(Filed as a bug because this violates reasonable usability expectations.)

The latest D7 dev requires too many steps to set up a new filesystem.

Right now must refresh six times if the directories aren't already created:

  • load installer
  • create files directory
  • refresh
  • makes files directory writable
  • refresh
  • create private/files directory
  • refresh
  • makes private/files directory writable
  • refresh
  • create private/temp directory
  • refresh
  • makes private/temp directory writable
  • refresh

Suggestions:

  1. Most important: Show all errors at once. Don't make me refresh so many times!
  2. Have required blank directories pre-created. (Yes, I know you'll need a placeholder file because of the versioning system.)

Comments

aren cambre’s picture

aren cambre commented

Same goes for settings.php. I am first told I need to copy it, then I refresh and am told I need to make it writeable.

yoroy’s picture

yoroy commented

Agreed that this is too much. It happens to me everytime, still.
A big help would be if the first installer page should present a checklist of stuff to do before you continue.
Pointing to an install.txt is not enough to prevent this from happening, this info should be presented in the context of actual installation process.

aren cambre’s picture

aren cambre commented

I agree 100% about install.txt. Nobody reads that. When is the last time anyone read readme.txt before running setup.exe on Windows or apt-get on Ubuntu? We should consider install.txt of similar uselessness for the vast majority of Drupal users and shoot for an obvious install process.

The checklist is fine but only as long as items already taken care of are not displayed. Only show items that have yet to be fixed.

yoroy’s picture

yoroy commented

I don't think this has to be a smart list to become useful. The static list will be a huge improvement already. Insisting on making it smart in showing only that which needs to be done sounds like overcomplicating it from the start imo.

Lets start with a static list. It's a checklist, no real problems with having things on it that are already taken care off.

aren cambre’s picture

aren cambre commented

The logic to determine what needs to be done is already present. The change is merely to display it all at once instead of in a piecemeal form. So going static is a regression from already-present functionality.

yoroy’s picture

yoroy commented

Fair enough

dww’s picture

dww
we/he/they
commented

I've already proposed a solution for settings.php at #418302-90: Copy default.settings.php to settings.php during install IFF webserver owns files (FTP on shared hosting) and beyond. The rest of these problems could be solved basically the same way. In fact, I'm tempted to just mark this duplicate with #418302...

yoroy’s picture

yoroy commented
Priority: Normal » Critical
Status: Active » Postponed

Yep, as discussed in irc with dww, the layout for implementation of a better handling of this is over there.

I'd rather not mark it duplicate yet but keep this open to check the UX of the error handling as a whole. The other issue is 100 comments underway, not a sign of a patch that needs scope extensions.

So, postponing on #418302: Copy default.settings.php to settings.php during install IFF webserver owns files (FTP on shared hosting) and bump to critical. because it is.

David_Rothstein’s picture

David_Rothstein commented

I actually think this is a duplicate of #588852: UX: Install system requires several directories created, but does not make this easy.... but leaving it as postponed for now.

aren cambre’s picture

aren cambre commented

This issue has progressed more, so I marked that one as duplicate even though it was opened earlier.

David Latapie’s picture

David Latapie commented
  1. Most important: Show all errors at once. Don't make me refresh so many times!
  2. Have required blank directories pre-created. (Yes, I know you'll need a placeholder file because of the versioning system.)

Point 1 had been fixed, thanks!
Point 2 still need to be done.

aren cambre’s picture

aren cambre commented
Status: Postponed » Active

Related: #686022: Clean up error when multiple directories missing

wretched sinner - saved by grace’s picture

wretched sinner - saved by grace commented

<note>I don't know much about what I am going to ask</note>

Can we not hook into the upgrade system which is now in core to make these directories writable in the installer? I had to install Wordpress the other day, and was impressed that I had to do nothing other than extract the files to get it installed. That is a definite win to Wordpress there.

dww’s picture

dww
we/he/they
commented

@wretched sinner... Please read my comment #9 above. Thanks.

wretched sinner - saved by grace’s picture

wretched sinner - saved by grace commented

@dww - that was what I was thinking :) sorry i didn't read it before

moshe weitzman’s picture

moshe weitzman commented
Status: Active » Postponed

we are actively working on this in other issues. this is a meta-issue, really.

aren cambre’s picture

aren cambre commented

Should the other issues be referenced here? #686022: Clean up error when multiple directories missing may be one.

yoroy’s picture

yoroy commented

Yes, that's a good idea.

damien tournoud’s picture

damien tournoud commented
Priority: Critical » Major
Status: Postponed » Fixed

This is a meta-issue, so it cannot be critical.

Also, I think it's safe to call this fixed. Drupal 7's behavior is now on par with Drupal 6. In other word: the installation is now as painful on Drupal 7 as it is on Drupal 6. #win

David_Rothstein’s picture

David_Rothstein commented

It's way less painful than D6 - at least in D7 you get a sane requirements screen that tells you clearly what you need to do :)

But yes, standard Drupal installations no longer face the original-reported bug since the private files directory is not needed by anymore, whereas it was earlier in the D7 cycle. There are still some edge cases that need fixing, but the issue for that is #686022: Clean up error when multiple directories missing - and indeed not critical.

Status: Fixed » Closed (fixed)
Issue tags: -Usability, -DrupalWTF

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.

Issue tags: +Usability, +DrupalWTF

Restoring issue tags, see #2125755: System messages removed all issue tags during D7 upgrade.