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When I am updating Drupal core, and uploading files via FTP, how can I prevent mydomain.com/install.php trying to load and displaying WSOD errors like "Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required..."?
I'd like to display a static page with a BRB message instead.
Just move your entire Drupal root somewhere else, and put something else in its place (with a "Be Right Back"-message) while the upgrade goes on.
For instance, if your Drupal root is /var/www/html, prepare a directory named /var/www/brb and put a static index.html-file in it with your BRB message.
Then execute the following pair of commands:
mv /var/www/html /var/www/pending_upgrade
mv /var/www/brb /var/www/html
Now, make sure that your ftp job puts the files in below /var/www/pending_upgrade.
When done, restore your site with the following pair of commands:
mv /var/www/html /var/www/brb
mv /var/www/pending_upgrade /var/www/html
The above assumes that you have CLI access. If you don't, most ftp tools have built-in commands to move directories around.
settings.php is missing or unreadable, or the DB is missing, Drupal redirects any attempts to access the site to install.php. By making Drupal inaccessible for page requests (by moving it somewhere else), this redirection don't happen.
Apr 14, 2014 at 21:11