Learning Drupal without LAMP experience
I have no prior experience in Linux or MySQL or PHP or Drupal or UNIX. I'm learning what I need to know on the fly. Sometimes the forums on Drupal are for an audience who have at least some knowledge of the above. In fact, the combination of Linux, Apache, MySQL and a scripting language like PHP is so prolific that there is actually an acronym called LAMP.
Knowledge of LAMP is what separates the web administrators from everyone else.
Drupal and CivicSpace is still in the early adoption phase so most of the people who are installing it and using it have some knowledge of one of the four pillars of LAMP -- or they're paying someone who does. I'm not in either one of these camps so it can be a bit challenging trying to learn the ropes.
For example, I assumed that I could just install any Drupal module by downloading it from Drupal's module page, unzip it, and then drag and drop it into the modules folder through an FTP program. But Moshe informed me that:
- to install some modules, you have to run a sql script. you can do so by going to your admin page and clicking on 'database' and then 'run script' tab. see each module's readme file for install instructions.
Ahh... Read the Readme.txt file and read the instructions. I just assumed it was drag and drop because it had worked like that for a lot of other functionality.
I read the database module Readme.txt file, and I'm having some weird problems with it -- so I haven't been able to actually run any of these MySQL scripts yet. But this is just one example or the information that you're supposed to know if you're maintaining a Drupal/CivicSpace site.
Jon Lebkoswky said at the Activist Technology gathering after SXSW Interactive 2005 that a lot of people want open source software to do everything they want, be easy to use, and be totally free. In other words, they want the elegance and performance of a Cadillac for the price of a Volvo -- or with totally free transportation in a Utopian society where everyone lends you a car whenever you need one.
So the functionality and capability of open source software is amazing, it's not to the point where everything is drag and drop. You've got to beef up on your LAMP skills for it to be this way.
Another reason why I've been posting so much technical info is for my own personal knowledge management purposes.
It's also been really helpful in documenting some of the obstacles I've been running into and asking a broader technical audience for help without drowning them in really long e-mails.
Advice for Drupal Newbies
Submitted by kentbye on Mon, 2005-06-06 16:13.
Eric,
Thanks for the comment. It's certainly possible to hack away on Drupal once it's up and running without a lot of previous knowledge of Linux, Apache, MySQL or PHP.
Think of CivicSpace as Drupal modules. I actually haven't installed the CivicSpace modules to my Drupal base yet because a lot of the CivicSpace functionality will come into play when I'm actually coordinating volunteers to do actions in the real world for marketing purposes.
Right now all the action here is happening virtually online -- and Drupal covers all of my bases for now. It's a bit confusing how CivicSpace presents all of this, but I've been able to glean that CivicSpace used to fork modules (split from Drupal core code), but now they are alligning their development much closer to the development of Drupal so they don't have to duplicate a lot of stuff. I think the CivicSpace folks are hanging out a lot more in the Drupal forums now than they used to.
As far as getting up and running, I was not able to get my site up and running without help from someone who new actually knew linux. I've never really successfully executed a linux command, and I think that this is a bare minimum if you expect to be able to pull off an installation.
Although, I did have someone tell me that their webserver had a custom script written to do an automatic install. That script is floating around out there somewhere. Let me know if you find it.
Finding a way -- any way -- to get a Drupal site up and running is the best bet. I haven't found any instructions for the early majority (i.e. no LAMP experience) to do an install, but this doesn't mean that it's not out there.
You need a webserver and a domain name to get off the ground. Sometimes your webserver will set it up for you if he/she is nice. The webserver needs PHP and MySQL installed to run Drupal.
You have to create a new MySQL database, and do a bunch of other configuring that I wasn't involved with.
PHPMyAdmin is very helpful as well with doing maintenence stuff like running MySQL scripts.
Once you get the site up and running, then do searches on the Drupal.org site whenever you have a question. Or try to sift through the Drupal handbook & Administer's guide if you're patient enough. I'm usually not, and try to do a broader Google search on my problem, which doesn't usually help -- One reason why I've been posting a lot of stuff because I knew I'd get a lot of random traffic from people like me trying to hack their way through Drupal.
The only other two things is that I've been tagging in del.icio.us reference websites for PHP and MySQL. Many people before us have learned enough of the LAMP pillars to be able to take full advantage of open source software. If you have enough desire, then you can learn enough to get by -- you'll certainly get frustrated, but you can always try the Drupal forums or IRC chat of #DrupalSupport if you need more help.
I too would like to learn
I too would like to learn either Drupal or CivicSpace. And like you I have no prior LAMP experience. I am sure I represent more people in a similar situation.
Do you have any suggestions on where I and other like myself should start? I dont even know whether to start at Drupal or Civic Space. Any suggestions would be great.
Thanks
Eric