capistrano-linked-files

This gem provides Capistrano 3.1 reciepes to upload your linked files and directories. It's quite useful for files such as config/database.yml and config/secrets.yml, which are usually ignored (at least they should be) from version control systems.

Linked files and directories are placed in the shared directory on your remote servers and kept between deployments. After a new deployment, a symlink is created from the shared directory to the current directory.

Inspiration was found in damselem's capistrano-shared-files, but capistrano-linked-files uses the "built in" Capistrano configuration variables linked_files and linked_dirs instead of custom ones. This way it's not necessary to specify your linked files twice.

Add the gem to your Gemfile:

gem 'capistrano-linked-files'

Or install it to your system:

$ gem install capistrano-linked-files

Add the gem to your Capfile:

require 'capistrano/linked_files'

In deploy.rb, list the files and directories you'd like to keep between deployments:

set :linked_files, %w(config/database.yml config/secrets.yml)
set :linked_dirs, %w(bin log tmp)

Then run the task:

$ bundle exec cap <STAGE> linked_files:upload

By default, the listed files and directories are uploaded to all server roles. You may change this by doing the following:

# Set upload roles using symbols
set :upload_roles, :all

# Set upload roles using arrays
set :upload_roles, %w(web app)

If you only want to upload files or dirs, then run the tasks accordingly:

$ bundle exec cap <STAGE> linked_files:upload_files
$ bundle exec cap <STAGE> linked_files:upload_dirs

To automatically upload linked files and directories after a new deployment, add the following to your deploy.rb:

# Uploading both linked_files and dirs
before :finishing, 'linked_files:upload'

# Uploading only linked_files
before :finishing, 'linked_files:upload_files'

# Uploading only dirs
before :finishing, 'linked_files:upload_dirs'

1. Fork it
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create a new Pull Request

The capistrano-linked-files plugin is free software released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.