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Using BitTorrent Sync to live-edit or deploy websites

antler.co.za

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Re: Using BitTorrent Sync to live-edit or deploy websites

#11

Post by smurfpandey »

euank wrote: post #9

This is a bad idea for several reasons. The first issue is security. Loads of text editors create temporary files (.swp, .php~, etc) in the same directory as the file you're editing. These can render as text instead of going through php, thus revealing things like database secrets and such. Now, this problem won't always occur and can be configured around. However, perhaps the bigger problem is that this is simply a…

I used to sync my publish folder with btsync but after facing issues, looking into proper tools now. Also i am a newbie, so instead of chef or puppet, I am looking into CI tools and their deployment capabilities now. As far as i know, tools like chef provides you full server configuration management. I am guessing with EC2 custom AMIs and Teamcity i will be able to pull it off. What do you think?

Re: Using BitTorrent Sync to live-edit or deploy websites

#12

Post by euank »

smurfpandey wrote: post #11
euank wrote: post #9

This is a bad idea for several reasons. The first issue is security. Loads of text editors create temporary files (.swp, .php~, etc) in the same directory as the file you're editing. These can render as text instead of going through php, thus revealing things like database secrets and such. Now, this problem won't always occur and can be configured around. However, perhaps the bigger problem is that this is simply a…

I used to sync my publish folder with btsync but after facing issues, looking into proper tools now. Also i am a newbie, so instead of chef or puppet, I am looking into CI tools and their deployment capabilities now. As far as i know, tools like chef provides you full server configuration management. I am guessing with EC2 custom AMIs and Teamcity i will be able to pull it off. What do you think?

I've never used Teamcity, but it looks nice. I do agree chef/puppet can be overkill when you can just do custom AMIs. Definitely make sure you're using proper version control... Honestly, you don't give enough information for a proper opinion, but it'd probably be more informative to just do what you think is best and see how it works out. Ultimately the best workflow is the one that works (even when things go wrong).

Re: Using BitTorrent Sync to live-edit or deploy websites

#13

Post by rvavruch »

euank wrote: post #9

This is a bad idea for several reasons. The first issue is security. Loads of text editors create temporary files (.swp, .php~, etc) in the same directory as the file you're editing. These can render as text instead of going through php, thus revealing things like database secrets and such. Now, this problem won't always occur and can be configured around. However, perhaps the bigger problem is that this is simply a…

I certainly wouldn't suggest this method in place of a proper deployment strategy for serious development.

There are problems with this method, but, for a hobbyist who hand codes a small static or very simple site, I think it would be fun. Magic internet stuff.

The interesting idea for me was not just auto-syncing files onto a remote server, but onto a web server. It's obvious once you think of it, but I hadn't thought of it before.

Re: Using BitTorrent Sync to live-edit or deploy websites

#14

Post by hookshot »

euank wrote: post #9

This is a bad idea for several reasons. The first issue is security. Loads of text editors create temporary files (.swp, .php~, etc) in the same directory as the file you're editing. These can render as text instead of going through php, thus revealing things like database secrets and such. Now, this problem won't always occur and can be configured around. However, perhaps the bigger problem is that this is simply a…

The issue of temp files is covered by the author's approach of having a dev and a live folder. This is probably primarily useful for static sites html sites which wouldn't need to worry about that.

I work with a largely non technical team on a site that is 95% built with a static site generator. They needed versioning but I couldn't convince them to take on the overhead of SVN or Git.

We sync the project using Dropbox, than deploy the build folder via FTP. We use folders for branches and Dropbox has limited versioning.

The biggest problem is that the people this is useful for probably aren't going to have a VPS or know how to install the btsync daemon. There are a couple of services that offer hosting for dropbox static sites like site44[1]. I could see a Btsync equivalent being a popular service.t

1. http://www.site44.com/

Re: Using BitTorrent Sync to live-edit or deploy websites

#15

Post by smurfpandey »

euank wrote: post #12
smurfpandey wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to sync my publish folder with btsync but after facing issues, looking into proper tools now. Also i am a newbie, so instead of chef or puppet, I am looking into CI tools and their deployment capabilities now. As far as i know, tools like chef provides you full server configuration management. I am guessing with EC2 custom AMIs and Teamcity i will be able to pull it off. What do you think?

I've never used Teamcity, but it looks nice. I do agree chef/puppet can be overkill when you can just do custom AMIs. Definitely make sure you're using proper version control... Honestly, you don't give enough information for a proper opinion, but it'd probably be more informative to just do what you think is best and see how it works out. Ultimately the best workflow is the one that works (even when things go wrong)…

What more info you would like to know? We already have SVN in place. We are developing asp.net web app, and currently i manually migrate changes to release branch and publish from that branch.

Re: Using BitTorrent Sync to live-edit or deploy websites

#16

Post by inthewoods »

We're looking at deploying a static site generator - but one issue I've run into is how to allow our content folks to use the system. Ideally, the files would be stored in Github and then, on commit, the result are compiled and pushed to a staging server. We've been looking at Jenkins for managing the process, but it seems a bit heavy handed - anybody have any other suggestions?
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