Manually re-creating an install profile

Question

I've been reading about drupal install profiles, and I'm wondering if there's much of a difference between using a packaged install profile vs. installing core + manually installing the modules listed in the install profiles?

I'd like to do the latter (manually installing each) to control the versions of each module installed, which I can't control with a packaged install profile that may not have been maintained.

But should I or will I be opening the door to something I'm not aware of? Shouldn't the 2 be identical, just one automated and other is manual?

Answer 1

I believe you can specify the versions of the modules you want to install see

Answer 2

The difference is that an installation profile includes the right version of all the modules it needs. This means that differently from manually installing each module, you don't need to verify the correct version of the module X that effectively works together the module Y; there are few cases where one module doesn't work well when version A of another module is installed, and you need to install version B of the same module, if you don't want problems.

An installation profile can have a custom installation page that allows you to change some parameters of your site; it also allows the installation profile author to define a patch that needs to be applied a module, in order to fix a bug of the module, or to make it work better with another module. If you need to set a site to work for a particular purpose, installation profiles are useful for you as they allow you to set the site correctly without to know all the details about how a Drupal site needs to be set.

Answer 3

What kiamlaluno said, plus the fact that installation profiles may perform custom configuration of settings on install, might construct custom views/content-types/etc (especially by means of features.module, which you can see heavy use of in OpenAtrium), and might provide other custom code in distro-specific module.

The short answer is, no you can't just replicate an install profile by downloading a clean drupal with all those modules -- best bet is to use the install profile. If you're worried about module versions, just make sure you're using a profile that's actively maintained.