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CONTENTS OF THIS FILE
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 * About Drupal
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 * Configuration and features
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 * Installation profiles
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 * Appearance
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 * Developing for Drupal
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ABOUT DRUPAL
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Drupal is an open source content management platform supporting a variety of
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websites ranging from personal weblogs to large community-driven websites. For
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more information, see the Drupal website at http://drupal.org/, and join the
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Drupal community at http://drupal.org/community.
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Legal information about Drupal:
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 * Know your rights when using Drupal:
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   See LICENSE.txt in the same directory as this document.
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 * Learn about the Drupal trademark and logo policy:
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   http://drupal.com/trademark
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CONFIGURATION AND FEATURES
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--------------------------
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Drupal core (what you get when you download and extract a drupal-x.y.tar.gz or
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drupal-x.y.zip file from http://drupal.org/project/drupal) has what you need to
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get started with your website. It includes several modules (extensions that add
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functionality) for common website features, such as managing content, user
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accounts, image uploading, and search. Core comes with many options that allow
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site-specific configuration. In addition to the core modules, there are
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thousands of contributed modules (for functionality not included with Drupal
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core) available for download.
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More about configuration:
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 * Install, upgrade, and maintain Drupal:
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   See INSTALL.txt and UPGRADE.txt in the same directory as this document.
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 * Learn about how to use Drupal to create your site:
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   http://drupal.org/documentation
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 * Download contributed modules to sites/all/modules to extend Drupal's
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   functionality:
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   http://drupal.org/project/modules
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 * See also: "Developing for Drupal" for writing your own modules, below.
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INSTALLATION PROFILES
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Installation profiles define additional steps (such as enabling modules,
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defining content types, etc.) that run after the base installation provided
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by core when Drupal is first installed. There are two basic installation
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profiles provided with Drupal core.
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Installation profiles from the Drupal community modify the installation process
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to provide a website for a specific use case, such as a CMS for media
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publishers, a web-based project tracking tool, or a full-fledged CRM for
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non-profit organizations raising money and accepting donations. They can be
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distributed as bare installation profiles or as "distributions". Distributions
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include Drupal core, the installation profile, and all other required
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extensions, such as contributed and custom modules, themes, and third-party
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libraries. Bare installation profiles require you to download Drupal Core and
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the required extensions separately; place the downloaded profile in the
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/profiles directory before you start the installation process. Note that the
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contents of this directory may be overwritten during updates of Drupal core;
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it is advised to keep code backups or use a version control system.
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Additionally, modules and themes may be placed inside subdirectories in a
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specific installation profile such as profiles/your_site_profile/modules and
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profiles/your_site_profile/themes respectively to restrict their usage to only
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sites that were installed with that specific profile.
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More about installation profiles and distributions:
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 * Read about the difference between installation profiles and distributions:
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   http://drupal.org/node/1089736
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 * Download contributed installation profiles and distributions:
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   http://drupal.org/project/distributions
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 * Develop your own installation profile or distribution:
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   http://drupal.org/developing/distributions
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APPEARANCE
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In Drupal, the appearance of your site is set by the theme (themes are
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extensions that set fonts, colors, and layout). Drupal core comes with several
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themes. More themes are available for download, and you can also create your own
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custom theme.
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More about themes:
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 * Download contributed themes to sites/all/themes to modify Drupal's
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   appearance:
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   http://drupal.org/project/themes
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 * Develop your own theme:
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   http://drupal.org/documentation/theme
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DEVELOPING FOR DRUPAL
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Drupal contains an extensive API that allows you to add to and modify the
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functionality of your site. The API consists of "hooks", which allow modules to
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react to system events and customize Drupal's behavior, and functions that
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standardize common operations such as database queries and form generation. The
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flexible hook architecture means that you should never need to directly modify
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the files that come with Drupal core to achieve the functionality you want;
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instead, functionality modifications take the form of modules.
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When you need new functionality for your Drupal site, search for existing
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contributed modules. If you find a module that matches except for a bug or an
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additional needed feature, change the module and contribute your improvements
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back to the project in the form of a "patch". Create new custom modules only
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when nothing existing comes close to what you need.
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More about developing:
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 * Search for existing contributed modules:
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   http://drupal.org/project/modules
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 * Contribute a patch:
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   http://drupal.org/patch/submit
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 * Develop your own module:
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   http://drupal.org/developing/modules
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 * Follow best practices:
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   http://drupal.org/best-practices
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 * Refer to the API documentation:
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   http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/7