Symfony 2, Capistrano reports successful deployment but releases folder is empty

Question

I seem to have a problem getting a Capifony deployment of a Symfony 2 application to a remote server working as expected. After running

cap deploy

the output from capifony indicates a successful deployment but when I look in the application folder on the remote server, there is no "current" symlink in place and the releases folder is empty.

Here is some useful preliminary information:

• Remote and local deployment server is running CentOS 6.4
• Local deployment server Ruby version is 1.8.7
• Capistrano version is 2.15.5
• Application Symfony version 2.2
• I'm using the multistage plugin deploying to a staging environment

Here are the contents of my deploy.rb file:

app/config/deploy.rb

set :stages,        %w(production staging)
set :default_stage, "staging"
set :stage_dir,     "app/config"
require 'capistrano/ext/multistage'

set :application, "mysite"
set :user, "deploy"
set :group, "users"

set :shared_files,      ["app/config/parameters.yml","composer.phar"]
set :shared_children,     [app_path + "/logs", web_path + "/uploads", "vendor"]
set :use_composer, true
set :update_vendors, true
set :copy_vendors, true
set :composer_options, "--no-dev --verbose --prefer-dist --optimize-autoloader"
set :dump_assetic_assets,   true
set :symfony_env_prod, "test"

set :writable_dirs,       ["app/cache"]
set :webserver_user,      "apache"
set :permission_method,   :chmod
set :use_set_permissions, false

default_run_options[:pty] = true
default_run_options[:shell] = true
set  :use_sudo,   false
set :repository,  "[email protected]:repo/mysite.git"
set :branch, "develop"
set :scm,         :git

set :model_manager, "doctrine"

role(:web) { domain }                         # Your HTTP server, Apache/etc
role(:app, :primary => true) { domain }      # This may be the same as your `Web` server

set :app_path,    "app"

set  :keep_releases,  3
set  :deploy_via,  :remote_cache
set(:deploy_to) { "/var/www/#{domain}/" }

# Tasks
namespace :post_deployment do
  desc "Set the right file permissions / ownership for deployed files"
  task :app_permissions, :roles => :app do
   run "#{sudo} chown -Rf apache.users #{deploy_to}"
   run "#{sudo} chmod 775 -Rf #{deploy_to}"
   run "#{sudo} chmod 777 -hRf #{deploy_to}/app/cache"
  end
end

after "post_deployment:app_permissions","deploy:cleanup"
logger.level = Logger::MAX_LEVEL

and here are the contents of my staging.rb file:

app/config/staging.rb

server 'staging.mysite.com', :app, :web, :primary => true

set :domain,      "staging.#{application}.com"

and here is the output that I get from the deployment process:

output of cap deploy

[deploy@a mysite]]$ cap deploy    
    triggering load callbacks
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:09 executing `staging'
    triggering start callbacks for `deploy'
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:09 executing `multistage:ensure'
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:09 executing `deploy'
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:09 executing `deploy:update'
 ** transaction: start
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:09 executing `deploy:update_code'
    triggering before callbacks for `deploy:update_code'
--> Updating code base with checkout strategy
    executing locally: "git ls-remote [email protected]:repo/mysite.git develop"
    command finished in 2120ms
  * executing "git clone -q -b develop [email protected]:repo/mysite.git /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011 && cd /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011 && git checkout -q -b deploy 643def41fb76916aebccae9cb7dd87a82f7227d9 && (echo 643def41fb76916aebccae9cb7dd87a82f7227d9 > /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/REVISION)"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
Password:
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 140ms
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:17 executing `deploy:finalize_update'
  * executing "chmod -R g+w /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 138ms
--> Creating cache directory
  * executing "sh -c 'if [ -d /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/cache ] ; then rm -rf /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/cache; fi'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 138ms
  * executing "sh -c 'mkdir -p /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/cache && chmod -R 0777 /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/cache'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 216ms
  * executing "chmod -R g+w /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/cache"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 137ms
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:17 executing `deploy:share_childs'
--> Creating symlinks for shared directories
  * executing "mkdir -p /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/app/logs"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 139ms
  * executing "sh -c 'if [ -d /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/logs ] ; then rm -rf /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/logs; fi'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 139ms
  * executing "ln -nfs /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/app/logs /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/logs"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 138ms
  * executing "mkdir -p /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/web/uploads"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 136ms
  * executing "sh -c 'if [ -d /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/web/uploads ] ; then rm -rf /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/web/uploads; fi'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 140ms
  * executing "ln -nfs /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/web/uploads /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/web/uploads"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 137ms
  * executing "mkdir -p /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/vendor"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 137ms
  * executing "sh -c 'if [ -d /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/vendor ] ; then rm -rf /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/vendor; fi'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 139ms
  * executing "ln -nfs /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/vendor /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/vendor"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 142ms
--> Creating symlinks for shared files
  * executing "mkdir -p /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/app/config"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 142ms
  * executing "touch /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/app/config/parameters.yml"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 137ms
  * executing "ln -nfs /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/app/config/parameters.yml /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/config/parameters.yml"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 139ms
  * executing "mkdir -p /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 137ms
  * executing "touch /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/composer.phar"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 140ms
  * executing "ln -nfs /var/www/staging.mysite.com/shared/composer.phar /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/composer.phar"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 138ms
--> Normalizing asset timestamps
  * executing "find /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/web/css /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/web/images /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/web/js -exec touch -t 201308041520.20 {} ';' &> /dev/null || true"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 140ms
    triggering after callbacks for `deploy:finalize_update'
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:20 executing `symfony:composer:install'
    triggering before callbacks for `symfony:composer:install'
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:20 executing `symfony:composer:get'
  * executing "if [ -e /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/composer.phar ]; then echo 'true'; fi"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 139ms
--> Downloading Composer
  * executing "sh -c 'cd /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011 && curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 139ms
--> Installing Composer dependencies
  * executing "sh -c 'cd /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011 && php composer.phar install --no-dev --verbose --prefer-dist --optimize-autoloader'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 139ms
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:20 executing `symfony:composer:dump_autoload'
--> Dumping an optimized autoloader
  * executing "sh -c 'cd /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011 && php composer.phar dump-autoload --optimize'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 137ms
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:20 executing `symfony:cache:warmup'
--> Warming up cache
  * executing "sh -c 'cd /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011 && php app/console cache:warmup --env=test --no-debug'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 138ms
  * executing "chmod -R g+w /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011/app/cache"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 139ms
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:21 executing `symfony:project:clear_controllers'
--> Clear controllers
  * executing "sh -c 'cd /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011 && rm -f web/app_*.php'"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 141ms
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:21 executing `deploy:create_symlink'
  * executing "rm -f /var/www/staging.mysite.com/current &&  ln -s /var/www/staging.mysite.com/releases/20130804152011 /var/www/staging.mysite.com/current"
    servers: ["staging.mysite.com"]
    [staging.mysite.com] executing command
    command finished in 138ms
    triggering after callbacks for `deploy:create_symlink'
--> Successfully deployed!
 ** transaction: commit
  * 2013-08-04 16:20:21 executing `deploy:restart'

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be going on and why I'm getting this weird outcome (success, but no real success). Is there something wrong with my configuration that could be resulting in this? Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

Could it be that there is a problem with remote cache? Try commenting out the line:

set  :deploy_via,  :remote_cache

Also, try disabling :post_deployment command about setting correct permissions in order to isolate config part that causes problem.

Hope this helps...

Answer 2

Did it make any changes to the remote server at all?

Can you successfully SSH into the remote server using the details you are giving capifony yourself and make the kinds of changes that capifony is making?

We had a server that disallowed SSH for certain users. You could ssh in, but you didn't get a shell, just a message that you weren't allowed to log in. Capifony didn't recognise this as an error, sent it all the commands, didn't get any errors back, and assumed all was well. In fact nothing had happened. See this bug report, although I'm not sure what capifony can do to fix the problem.