Geeks among us often wonder what a website is built with. Is it a Java/J2EE home-cooked mess? Is it a .Net nightmare? Or is it a common CMS installation styled to the extent of not being recognizable (i.e. not being ugly, anymore :) )?

Most 5-minute drupal installations will respond to requests like http://example.com/user/ and http://example.com/admin/ and you will see familiar Drupal interface: either the ugly tabs, or the Garland itself.

More paranoid (or careful?) admins may have the default URIs disguised for public eyes. If we are doing analysis using an automated tool (somebody?) it’s better to have an alternative method since other CMS’s may respond to the same URIs and automated tools don’t have eyes to see the ugly tabs.

What may help in a complex analysis of a site is looking at its HTML source. If in the header you see URIs like “/misc/drupal.js” you know this site is running Drupal! If the website admin had enabled javascript aggregation, though, you won’t see anything like that and will have to hunt for “/sites/default/files/js” pattern.

Also, please note that Drupal does not load drupal.js if no other javascript is requested from code, so you may not see any of those on the home page. It’s the best to look at the “Add Comment” pages, since those usually have some Javascript.

Happy hunting! :)