Convert Capistrano symlinks to Engine Yard Cloud symlinks

Many people use Capistrano to configure symlinks to shared folders.

Ideally you’d be able to fully deploy your app from the Dashboard without Capistrano.

Example Capistrano recipe

Here’s an example of a common Capistrano recipes for symlinking folders:

after "deploy:update_code", "symlink_files" 
after "deploy:update_code", "symlink_geo_ip" 

task :symlink_files do 
  %w(photo card).each do |folder| 
    path = "#{release_path}/../../shared/files/#{folder}" 
    symlink_path = "#{release_path}/public/#{folder}" 
    run "mkdir -p #{path}" 
    puts "Symlinking #{folder} folder" 
    run "rm -rf #{symlink_path}" 
    run "ln -sf #{path} #{symlink_path}" 
  end 
end 

task :symlink_geo_ip do 
  path = "#{release_path}/../../shared/GeoIPCity.dat" 
  symlink_path = "#{release_path}/db/GeoIPCity.dat" 
  puts "Symlinking GeoIP" 
  run "rm -rf #{symlink_path}" 
  run "ln -sf #{path} #{symlink_path}" 
end 

Using deploy hooks

To replace the above Capistrano recipes, we suggest using our deploy hooks to customize your application deployment when using the Dashboard or the CLI to deploy your code.

Before symlink deploy hook

Create a file $RAILS_ROOT/deploy/before_symlink.rb with these contents:

%w(photo card).each do |folder| 
    run "echo 'release_path: #{release_path}/public/#{folder}' >> #{shared_path}/logs.log" 
    run "ln -nfs #{shared_path}/files/#{folder} #{release_path}/public/#{folder}" 
end 
run "echo 'release_path: #{release_path}/db/GeoIPCity.dat' >> #{shared_path}/logs.log" 
run "ln -nfs #{shared_path}/shared/GeoIPCity.dat #{release_path}/db/GeoIPCity.dat" 

Note: We use the “Release” path instead of “Current” because it hasn’t been symlinked yet.

Learn more about our Use deploy hooks.

Conclusion

By converting to deploy hooks, your application can now be deployed from the Dashboard without having to use Capistrano.

If you have feedback or questions about this page, add a comment below. If you need help, submit a ticket with Engine Yard Support.