Deploy EE sites from GitHub with Capistrano

Tired of copying sites via (S)FTP and then editing files directly on the server? Do you wish you could keep a current snapshot of the site files in a safe version control repository and then deploy out changes as needed?

Well, Hivelogic’s Dan Benjamin has written an exhaustive tutorial on how to deploy your ExpressionEngine websites with GitHub and Capistrano (a deployment tool created for deploying Ruby on Rails sites).

Here’s Dan’s summary:

Many people are familiar with the advantages of using Git and GitHub to manage their projects and source code, but deploying an ExpressionEngine installation for deployment in this way can be a bit tricky. This article details the Capistrano recipe I’ve created specifically for automating the management and deployment of an ExpressionEngine website, with provisions for maintaining uploaded content across deployments, omitting unwanted content from the repository, setting the correct permissions, and more. The recipe also handles creating the server-side directories you’ll need to accomplish these tasks in a completely automated way.

Go expand your EE toolbelt and deploy your sites in a powerful way!