - Testing Updates to Modules You've Agreed to Co-maintain

Last updated December 6, 2012. Created by stefanwray on July 30, 2012.
Edited by kreynen. Log in to edit this page.

This documentation describes a best practices process for Community Media module co-maintainers to make changes to modules. Because the Community Media Starter Kits are used as a base for building websites the serve the needs of group with varying sizes and workflows, it is important to understand how other people are using these modules and keep changes from negatively impacting other users.

One way we keep updates working for everyone is to discuss potential changes openly using the module issue queues on Drupal.org. Every change should start with a problem someone has reported or a feature request. If you are interested in any changes to a module, subscribe to All issues added to the queue via email.

Drupal.org automatically links issues color coding based on the status if you use this format in body of an issue or on the project page...

[#12345]

Make sure there is an item in the issue queue for the problem. When making a commit using git use the node number without the brackets. Just #12345

All code changes should be created and tested on the development version of the site, and not on the live site.

Make sure you are working with the latest version of the code

Clone the live site to the development site before making any code changes and make sure that the module version being changed is the same as the latest module on drupal.org.

After you have tested and are satisfied with the code changes to the module on the development site, copy the entire module directory to you local machine where you have SmartGit installed.

If you don't have SmartGit installed you can download it and install.

In SmartGit navigate to Project > Open Working Tree enter the path to the edited module directory and enter Continue and then Finish

Click on the Changes icon to inspect and verify the changes between your edited version and the most recent commit.

When satisfied with this changes, click on Commit. In the comment area enter the issue number #12345.

Then click on Push and enter your Drupal username and password. When this process is completed, you should see the commit recorded on the module page on Drupal.org

The next step is to upgrade your live site with the latest version of the module.

You can either wait until Drupal.org updates the latest .dev version or on the module page you can click on Version control, and next to Versions to work from: change it from master and click on Show.

Then copy the command line instructions to the terminal on your web server to bring the latest commit into the appropriate directory on the live site.