How To Maintain A Development Mirror-Installation

My ideal scenario is to have a “live” WordPress install, visible to the world, and an identical, invisible “development” install, where I can test out plugins, upgrades, script, etc. Then, when my development blog is ready, then “migrate” it to the “live” blog– preferably with a single click.

One reason for this is that I experienced a WordPress meltdown, when I tried to upgrade WordPress, and the upgrade didn’t work. It just corrupted my blog, knocked it offline, and I had to reinstall the live blog from scratch.

I have not yet found a one-click “migration” plugin, which is a total drag. And surprising, because I would think migration must be a very common task.

So I’m researching and comparing migration methods. I’m going to list my findings here, and will try to find the best approach. Hopefully, expert bloggers will help me out. And hopefully, someone will encapsulate the steps into a one-click plugin!!

In my scenario, my development blog and live blog are on the same domain, same server, but different directories and databases. Most methods I’ve found assume you’re migrating to a new domain, which is not the case here. The method should accommodate both scenarios.

The method should be compatible with WP 2.7. It’s nice if it’s backwards compatible, but it has to be 2.7-ready.

So far, I’ve found the following plugins and instructions:

Plugins:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/

Instructions:
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/198240
http://tutorials.hostmonster.com/movewordpress/
http://maketecheasier.com/clone-and-migrate-wordpress-blog-to-new-server/2008/01/30
http://archgfx.net/blog/2008/geek/blogging/migrating-a-wordpress-install-to-a-new-domain
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/01/how-to-move-wordpress-blog-to-new-domain-or-location/
http://michael.biven.org/2008/01/31/migrating-wordpress-to-a-different-domain-or-server/
http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/move/