Instantiate a git repository with a newly minted rails app.

rails railsapp && cd railsapp
git init-db
touch .gitignore

Add the following lines to .gitignore:

config/database.yml
tmp/*
log/*

Add all the files to the repository and commit all.

git add .
git status # To check the status of the working copy.
git commit -a -m "Initial commit"
git log # To see the log for the repository.

Create a remote git repository from the one just created.

cd ..
git clone --bare railsapp/.git railsapp.git
scp -r railsapp.git username@remote-machine:/home/username/git-repos
cd railsapp
git remote add gitserver username@remote-machine:/home/username/git-repos/railsapp.git

Replace gitserver with a name you want to reference the remote machine by. Make sure that the path to the git binaries is defined in ~/.bashrc and not ~/.bash_profile because remote commands load the former and not the latter. Information about the remote is added in the git config.

git push gitserver # Push the code in local repository to gitserver

On the remote machine, in railsapp.git:

export GIT_DIR=.
git log

Branching and merging in git.

git branch -a # Show all git branches (including the remote machine).
git branch # Show all local git branches.
git checkout -b experimental # Create and switch to new branch "experimental".
git checkout master # Switch back to master branch.
git checkout experimental # Switch back to experimental branch.

To merge experimental into master:

git checkout master # Switch to the master branch as the working copy.
git pull . experimental # Does a fetch and then a merge; you could just merge.
git add filenameinconflict # Fix files in conflict and then do a git add.
git commit -a # After merging do a commit.

After merging the experimental branch into master, we’re finished with it so we can delete its identifier. The branch’s change history will still be there but the branch name is gone. To do so:

git branch -d experimental
git branch # See that the branch name is deleted.
gitk --all& # Visualize the change history using a TK GUI.

Database

database.yml

development:
  adapter: sqlite3
  database: db/development.sqlite3

test:
  adapter: sqlite3
  database: db/test.sqlite3

production:
  adapter: mysql
  encoding: utf8
  host: localhost
  database: production_db_name
  username: mysql_username
  password: mysql_password

Mongrel Cluster

mongrel_cluster.yml

---
user: user
group: user
environment: production
address: 127.0.0.1
port: 3000
servers: 2
cwd: /home/user/webapps/railsapp/current
log_file: log/mongrel.log
pid_file: tmp/pids/mongrel.pid

Capistrano

In railsapp, execute:

capify .

Capfile

load 'deploy' if respond_to?(:namespace) # cap2 differentiator
Dir['vendor/plugins/*/recipes/*.rb'].each { |plugin| load(plugin) }
load 'config/deploy'
load 'config/mongrel' # mongrel overrides

deploy.rb

set :application, "railsapp"
set :repository,  "user@webxx.webfaction.com:/home/user/git-repos/railsapp.git"
set :domain, "webxx.webfaction.com"
set :deploy_to, "/home/user/webapps/#{application}"
set :mongrel_conf, "#{current_path}/config/mongrel_cluster.yml"
set :scm, :git
set :deploy_via, :remote_cache
ssh_options[:paranoid] = false
set :user, "user"
set :runner, "user"
set :use_sudo, false
role :app, domain
role :web, domain
role :db,  domain, :primary => true

# If the production web server doesn't have access to your git server,
# add the following two lines.
set :deploy_via, :copy # instead of :remote_cache
set :git_shallow_clone, 1 # optional, but makes things faster

# moves over server config files after deploying the code
task :update_config, :roles => [:app] do
  run "cp -Rf #{shared_path}/config/* #{release_path}/config/"
end
after 'deploy:update_code', :update_config

mongrel.rb

# mongrel-based overrides of the default tasks

namespace :deploy do
  namespace :mongrel do
    [ :stop, :start, :restart ].each do |t|
      desc "#{t.to_s.capitalize} the mongrel appserver"
      task t, :roles => :app do
        #invoke_command checks the use_sudo variable to determine how to run the mongrel_rails command
        invoke_command "mongrel_rails cluster::#{t.to_s} -C #{mongrel_conf}", :via => run_method
      end
    end
  end

  desc "Custom restart task for mongrel cluster"
  task :restart, :roles => :app, :except => { :no_release => true } do
    deploy.mongrel.restart
  end

  desc "Custom start task for mongrel cluster"
  task :start, :roles => :app do
    deploy.mongrel.start
  end

  desc "Custom stop task for mongrel cluster"
  task :stop, :roles => :app do
    deploy.mongrel.stop
  end

end