The journal entry field is attached to most forms, allowing to track and communicate configuration changes.

Journal module adds additional fields to all forms in a Drupal site to allow developers and site administrators to record and track all changes that have been performed to setup a site or alter its configuration. Journal also allows developers to maintain a log of applied patches and customizations on a Drupal site, including links to issue trackers like Drupal.org issue queues (starting from 6.x-1.3 / 5.x-1.5).

Journal is primarily useful for developers and site administrators working in a team environment. Since Drupal is a fully-fledged content management framework, it is often not easy to communicate, track and audit all changes that have been applied to a site. Even without contributed modules one is able to build a totally customized site.

Maintaining a log of patches and customizations helps in determining whether a module can be safely updated, and moreover in building sustainable, well-documented Drupal sites.

Journal's log is comparable to the watchdog log in Drupal core. However, watchdog logs can be truncated or emptied at any time, so one would loose all entries.

As of now, all journal log entries have to be written manually. Thus, the significance of journal entries depends on the given information (by a human). This may change in upcoming versions of Journal (patches are always welcome). See roadmap for Journal module for further information.

Journal forces a user to enter a journal entry on system_settings_forms, because it is obvious that something in the site configuration is about to be changed.

Only users granted the 'access journal' permission are able to add entries to the journal. Journal form fields may be disabled for certain forms, for example forms that are displayed in blocks, like the user login form.

A possible usage for Journal module is to provide meaningful information for site snapshots created with the Demo Site module (though, not integrated yet).

Installation

Credits

Current maintainers:

This project has been sponsored by:

  • unleashed mind
    Specialized in consulting and development of Drupal powered sites, our services include installation, development, theming, customization, and hosting to get you started. Visit http://www.unleashedmind.com for more information.

Project information

Releases