BLT (Build and Launch Tool) provides an automation layer for testing, building, and launching Drupal 8 applications.
You can find all BLT documentation on Read the Docs:
- Latest documentation (9.0.x / 9.1.x) (best for guidance on general issues and best practices)
- Stable release documentation (8.9.x) (best for features specific to 8.9.x)
See INSTALL.md for a list of prequisites and links to instructions for creating new projects, adding BLT to existing projects, and updating BLT.
Typically, the last two most major versions of BLT are supported actively. The newest major version will recieve both bug fixes and new features, while the penultimate major version will recieve bug fixes for at least two months. For example, if 8.8.1 is the most recent version of BLT:
- As of the first cut tag for 8.8.x, 8.7.x will enter "LTS".
- 8.7.x will continue to receive bug fixes and minor features
- 8.7.x will not receive any major new features or backwards incompatible changes
- Two months after the first cut tag for 8.8.x
- 8.7.x will no longer be supported
- 8.9.x will be created for major new features.
- At some point later, 8.9.0 will be cut, and 8.8.x will enter "LTS".
| Major Version | Support Status | Drupal | Drush | Dev Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.1.x | Supported | >=8.4 | >=9.0.0-rc1 | *active dev |
| 9.0.x | Supported | >=8.4 | >=9.0.0-rc1 | bug fixes |
| 8.9.x | LTS (see below) | <=8.4 | ~8 | bug fixes |
| 8.8.x | Unsupported, EOL | <=8.3 | ~8 | |
| 8.7.x | Unsupported, EOL | <=8.3 | ~8 |
The 9.1.x branch is currently in development and primarily improves support for users with multisite and ACSF installations.
The 9.0.x is functionally equivalent to 8.9.x. The only difference is that is supports Drush 9 instead of Drush 8. This is intented to be a transitional release to allow projects to gradually migrate from Drush 8 to Drush 9 (since this is a non-trivial upgrade).
8.9.x is currently in maintenance / long-term support mode (receiving only bug fixes) while we focus on feature development for 9.1.x. 8.9.x will continue to be supported until the following conditions are met:
- Drush 9 has a stable release
- ACSF is compatible with Drush 9
- BLT 9.1.0 is released with full support for ACSF users
The current ETA for this cutoff is Q1 2018.
BLT is designed to improve efficiency and collaboration across Drupal projects by providing a common set of tools and standardized structure. It was born out of the need to reduce re-work, project set up time, and developer onboarding time.
Its explicit goals are to:
- Provide a standard project template for Drupal based projects
- Provide tools that automate the setup, testing, launching, and maintenance work for projects
- Document and enforce Drupal standards and best practices via default configuration, automated testing, and continuous integration
Its scope is discretely defined. It is not intended to provide:
- Drupal application features (e.g., workflow, media, layout, pre-fabbed content types, etc.)
- A local hosting environment
- A replacement for good judgement (as with Drupal, it leaves you the freedom to make mistakes)
- Local Git Hooks
- pre-commit: Checks for Drupal coding standards compliance
- commit-msg: Check for proper formatting and syntax
- Testing Framework.
- Behat: default
local.ymlconfiguration, example tests,FeatureContext.php - PHPUnit: default tests for ensuring proper functioning of BLT provided components
- Behat: default
- Commands to automate project tasks, like:
- Test execution
- Frontend asset compilation
- Syncing environments
- Deployment Artifact Generation
- Building production-only dependencies
- Sanitation of production code
- Continuous Integration & Deployment
BLT is provided as an open source tool in the hope that it will enable developers to easily generate new Drupal projects that conform to Acquia Professional Services' best practices.
Please feel free to contribute to the project or file issues via the GitHub issue queue. See CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution guidelines and instructions.
Copyright (C) 2016 Acquia, Inc.
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.