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Development Site / Final Site


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samstone

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Registered: 09/29/02
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What's the best way to have a development site that is different from the final site.

For example. I want to redevelop a site and don't want to interrupt it until I finnish my new site behind the seen. Whtat's the best way to do it? Which way provides the minimum changes needed when the new site is finalized and move to the final site to replace it?

Sam
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Turias

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I think the best way would be to have a separate database and subdomain. Copy all the files from your deployment domain to the dev subdomain. Then, export the deployment database and import it into the dev. Change the config.php in the dev, and everything should work.

Change the dev as you see fit. Back up the deployment (to be safe).

Then, when you are ready to implement the changes, copy the dev files to the deployment server, export the dev databases to the deployment site. Finally, fix the config.php file so that it again points to the deployment server.

I think that is the easiest way, but that's just me.
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samstone

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Sounds good. I don't even need the first part because I am developing a GL site to replace a static site.

Any better idea folks!

Sam
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ScottMcW

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Registered: 09/22/02
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Turia,

That's a great idea. I am in a similar position. I want to upgrade everything, but am afraid to do it to my production site. Can you suggest a technique to do this for that purpose? The solution you recommend looks like it would work great for tweaking a site where the data tables were staying the same. But, of course, with many of the GL upgrades the tables get modified.

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks,

ScottMcW
www.type34.org
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ScurvyDawg

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Why not just install GL into a subfolder of your current site and when it is up and running to your liking setup a redirect?
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Blaine

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You also could just setup security using IIS permissions or a .htaccess to require a login/password to gain access to the site. When your ready - just remove the login and the site will be public.
Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com
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samstone

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The idea of redirecting doesn't sound cool to me. I like the new site to be the root index page.

Blaine's security idea seems to have to be used together with the redirecting, or the subdomain idea.

Thank you all for your suggestions. The reason I asked was because I am using phpCollab for project management and in it there is a "Development Site" and a "Final Site" fields. So it prompted me to ask this questions to find out how the "professionals" handle their projects.

Keep coming with the great ideas!

Sam
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Turias

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Quote by ScottMcW: Turia,

The solution you recommend looks like it would work great for tweaking a site where the data tables were staying the same. But, of course, with many of the GL upgrades the tables get modified.

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks,

ScottMcW
www.type34.org


Actually, my suggestion should work even if the database tables undergo major changes.
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Norgs

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Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 17
Hey guys,

Just on from this topic a little; Can someone suggest a way (or point me to a thread) for those who were not smart enough to look ahead and think about such matter as a development site etc...

My point is... I got my old site (static) running ...

www.domainname.tld/

I installed GL to a dir for testing/development

www.domainname.tld/test/

Now I want to scrap the old site and move eveything from the test directory to the root of the site. Apart from changing config.php for the site paths, what else is going to die on me? Is there anythign else I should do. I have the gallery mod installed, so I would probably need to look at it's config file too.

Thanks
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ScottMcW

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Quote by Turias:Actually, my suggestion should work even if the database tables undergo major changes.


Thanks Turias,

The only thing I'm unclear about is how data that comes in on the Deployment site while I'm working on the Dev site (forum posts, new submissions, etc) gets transferred to the Deployment site.

Thanks for your help!

ScottMcW
www.type34.org
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Turias

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Quote by ScottMcW:
Quote by Turias:Actually, my suggestion should work even if the database tables undergo major changes.


Thanks Turias,

The only thing I'm unclear about is how data that comes in on the Deployment site while I'm working on the Dev site (forum posts, new submissions, etc) gets transferred to the Deployment site.

Thanks for your help!

ScottMcW
www.type34.org


It doesn't. Sadly, you have one of two options:

1) Disable your original site while you are upgrading.
2) Manually update the new database with the content that was added since you started updating (you can export the database at the beginning and at the end and do a diff to see what has changed).

Neither are fun, but such is the life of an updating site admin...
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Turias

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Quote by Norgs: Hey guys,

Just on from this topic a little; Can someone suggest a way (or point me to a thread) for those who were not smart enough to look ahead and think about such matter as a development site etc...

My point is... I got my old site (static) running ...

www.domainname.tld/

I installed GL to a dir for testing/development

www.domainname.tld/test/

Now I want to scrap the old site and move eveything from the test directory to the root of the site. Apart from changing config.php for the site paths, what else is going to die on me? Is there anythign else I should do. I have the gallery mod installed, so I would probably need to look at it's config file too.

Thanks


If you are not changing databases, all you should have to do is change all of the paths (config.php and maybe gallery/other plugins). If there are some database changes, you'll have to change those, too.
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Norgs

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Posts: 17
Quote by Turias:
Quote by Norgs: Hey guys,

Just on from this topic a little; Can someone suggest a way (or point me to a thread) for those who were not smart enough to look ahead and think about such matter as a development site etc...

My point is... I got my old site (static) running ...

www.domainname.tld/

I installed GL to a dir for testing/development

www.domainname.tld/test/

Now I want to scrap the old site and move eveything from the test directory to the root of the site. Apart from changing config.php for the site paths, what else is going to die on me? Is there anythign else I should do. I have the gallery mod installed, so I would probably need to look at it's config file too.

Thanks


If you are not changing databases, all you should have to do is change all of the paths (config.php and maybe gallery/other plugins). If there are some database changes, you'll have to change those, too.


Thanks
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ScottMcW

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Registered: 09/22/02
Posts: 42
Ok...one more stupid question. What's the best way to do a Diff in MySQL?

Thanks!

ScottMcW
www.type34.org
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Turias

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A diff in mySQL? I don't know if you can. You can easily do a diff between two exported database files, though.
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ScottMcW

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Posts: 42
Ah, ok...gotcha. So, what program do I use to do a diff? Sorry for the (probably) lame question. I'm not a hard-core programmer...just someone who knows enough to get into trouble!

Thanks again!

ScottMcW
www.type34.org
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Turias

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Registered: 10/20/03
Posts: 807
Are you on linux? If so, the command is 'diff'. Mr. Green

Just enter
> diff file1 file2
and it will print it out to the terminal.

If you are using windows, do some googling. There has to be a free program out there.
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r_f_o_t

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Registered: 07/30/03
Posts: 241
Location:Illinois
Quote by Turias: Are you on linux? If so, the command is 'diff'. Mr. Green


Try Kompare if you use KDE. Easy GUI frontend to diff.

Chuck
Too many hands on my time.
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