Editing EPrints Glossary (section)

=== Site lib ===
Creating a directory in the [[#EPrints path|EPrints path]] with the name ''site_lib'', will allow you modify [[#Core codebase|core code and configuration]], which will apply to all of the [[#Archive|archives]] in your [[#Repository|repository]].  If you are running EPrints version 3.4+, be sure to also add ''site_lib'' to your [[#Flavour|flavour's]] [[#Inc file|inc file]].

Sometimes you may need modify the functionality of files in the core codebase but you don't want to change them, as this will involve having to merge any future changes when you upgrade [[#EPrints repository software|EPrints repository software]].  This is particularly useful if you need to modify a non-plugin code file, ([[#Plugin|plugin]] files can be [[Instructions_for_local_plugins|overridden]] by [[#Archive level|archive level]] versions), E.g. ''[[API:EPrints/Repository|perl_lib/EPrints/Repository.pm]]'', which can simply be copied to ''site_lib/EPrints/plugins/Repository.pm'' rather than modifying it in place.  However, when you do upgrade EPrints, you will still need to reconcile any updates to the ''perl_lib/'' version of this file with your version in ''site_lib/plugins/''.  This will be a much more straightforward task, (than if you had just modified the version in ''perl_lib/''), as both files will still be in place to compare.  One particular use of ''site_lib'' is for inter-version patches from [https://github.com/eprints/eprints3.4|EPrints' GitHub].  As when it comes to an upgrade, the versions of the files in ''site_lib/plugins/'' can just be removed, as their modifications will be present in their ''perl_lib/'' equivalents.