Automating git pull process on dev/QA server on commit

Question

I have my rails application hosted on github. Whenever a commit happens on 'dev' branch I would like to do git pull on the dev box and also invoke '/etc/init.d/apache2 restart' command. Is this something I can do with Capistrano deployment or I can write some kind of custom shell script and somehow hook in my rails app to call that shell script?

Answer 1

You will need a post-receive hook on the git server that causes a git pull on the dev box. A quick DAFS for "git deploy with post-receive" found quite a few resources, like http://ryanflorence.com/deploying-websites-with-a-tiny-git-hook

I would personally prefer using a build system like Jenkins for this as it gives you more control and visibility. We have set up a continuous deployment system using Jenkins and github post-receive hooks with relatively little fuss. Another advantage is that you can run your tests before automatically deploying (if they pass) by chaining jobs.