The Trouble with Unicorns

6 minute read Published: 25 Feb, 2022 Author: Seonaid Lee

When a small team knows that they need to get started in automation and they only have the budget for one (or maybe two) hires, they are on a unicorn hunt… they need a DevOps specialist who knows the particular programming languages they are currently using, who is an expert across a wide range of different technologies, who has enough experience to operate independently and can help with strategic direction and positioning, but is still cheap enough to work on an unfunded project, and …

Aligned Governance for a Values-Driven Company

8 minute read Published: 28 Jan, 2022 Author: Seonaid Lee

I admit it. I’m here for the politics.

I might be unique in this perspective, but in my not-so-humble opinion… Tech is tech.

Languages are languages, frameworks are frameworks, and infrastructure is infrastructure. I can get any number of those at any number of places.

I joined Consensus directly because of its positions on values, decision making, and the role of technology in society.

We’re a non-standard bunch with a significant number of philosophy and social sciences …

Remote Connections: Show Us All Your Pets!

6 minute read Published: 24 Nov, 2021 Author: Seonaid Lee

In the early days of Covid, the WSJ published an article about video etiquette that admonished us to, “Maintain professionalism: Don’t let your cats and children walk into the frame.”

It garnered a range of disparaging responses, since it assumed that people had workspaces in their homes that were devoid of children and pets and that they magically had childcare available when none of us were allowed to leave our houses. Why didn’t the original author see that we were all …

Easy commit credits with migrations, part 6: Migrating data from a custom table

11 minute read Published: 14 Sep, 2021 Author: Matt Parker

This is the sixth in a series of blog posts on writing migrations for contrib modules:

• In part 1, we set up a simple core migration.
• In part 2, I covered how to review and manually tested patches.
• In part 3, I demonstrated how to write automated migration tests
• In part 4, I demonstrated how to migrate simple configuration variables
• In part 5, I explained how to declare a module’s migration status to the migrate wizard
• In this part, I will show you how to migrate data from a custom …

Easy commit credits with migrations, part 5: Declaring a module's migration status

6 minute read Published: 7 Sep, 2021 Author: Matt Parker

This is the fifth in a series of blog posts on writing migrations for contrib modules:

• In part 1, we set up a simple core migration.
• In part 2, I covered how to review and manually tested patches.
• In part 3, I demonstrated how to write automated migration tests
• In part 4, I demonstrated how to migrate simple configuration variables
• In this part, I’ll show you how to declare a contrib module’s migration status, i.e.: to indicate whether you’ve written all the migrations that …

Easy commit credits with migrations, part 4: Migrating D7 variables

14 minute read Published: 31 Aug, 2021 Author: Matt Parker

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts on writing migrations for contrib modules:

• In part 1, we set up a simple core migration.
• In part 2, I covered how to review and manually tested patches.
• In part 3, I demonstrated how to write automated migration tests
• In this part, I’ll demonstrate how to migrate simple configuration (“variables” in D6 and D7 parlance).
• In part 5, I explain how to declare a module’s migration status to the migrate wizard.
• In part 6, I show …

Easy commit credits with migrations, part 3: Automated tests

11 minute read Published: 24 Aug, 2021 Author: Matt Parker

This is the third in a series of blog posts on writing migrations for contrib modules:

• In part 1, we set up a simple core migration.
• In part 2, I covered how to review and manually test patches.
• In this part, I’ll demonstrate how to write automated migration tests.
• In part 4, I discuss migrating simple configuration.
• In part 5, I explain how to declare a module’s migration status to the migrate wizard.
• In part 6, I show how to migrate data from a custom database table.

Stay tuned …

Easy commit credits with migrations, part 2: Can we get an RTBC?

10 minute read Published: 17 Aug, 2021 Author: Matt Parker

This is the second in a series of blog posts on writing migrations for contrib modules:

• In part 1, we set up a simple core migration.
• In this part, I’ll cover how to review and manually test patches.
• In part 3, I demonstrate how to write automated migration tests.
• In part 4, I discuss migrating simple configuration.
• In part 5, I explain how to declare a module’s migration status to the migrate wizard.
• In part 6, I show how to migrate data from a custom database table.

Stay tuned …

Easy commit credits with migrations, part 1: Migrating Drupal Core

8 minute read Published: 10 Aug, 2021 Author: Matt Parker

This is the first in a series of blog posts on writing migrations for contrib modules:

• In this part, we set up a simple core migration.
• In part 2, I cover how to review and manually test patches.
• In part 3, I demonstrate how to write automated migration tests.
• In part 4, I discuss migrating simple configuration.
• In part 5, I explain how to declare a module’s migration status to the migrate wizard.
• In part 6, I show how to migrate data from a custom database table.

Stay tuned for more in …

Introducing Config Enforce

6 minute read Published: 21 Apr, 2021 Author: Christopher Gervais

Over the last few years we’ve built lots of Drupal 8 sites, and some Drupal 9 ones too, both for our clients and for ourselves. As such, we’ve taken a keen interest in (read: faced many challenges with) the Configuration Management subsystem. This was a major new component in Drupal 8, and so, while it’s functional, it isn’t yet mature. Of course, the vibrant Drupal developer community jumped in to smooth the rough edges and fill the gaps, in what has since become known …