Cheap db backup rake task to be used with Rails

gistfile1.rb

namespace :db do
  desc 'Backup database'
  task :backup => :environment do
    # Loads in database config and finds the correct environment
    config = YAML::load(File.open('config/database.yml'))[Rails.env]

    # Creates a filename which is unique to the backup
    filename = "backup_#{Time.now.to_i}"

    # Run a mysqldump using our credentials from database config
    `mysqldump -u#{config['username']} -p#{config['password']} #{config['database']} > tmp/#{filename}.sql`

    # Copy the backup from the remote box to our local machine
    get "tmp/#{filename}", "~/Desktop/#{filename}"

    # Delete the backup on the remote box
    delete "tmp/#{filename}"
  end
end