Fixing github rails deployment

Question

I'm just getting to know rails deployment so forgive me if this question sounds silly. I have (on my local machine) created a rails app, capified it, initiated git, pushed it (origin -> master to a private repo) and then cloned it on a VPS. However, after that I had to modify several files on the server due to the server's peculiarities and now the repos obviously don't match. I want to start working with Capistrano, but as it is, I cannot do anything (I didn't even catch up with the changes on my local machine). So, I've got several questions.

a) What's the best way to go on about this? Can I delete the github repo, then create another one by pushing from the VPS and clone it on my local machine? If so, should I 'degit' (delete the .git folder) the repo on a server first? Or is the best way to copy the app directory to the local machine and then go through all this once again?

b) As far as I'm concerned, the only file that has to be different between server and the development machine is the database.yml file, do I have to add it to .gitignore and if yes, will it be deleted the next time I pull the changes from the master?

c) If (at first) I push it to github from the VPS as origin, will I be able to change the role afterwards, for it to change every time I push changes to the master from my local machine?

d) Does it even make sense to use Capistrano if there's another way to pull the changes automatically (I've heard some people are somehow using commit hooks)? Because at this point in time I just want to keep the app folder on the VPS up-to-date with what's on github and the capfile and deploy.rb seem to be offering far too many options. Not elegant in the slightest bit.

Thank you for your attention, have a nice day. Sincerely yours, Eugene.

Answer 1

a), can't you get the combined diff as a diff file and apply to the local code? Or just commit from there? Then, you will have the changes in the github repo. (ignore the changes that expose private information, use git add -p on the critical files)

for b), the database.yml file is already configured to have different conviguration per environment (dev/production). If you need something more, you can read environment variables (setting them in the production machine) using ERB:

Failing to access environment variables within `database.yml` file

On the other side, if you add the database.yml to the ignored files, you'll need some other way to generate it.

c) does not make sense for me. The VPS's repo will have a default remote configured, and your local repo too, you can push and pull and fetch from wherever you want.

d) capistrano is good enough, keep in mind to not overload the configuration with lots of hooks etc, it may become difficult to manage. Deploying through capistrano is a matter of seconds, I wouldn't worry about it.