Can I rename a module?

Question

I foolishly created a features module and named it events. This is bad because, of course, there is a registered module with that same name. So the update status report is always in error and drush has to lock the module so it doesn't attempt to "update" it.

I would rather not uninstall, recreate, reinstall because I will have to recreate content (yes, I have backup/restore installed).

Is it possible (advisable) to rename the directory and files, edit the .info, and edit the record in system?

     ericx ** drupal_addicted ** Wed Sep  3 15:26:29 2014
     sql> select * from system where name='events'\G
    *************************** 1. row ***************************
          filename: sites/dev.addictedtoagility.com/modules/custom/events/events.module
              name: events
              type: module
             owner: 
            status: 1
         bootstrap: 0
    schema_version: 0
            weight: 0
              info: a:11:{s:4:"name";s:6:"Events";s:11:"description";s:49:"Adds the Events content type and supporting stuff";s:4:"core";s:3:"7.x";s:7:"package";s:8:"addicted";s:7:"version";s:7:"7.x-0.1";s:7:"project";s:6:"events";s:12:"dependencies";a:8:{i:0;s:4:"date";i:1;s:11:"event_sites";i:2;s:8:"fe_block";i:3;s:4:"file";i:4;s:4:"list";i:5;s:14:"node_reference";i:6;s:9:"strongarm";i:7;s:5:"views";}s:8:"features";a:7:{s:6:"ctools";a:2:{i:0;s:21:"strongarm:strongarm:1";i:1;s:23:"views:views_default:3.0";}s:17:"fe_block_settings";a:1:{i:0;s:20:"views-events-block_1";}s:12:"features_api";a:1:{i:0;s:5:"api:1";}s:5:"field";a:5:{i:0;s:22:"node-event-field_dates";i:1;s:33:"node-event-field_event_event_site";i:2;s:22:"node-event-field_judge";i:3;s:24:"node-event-field_premium";i:4;s:27:"node-event-field_start_time";}s:4:"node";a:1:{i:0;s:5:"event";}s:8:"variable";a:14:{i:0;s:23:"comment_anonymous_event";i:1;s:26:"comment_default_mode_event";i:2;s:30:"comment_default_per_page_event";i:3;s:13:"comment_event";i:4;s:27:"comment_form_location_event";i:5;s:21:"comment_preview_event";i:6;s:27:"comment_subject_field_event";i:7;s:25:"date_format_month_and_day";i:8;s:33:"field_bundle_settings_node__event";i:9;s:18:"menu_options_event";i:10;s:17:"menu_parent_event";i:11;s:18:"node_options_event";i:12;s:18:"node_preview_event";i:13;s:20:"node_submitted_event";}s:10:"views_view";a:1:{i:0;s:6:"events";}}s:3:"php";s:5:"5.2.4";s:5:"files";a:0:{}s:9:"bootstrap";i:0;}

1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Answer 1

Renaming a Drupal feature requires additional steps than rename a custom module.

Solution 1 (without un/install)

1. Backup the DB.
2. Put the site on maintenance mode.
3. Rename the feature with an IDE or bash script (don't access/edit any content of the site while you are doing this).

4. Run:

   • drush php-eval 'registry_rebuild();'
   • drush updb -n. (forces drupal to reload caches related to module/features)
   • drush cc all

Solution 2 (more proved but requires un/install)

1. Backup the DB.
2. Follow the steps to rename the feature on this thread.

To replace the new name (the human and the machine name) on each file, I suggest you to use an IDE like NetBeans (or similar).

You can also use cool unix commands like sed and find to do it.

Try to make a code review after the changes to make sure that the rename was done on the right places.

Note: to make sure that the name I choose for a module/feature is not already used, I use the following command:

drush pm-list --type=Module --no-core --status=enabled --pipe | sort