DrupalCon Austin 2014: DEVOPS LEADS THE WAY TO BETTER DRUPAL DEVELOPMENT

This talk, presented by Kevin Champion, addresses the ongoing debate within the Drupal community regarding the optimal approach to version control for Drupal sites with comprehensive development stacks, including local, development, staging, and production environments. The speaker explores two dominant methodologies: tracking the entire site, including core and contributed modules, for complete visibility of changes versus utilizing tools like Drush Make to focus on site-specific files. The session highlights how to effectively leverage Git's capabilities within a DevOps framework, allowing for efficient development while maintaining control over the entire codebase. Through practical demonstrations, the talk emphasizes the importance of install profiles, automated build processes, and minimizing code footprints, showcasing how these elements contribute to a more streamlined development workflow. Kevin's experience as a Senior Drupal Developer informs his perspectives on how to enhance Drupal development through innovative architecture and practices.