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I recently downloaded the Features module and was so glad over how smoothly I now can export functionality from dev to prod. But now when I'm trying to create a second feature I'm getting conflicts because I already used a lot of the same field bases in my first feature.

What can I do to resolve this? Are you not suppose to be able to use the same fields in different features? It doesn't seem right that I should have to define as many fields for "body text" that I have features, or image fields for that matter. Those fields could and should be shared right?

What are my options here?

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Say you have two Features, and one field that is used in both Features, then you only need to export the field base ONCE.

This is why I generally have a "controller" Feature that contains field bases, update hooks etc, and then for every other Feature I export the field instance, and then add a dependency on my controller feature.

Basically, you are right - you don't need to export the field bases every time, just export them once and then add dependencies.

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  • ^ This seems a bit ropey, if you need any further clarification please let me know and I'll see if I can expand.
    – Chapabu
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 8:20
  • Yes I just started doing something like this. I'm now removing the field bases from my created feature, and adding them in a new "Master field bases feature", which I'll be adding as a dependency on future features that share fields. This is what you mean right? Also, this seems like a better idea than not defining the field bases in a "master feature", since then future feature dependencies will be all over the place.
    – Johan Dahl
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 8:29
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    Yeah, that's kinda what I do. My "controller" Feature always serves other purposes as well though. For example, if during my feature development, I change some module settings, I put them in a hook_update_N implementation in the controller feature's .install file. All of my dependencies are resolved with the controller feature, and all of my "sub-features" depend on the controller. This means that all module dependencies are resolved in one single place, as opposed to 5/6/different Features....does that make sense?
    – Chapabu
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 8:31
  • While we are on this issue, how do I set up my dependencies to the "master feature"? I have now created a master feature with the base fields, and my other feature holds the fields instances instead. Do I add dependencies myself somewhere or does this work automaticly? I dont see any options.
    – Johan Dahl
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 8:34
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    Ah, that's a completely different question I'm afaid. Two good places to start are the documentation for hook_update_N or the hook-update-n tag on this site :)
    – Chapabu
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 8:42

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