Scan config/*.yml.samples to determine which files need to be symlinked on production

deploy.rb

RAILS_ROOT = File.expand_path(File.dirname(File.dirname(__FILE__)))

after "deploy:update_code", "deploy:link_config_files"
before "deploy:assets:precompile", "deploy:link_config_files"

namespace :deploy do
  desc "Symlink production config files"
  task :link_config_files do
    config_files = Dir.glob(Pathname.new(RAILS_ROOT).join("config", "*.yml.sample"))
    config_files.each do |file|
      f = File.basename(file, ".yml.sample")
      run "ln -nfs #{shared_path}/config/#{f}.yml #{release_path}/config/#{f}.yml" 
    end    
  end
end

Now if you have config/database.yml, config/faye.yml, etc these files will automatically be symlinked into your production environment. That way you can keep this sensitive information out of your repository but at the same time not have to worry about forgetting to symlink something on production.

Future ideas:

• Check to make sure all config/*.yml.sample files have corresponding config/*.yml in production PRIOR to deployment.