Import or install?

How do you update your environments?

I've done it in two different ways on different projects.

The most common way is to download a database from another environment and import it.

The downside is that there needs to be a blessed database for everyone to use and someone needs to maintain and update.

It can also contain user data, such as usernames, email addresses, passwords and webform submissions that you should sanitise or remove.

The other option is to install the application from scratch.

For Drupal projects, this means installing using the existing configuration to re-create the content types, fields, views, block types, etc.

This confirms the configuration is installable or it will fail.

As it's a fresh installation, it can be run by anyone without needing to maintain an blessed database and doesn't contain any user data.

Then you can recreate any data, such as users or content, that you need or seed the database with standard data.

For Drupal, I've been using the Default Content module for this, which has been working very well.

If I can, I much prefer the install approach rather than importing.

Which do you do, or do you do something else?