Configurable Help

This is a spin-off from #2351991: Add a config entity for a configurable, topic-based help system.

On that issue, a new configuration entity was proposed for Drupal 8 Core, which would allow site builders, module developers, and theme developers to use the Drupal administrative UI to define, share, and deploy help topics. See the issue summary for details.

That patch initially didn't make the 8.0.x deadline, so this Sandbox module was spun off to continue development.

During the 8.1.x cycle, part of the original sandbox here was spun off into core issue #2661200: Make admin/help page more flexible, and list tours on it, which allowed core and contrib modules to add sections to the main admin/help page. The rest of the project here, however, missed the 8.1.x deadline.

During the 8.2.x cycle, the patch author (jhodgdon) decided to stop trying to pursue getting it into Core, at least for the present.

During the 8.5.x cycle, a group formed to try to get this into Core again. There are two issues about this:

#2592487: [meta] Help system overhaul -- an "Ideas" queue issue proposing to have it be an Official Initiative to get this into Core as an experimental module

#2920309: Add experimental module for Configurable Help -- which is working on the Core patch (basically this module but put into Core)

We are working on individual issues in this module's issue queue, and adding them to the Core issue as they are resolved. See
https://www.drupal.org/project/issues/2369943?categories=All
if you want to help.

Current status

(This section last updated 20 December 2017)

The module is working, and has automated tests, which all pass locally (there is no automated tests for experimental modules). The branch to use is 8.x-2.x. However, it's a sandbox, and may not be completely stable.

If you have been using 8.x-1.x and want to switch to 8.x-2.x, be sure to run update.php on your site, because the configuration schema has changed, so your existing help topics will need to be updated.

You might also want to check the issue list to see what still needs to be done.