Playing with Drupal 4.7 tonight and wondering what the .install file does. After installing about twenty modules the old fashioned way - using PHPMyAdmin to run the .sql file to create the database tables needed to support the module - I decided to read an install.txt file. Imagine my suprise to learn that, if there is a .install file included with the module, all you have to do is upload it to the modules directory and enable it on the module admin page. Drupal now creates the database tables for you. I tried it. It works. Makes sense, given everything Drupal needs to know to do this is already in the config file.

Many people are not comfortable with adding database tables using PHPMyAdmin. Now they don’t necessarily have to use it to install modules. This will help the Drupal community extend its reach and grow the install base. And it will save me a bit of time on each Drupal project. Time is money. And it adds up.

Thanks, Drupal Gods!