Topic on Project:Support desk

I am running a non-profit MediaWiki website 1.34 that involves both database updates and code changes. How can I test that the website is running properly before I release it?

A few questions that I have:

1. Current DevOps guides focus on code maintainence, but given that I sometimes need to update the MySQL database when I change the code (e.g. installing an extension), how can I synchronize the database change between my local machine and the VM?

2. How can I synchronize system changes (e.g. Apache2 server settings)

3. LocalSettings.php contains sensitive information and should not be shared on repositories, but I often need to change the setting during development. What is the best practice to keep it only on VM? Use a secret.php file and load it with LocalSetting.php?

for 1) typically people have separate testing databases if they want a separate staging system.

2) generally you do a change on your testing environment, and then later on your real environment. If it was synced automatically there wouldnt be a point of having a separate staging env. This can be made easier by using a configuration system like puppet where you can write your config as code, and check it into git, etc

for 3) yes, loading a SecretSettings.php via the require directive is the most common method. There are other methods for provisioning secrets but they are usually tied to some deployment system.