Disable module output

By default, all modules are configured so that module output can be written to a view. Turning off output offers a way to essentially disable a module that cannot be disabled due to hard dependencies.

For example, the Customer module depends on the Review module, so the Review module cannot be disabled. However, if you do not want customers to provide reviews, you could turn off output from the Review module.

The Output disabling is performed in following classes:

• \Magento\Framework\View\Element\AbstractBlock::toHtml
• \Magento\Backend\Block\Template::isOutputEnabled

Disable module output in a pipeline deployment

To disable module output in the pipeline deployment or any other deployment, with multiple instances of the Commerce application:

1. Edit the Backend module’s config.xml file.
2. Export the configuration changes.

Edit the Backend module config.xml file

1. Archive the original config.xml file.

2. Add lines similar to the following to the <Magento_install_dir>/vendor/magento/module-backend/etc/config.xml file, directly under the <default> element:

   <advanced>
       <modules_disable_output>
           <Magento_Newsletter>1</Magento_Newsletter>
       </modules_disable_output>
   </advanced>
   

   Here:

   • <modules_disable_output> contains a list of modules.
   • <Magento_Newsletter></Magento_Newsletter> specifies which module to disable output for.
   • 1 is the flag that disables output for the Magento_Newsletter module.

As a sample result of this configuration, customers can no longer sign up to receive newsletters.

Export the configuration changes

Run the following command to export the configuration changes:

bin/magento app:config:dump

The results are written to the <Magento_install_dir>/app/etc/config.php file.

Next, clear the cache to enable the new setting:

bin/magento cache:clean config

See Export the configuration.

Disable module output in a simple deployment

The procedure for disabling module output on a single instance of Commerce is easier because the changes do not have to be distributed.

1. Archive the original <Magento_install_dir>/app/etc/config.php file.

2. Add the advanced and modules_disable_output sections to the config.php file (if they do not exist):

   'system' =>
     array (
       'websites' =>
       array (
         'base' =>
         array (
           'advanced' =>
           array (
             'modules_disable_output' =>
             array (
               'Magento_Review' => '1',
             ),
           ),
         ),
       ),
     ),
   

In this example, output for the Magento_Review module has been disabled and customers can no longer review products.
To re-enable output, set the value to 0.