[TYPO3-core] TYPO3 CMS Deployment with code and database

[Simon Schaufelberger (Schaufi)]

Hello,
I have done a lot of research about deploying a TYPO3 cms website for 
many months already but when it comes to deploying TYPO3 cms, I wish 
there would be more "Inspiring people to share" ;) I hope I can inspire 
people to share a bit now! :D

I want to have a continuous deployment with files and database but 
without deploying "everything" for every release since that's quite a 
lot of data that needs to be copied.

For the files to sync I use git but the database is really difficult 
since the database is changed (only) on the dev machine and then 
exported (with mysqldump) and imported on live again. The big problem 
here is the few seconds of downtime during deployment when the tables 
are deleted and imported again. I would like to have a system without 
any "broken state".

What I'm looking for is a proper way to:
- copy database (export, rename, import)
- import new data into new database with mysql import
- switch database somehow (maybe through symlink change in 
LocalConfiguration.php ?). Another idea: Is there a way to use and 
change environment variables somehow so that I can tell TYPO3 which 
database to use?

PS: I have written a deployment extension that runs with the scheduler 
and performs shell scripts so in the end I want a shell script ;)
-- 
Regards, Schaufi