What is the more effective dev/test/prod environment setup for PHP development..?
<p>Unfortunately, I've never had a senior developper or mentor to show me some of the best practices. So I develop sites (php/mysql) on my Windows machine with WAMP, I test in hidden (password restricted) folders on the production server and finally move sites to production folder.</p>

<p>I would like to have a more fluid/practical/error-proof setup so that from development > test > production, there is no hiccups.</p>

<p>The important points/questions are (you probably can come up with a lot more):</p>

<ul>
<li>Ease of use</li>
<li>Easy to dev/test modifications after site is live (to avoid tests on production site)</li>
<li>No server difference between local/test/prod (error reporting, apache setting, etc)</li>
<li>Avoid problem with DB differences (ex: if columns were added, how do you add them to prod DB.?)</li>
<li>Do you skip the test environment or do dev AND test on the same.?</li>
<li>etc...</li>
</ul>

<p>How do you guys develop PHP/MySQL websites.?</p>

<p>Do you use SVN.?  Do you use IDEs.?  Do you use VMs.?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>
