Talking Drupal

Talking Drupal #417 - The Recipes Initiative

Sep 25, 2023

The Recipes Initiative podcast discusses the future of install profiles and distros with expert guest Jim Birch. They explore topics like the use of recipes, comparisons with install profiles and distributions, namespace collisions, content inclusion, and the interaction between recipes and testing frameworks. The podcast also covers customization options for icons and the process of creating and applying recipes for Drupal projects.

01:07:19

Creator website

Episode guests

Jim Birch

AI Summary

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Recipes Initiative aims to automate Drupal module installation and configuration using Drupal core as the installation project.

Recipes can replace installation profiles and distributions when starting a new site, providing configurable, composable, and ephemeral functionality.

Users can create custom recipes by defining desired configuration and modules in YAML files, allowing for flexibility in site setups and theme dependencies.

Deep dives

Recipes Initiative Overview

The podcast discusses the Recipes Initiative, which aims to automate Drupal module installation and configuration using Drupal core as the installation project. Recipes are meant to add functionality and can be composed together. They can replace installation profiles and distributions when starting a new site. The goal of recipes is to be configurable, composable, and ephemeral.

Introduction

2min

Quick Links Kit: Adding Visual Navigation Prompts to Drupal Sites

4min

Customization Options for Icons in the Module

19min

Differences between Distributions and Recipes

13min

Content Distribution and Challenges

16min

Drupal Recipes and Testing Framework

10min

Creating and Applying Recipes for Drupal Projects

3min

Today we are talking about The Recipes Initiative, the future of install profiles, if distros are still a thing, and answering a bunch of listener questions with our guest Jim Birch. We’ll also cover Quick Links Kit as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: www.talkingDrupal.com/417

Topics

What are recipes
How do you use recipes
Is it a module, configuration or something else
How do recipes compare to install profiles
Are you stuck with them
What happens if the config is changed
Are there namespace collisions
How do recipes compare with Distributions
Can you include content
Listener James: Can recipes uninstall modules
Can we use recipes now
When will recipes be in core
Can recipes be used by tests
Listener Andy: Can recipes and startkits interact
Can themes require recipes
Listener Matthieu: How do recipes compare with Symfony recipes
Listener James: How easy will it be to make custom recipes
Listener Matthieu: Should contrib maintainers be watching recipes
How can we get involved

Resources

Jim’s Design 4 Drupal Talk Recipes
Recipes Drupal Project Page
Strategic Initiative Page
Cioppino
php core/scripts/drupal recipe PATH/TO/RECIPE
config actions issue
infrastructure project meeting thread
Kevin Quillen blog post - Create Recipes

Guests

Jim Birch - @jimbirch

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Jen Lampton - jenlampton.com - jenlampton

MOTW Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - @mandclu

Quick Links Kit

Brief description:
- Have you ever needed to add a set of quick links, essentially visual navigation prompts, to the home page or section pages of your Drupal site?
- Quick Links Kit (different from Quicklink module created by last week’s guest, Mike Herschel)
Brief history
- How old: I created in Apr 2021
Versions available:
- 1.0.6 that supports Drupal 8, 9, and 10, and 2.0.1 that supports only D10
Maintainership
- Sporadically maintained, but a pretty simple module
Number of open issues:
- 1, and it’s not a bug
Usage stats:
- 1 site
Maintainer(s):
- Me!
Module features and usage
- The module is really just a set of configuration, with an optional submodule that sets everything up, including the placement of the block on the home page, for sites using Olivero as their theme, so it’s perfect for a fresh install of Drupal
- It allows for SVG icons to be set for each link, and sets their fill to inherit from the link style
- The links can be created and managed without leaving the page on which they’re used, by using the settings tray, though it would be a quick configuration change to use a modal or a separate page instead, if preferred.
- The 2.0 version also makes use of Drupal 10’s new responsive grid views display, so if you’ve wanting to try that out, this is an easy way to get started
- I thought this module was appropriate for today’s episode because it’s an example of a module that will be a recipe once the infrastructure for them is ready. That said, the Olivero submodule does currently contain a little CSS to improve the display of the links, but that could easily be copied into your site’s custom theme.