Dealing with SVN and FTP and dynamic files created/changing on the server?

Basically I've got various projects all version controlled using subversion. This is for many reasons: backup of files in case of bugs/issues in the f开发者_开发百科uture; backup of files in case of local system failure etc; collaboration from others in the company; etc..

One of the systems we work with is Wordpress which does updates and installs plugins through its administration panel and such, plus on installing it the system creates various files (including a wp-config.php file and a .htaccess file). This means that on install there are files on the server integral to the running of the system which aren't on the local systems and aren't in svn. Plus any installed plugins and updates aren't mirrored in version control or the local copy.

Plus it feels wrong (specifically when you compare with data normalisation in databases and such) to be working with two copies of the same code - one in version control and one on the server.

So my question is am I using the tools in the right way? Is there any way that the public_html folder from the server can "point" to the latest version in the repo? Or can SVN be configured to read from the public_html folder and automatically add+commit any files created/edited on the server?

Or do people just literally download anything that gets changed/created and add them to SVN manually? Or do people not care? Maybe I've misinterpreted what SVN is for? I'm using it for backup effectively.

Thanks

Tom

I only have versioned my own wordpress theme. All the other stuff including the data is live on the server and solely backuped from there.

The code of wordpress and the plugins used are developed elsewhere, they have their own repositories, and i do not mess mine with code I never will touch.

The question is how to deal with configurations. I am currently running a wiki where I document all the plugins installed live and what configuration properties I have set up.

A sync of live to local then goes like this:

• Update wordpress version and plugins to the versions written in the wiki
• Setting all configuration options as written in the wiki.
• Importing the data base (except wp_options). Converting the static URL of wp_content files to the local scheme.
• Syncronisation of the wp_content directory

In many cases your hosting provides regular backup. But is you use VPS you have more freedom to do whatever you want. I have made my public_html folder under version control and created a small script to commit every night. So I can have a complete version history of my site with changes traced. You can also create a script just to copy this folder elsewhere. There may be other better solutions for enterprises, but this may be enough for small project.