These instructions describe how to deploy code to your server automatically when issuing new commits to GitHub. Stop using FTP to deploy your code changes!
Generate ssh keys for the Apache user in the .ssh folder of Apache's home folder: # ssh-keygen -t rsa. The home folder for the Apache user is /var/www in most cases. Run # cat /etc/passwd or # echo ~apache to verify where the Apache user's home folder is actually located. Depending on your flavor of Linux, the Apache user may be named www-data or apache. Ensure that the .ssh folder is assigned 0700 permissions and is owned by Apache. Also, ensure the newly created key files are given 0600 permissions and are owned by Apache: # chown apache:apache -R /var/www/.ssh && chmod 0700 /var/www/.ssh && chmod 0600 /var/www/.ssh/*
In a public webroot on the server make a webhook folder with this structure (# mkdir webhook && cd webhook && touch hook.php webhook.log .htaccess):
webhook
|
|-hook.php
|
|-webhook.log
|
|-.htaccess
Grant the Apache user ownership of this folder and its contents: # chown apache:apache -R webhook. View the sample hook.php and .htaccess files I've included. The hook.php script is merely a simple example of how to pull new commits to the server and checkout the code into a live Apache webroot. The webhook.log file will retain a running log of all the commits the the web server has processed. The .htaccess file simply protects the webhook.log from being publicly readable.
Change directories to the folder containing your website on your server (# cd /srv/www/example.com).
Important: Do not navigate into the public webroot folder (eg. public_html). For security reasons I do not store Git repositories in publicly available web folders.
Create a folder containing the domain name of the site with ".git" appended to the name (# mkdir example.com.git). Change directories into this newly created folder and issue commands:
# git initto initialize the repo.- Add the GitHub origin address as a remote:
# git remote add origin git@github.com:username/repo_name.git. - Verify that the remote was successfully added:
# git remote -v. Ensure that ports 22 and 9418 are open in the firewall for Git to contact remotes. - Issue an initial pull request:
# git pull origin master:master. If everything is configured properly the pull will complete successfully.
Make Apache the owner of the example.com.git folder: # chown apache:apache -R /srv/www/example.com/example.com.git. Finally, make Apache the owner of the public web folder that the Git repository will checkout into: # chown apache:apache -R /srv/www/example.com/public_html.
- Add Apache's deployment key in the repository settings (
id_rsa.pub). - Visit the "Service Hooks" section of the repository settings and add the "WebHook URL" (ie.
http://yoursite.com/webhook/hook.php?key=TsbWK7eZXGkxipXt6C). This URL is the address you intend to use as the destination of the WebHook on your server. Don't forget to include the GET key. Don't use mine, generate a new one. - Ensure that the name of the repository is the same as the domain name (ie.
example.com). This step ensures that the WebHook will know which website is being updated.
The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) 2013 Stephen Howells
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.