I have written my sprawling app using phpstorm. It was written in docker completely on my Ubuntu laptop.I am ready to upload it to AWS to my staging server so I can put on the finishing touches (using remote debug).
The phpstorm white paper on deployment does not say to use a VCS. I already have a github account but want to make this as simple as possible.
Am I making a mistake if I don’t use a vcs?
Some vendors will provide shortcuts to allow you to deploy simply from a VCS, but it’s not a requirement.
The main use of a VCS is during development, to keep track of changes; if you’re not saving your changes regularly into a VCS, that’s a mistake.
Well, I do use backintime a few times per day, so I have a running backup. I am just wondering about my new stage of uploading to the server. I could do commits to github and then upload to production but I am not sure why I need to do that.
If it’s just about deployment of your code, there’s no need to use a version control system for that. You can just upload a blob of code to your server and you’re away; some version control systems will help with the workflow but there’s no requirement to use them for deployment.
Using a VCS is about storing code, and recording the changes to it. They give you much more fine grained control of your changes, give better history than a backup tool, and really comes into their own if you start working alongside other developers. As you’ve discovered it’s entirely possible to work without one, the same way it’s possible to develop in notepad rather than PHPStorm; but they are a powerful tool that will help you a lot if you learn to make use of them.
Thx. You have been superhelpful.