Clean install

[neotoxic]

I would like to suggest having a clean install option.

I appreciate that a basic pre-installed site is a great way to understand how ProcessWire works, but when setting up a new projects from the latest build, removing that default sites pages, template associations, fields, template files and assets etc a pain.

I have read about custom install profiles, but the options to start from a clean slate would almost always be useful.

Is there a way to do this easily currently?

[ryan]

We will plan to put together a blank(er) install profile with 2.1. Technically, there isn't really such thing as a completely blank installation because so much of ProcessWire itself is built in it's own framework. It's admin, user, role and permission system is built on a structure of pages, as are it's required homepage and 404 page (these are non-removable system pages). There are also several fields and templates built-in that it requires (called system fields and templates). Though the main ones you'll see are the 'title' field and the 'admin' template – PW hides the others unless you use the filters in the Setup > Fields/Templates part of the admin.

A blank install profile would be like the current install profile, but with just 1 non-system template (like page.php), homepage, 404 page and admin page structure, and no body, sidebar or images fields. We'd make the default included template just be a blank HTML5 skeleton page, maybe linking to a blank stylesheet.

I guess that the current install profile is kind of built around my own needs because nearly every site I build has at least the included fields and templates, so for me it's a much quicker starting point than a blank profile. But a blank profile has been requested a few times, so clearly there's a need for it and we'll make it happen.

[Robert Zelník]

Here is my two cents for blank(er) install profile. I would suggest to make som cleanup on id (AUTO_INCREMENT) value in "pages" table. 5765+ is just too high for fresh new installation.

[ryan]

Trying to keep a block of reserved IDs in the lower numbers for future use, probably going to change the starting ID to like 1000 or something like that.

[ryan]

Robert–this has been updated in the latest fresh install of PW 2.1. The IDs now start at 1000, though 1000-1005 are used by  the default site profile, so technically they start at 1006 unless you reuse the default site profile pages.

[Robert Zelník]

Great, thanks.