Issue 85

[mohammadzo]

Environment-Aware Settings Generation with Production Artifact Support

Overview

This PR adds intelligent environment-aware settings generation to prevent local development files from being created in production artifacts and CI/CD builds. It addresses a critical architectural issue where local settings files (containing database credentials and development-only configurations) were being generated in all environments, including production.

Problem Statement

Previously, the plugin would always generate local development files during composer install, regardless of the environment. This caused several issues:

• ❌ Local database credentials in production artifacts
• ❌ Development-only settings files in CI/CD builds
• ❌ Unnecessary files in deployment packages
• ❌ Security concerns with sensitive data in version control
• ❌ No way to reliably skip local file generation in build pipelines

Solution

This PR introduces a multi-layered approach to control settings generation:

1. Automatic Environment Detection

The plugin now automatically detects CI/CD and production environments and skips local file generation:

• GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI, Jenkins, Travis CI
• Acquia Cloud production, staging, and ODE environments
• General CI environment indicators

2. Composer Configuration (Recommended)

Add version-controlled configuration to skip local files in production artifacts:

{
  "extra": {
    "drupal-recommended-settings": {
      "generate-local-settings": false
    }
  }
}

3. Runtime Environment Variable

Override behavior at runtime for testing or specific builds:

export DRS_GENERATE_LOCAL_SETTINGS=false
composer install

4. Drush Command Flag

Manual control when running drush commands:

drush init:settings --no-local

What Files Are Affected

When generate-local-settings is set to false, the following files are not generated:

• local.settings.php - Active local settings with database credentials
• default.local.settings.php - Local settings template
• default.includes.settings.php - Custom includes template

Essential files are still created:

• default.global.settings.php - Global settings
• settings.php - Core Drupal settings
• config/default/ - Configuration sync directory
• salt.txt - Hash salt

Changes Made

New Features

• ✅ Automatic CI/production environment detection
• ✅ generate-local-settings composer configuration option
• ✅ DRS_GENERATE_LOCAL_SETTINGS environment variable
• ✅ --no-local drush flag
• ✅ Skip local template files when configured

Simplifications & Cleanup

• ✅ Removed confusing auto-generate-on-install option
• ✅ Removed redundant DRS_GENERATE_SETTINGS environment variable
• ✅ Removed redundant --no-defaults drush flag
• ✅ Removed Pantheon-specific detection code
• ✅ Streamlined README documentation (removed 120+ lines)
• ✅ Consolidated CI/CD examples into one general example

Files Modified

• src/Plugin.php - Added environment detection logic
• src/Settings.php - Added granular file generation control
• src/Drush/Commands/SettingsDrushCommands.php - Added --no-local flag
• README.md - Comprehensive documentation with examples

Usage Examples

Production Artifact Build

{
  "extra": {
    "drupal-recommended-settings": {
      "generate-local-settings": false
    }
  }
}

Then simply run:

composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

CI/CD Pipeline

No configuration needed - automatic detection works out of the box:

composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

Local Development

Everything works as before - all files are generated automatically.

Benefits

1. Security: No local database credentials in production artifacts
2. Cleaner builds: Only essential files in deployment packages
3. Version-controlled: Configuration lives in composer.json
4. Automatic: Works out-of-the-box in most CI/CD environments
5. Flexible: Multiple control methods for different use cases
6. Simpler: Removed confusing options, focused on primary use case

Testing

Tested in the following scenarios:

• ✅ Local development (generates all files)
• ✅ CI environment with auto-detection
• ✅ Composer config generate-local-settings: false
• ✅ Environment variable DRS_GENERATE_LOCAL_SETTINGS=false
• ✅ Drush command with --no-local flag
• ✅ Acquia Cloud environment detection

Migration Guide

For existing users, no changes are required. The plugin maintains backward compatibility:

• Default behavior unchanged (generates all files in local environments)
• Automatic detection prevents issues in CI/production
• Optional configuration for production artifact builds

To adopt the new feature for production builds, add to your composer.json:

{
  "extra": {
    "drupal-recommended-settings": {
      "generate-local-settings": false
    }
  }
}

Related Issues

Fixes #85

Checklist

• Code follows project coding standards
• Documentation updated (README.md)
• Backward compatible
• Tested in multiple environments
• Commit messages follow conventions