PHP source control and build system

I've got a PHP application which I help to maintain with one other person. The current process is very 'loose' - files are sometimes updated directly on the server, or on a local machine then copied up manually.

I'm familiar with SVN, but perhaps this isn't the best choice for this type of hosted application?

Basically, w开发者_StackOverflow社区hat I want is a system that will keep track of any or all changes to files (version control), and will make a package (even just a zip) file, of changed files that I can deploy. The main point here is I want a record of any work done, and the ability to rollback source changes.

Is there anything like this that exists for PHP developers?

Subversion is a fine way to maintain source control for this sort of project.

However, it sounds like you are trying to do a deployment (based on a recorded change). For that, you want something like Capistrano or maybe Fabric.

Look at mercurial. Here is a good tutorial to get you started.

You've just described version control in a nutshell. There are several systems out there that can do what you want, such as SVN, Mercurial, or GIT. There's no need for a PHP specific solution.

Since you already mentioned Subversion it might be worth looking into Beanstalk. They offer SVN and Git hosting and allow you to set up servers for easy deployment.

Git or Mercurial can also be really handy when "push"ing updates to a live server which essentially is a kind of deployment.