Currently i use a dump script and commit the database to the git repo.
--skip-extended-insert --skip-comments --skip-dump-date means that a diff can give me a fair idea of what has changed, but it all falls down if I try to merge.
The WP_SITEURL, WP_HOME and all the other places wordpress stores full URLs need updating when importing to another host (testing,staging,production)
Is anyone using a better method?
Main issues:
- WordPress stores full URLs all through the database (non-portable)
- Lots of other, non-relevant records change
- auto_increment values (i just strip these out, but have run into ID issues)
- timestamps (can also strip out, potentially)
- transient* records … no idea what to do with them
A process that created timestamped migrations, with only the things added or removed, would be ideal… but i’m not sure if it’s even possible?
Here are two possible solutions, both of these are actually generic MySQL version control tools but can be adapted to your workflow:
dbv.php
This tool creates “migrations”, which are basically SQL scripts, from the changes detected on the database. These scripts are stored in a local directory and thus can be commited to your current VCS (git, for example).
It’s used through a PHP web interface.
DBVC
Fundamentally similar to the previous tool, this is based on a command line interface. It’s configured through a json file. The main difference is that it doesn’t auto-generate the migration files.
There’s a pending issue to integrate this with the previous similar, so that’s something to look for.
WordPress Plugins
Some plugins that could aid in the creation of a repeatable workflow:
- VersionPress (still in early development at this date)
- WP Migrate DB (there is a pro version)
- WP Synch DB (a fork of the previous project with some of the pro features included)
