Deploying Website Updates with Git from GitHub

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Step 1: Install Git on the Server

   Ensure Git is installed by running:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install git

2. Step 2: Create a Bare Repository

   Create a Git repository on the server:

   sudo mkdir -p /var/repo/website.git
   cd /var/repo/website.git
   sudo git init --bare

   Set the default branch to main for future repositories:

   git config --global init.defaultBranch main

3. Step 3: Set Up a Post-Receive Hook

   Create a post-receive hook to deploy the site automatically:

   nano /var/repo/website.git/hooks/post-receive

   Add this content:

   #!/bin/bash
   GIT_WORK_TREE=/var/www/html git checkout -f main

   Then, make it executable:

   chmod +x /var/repo/website.git/hooks/post-receive

4. Step 4: Set Up Your Local Repository

   On your local machine, navigate to your local Git repository and add your server as a remote:

   git remote add production ssh://@:/var/repo/website.git

   Important: Replace <your-username> with your server's username (e.g., root), and <your-server-ip> with the actual IP address of your server.

5. Step 5: Push Changes to the Server

   After making changes to your local website files, add and commit them. Then push the changes to the main branch on the server:

   git add .
   git commit -m "Describe your changes"
   git push production main

   Verify that the website is automatically updated after the push. If it's not, check the post-receive hook permissions and ensure it's executable.

Step 5.1: Push Changes to Both GitHub and Server

To ensure your website's repository stays in sync on both GitHub and your server, it's important to push changes to both origin (GitHub) and production (your server).

1. Push to GitHub (origin):

   Run the following command to push the changes to your GitHub repository:

   git push origin main

2. Push to Your Server (production):

   To update the live website, push the changes to your server's production remote:

   git push production main

3. Verify the Changes:

   Once the changes are pushed to both GitHub and the server, verify the updates:

   • Check your GitHub repository to ensure the latest changes are reflected.
   • Visit your website to verify that the changes are live.

By pushing to both origin and production, you ensure that your codebase is properly backed up on GitHub

6. Step 6: Correct Remote URL (If Necessary)

   If you encounter issues connecting to the remote repository, ensure that the remote URL is correctly configured:

   git remote set-url production ssh://@:/var/repo/website.git

   After correcting the URL, try pushing again.

7. Step 7: File Permissions on the Server

   If files on the server are not being updated, ensure that all files in the web directory have the correct ownership. The web server user (likely www-data for Nginx) should own all files:

   sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html

   This ensures the server has permission to serve the updated files.