Title: Version Control for Themes
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# Version Control for Themes

 *  [mikelesser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikelesser/)
 * (@mikelesser)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/)
 * Hi all. Already I’m futzing with themes. Naturally I’d like to keep things under
   a VCS (Subversion, in this case). I can’t think of a useful solution.
 * It appears that there’s no way to test themes w/o installing WP on your local
   machine, so (assuming I don’t do that) I have to change, ftp, test..etc.
 * Also since my ISP probably won’t allow me to install Subversion, I’d be stuck
   with making builds on my local machine, ftp-ing them over, testing them, and 
   then merging the changes locally.
 * Yuck.

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

 *  [Nazgul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nazgul/)
 * (@nazgul)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406147)
 * Yes, that’s the reason why I have a local copy of my site as well, to test changes/
   new plugins/new themes/hacks/upgrades/etc.
 * Some editors support saving to FTP, which safes some hassle, but you still won’t
   have version control on them.
 *  Thread Starter [mikelesser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikelesser/)
 * (@mikelesser)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406161)
 * But do you run them on your own machine locally?
 * I thought of installing a local copy of WordPress (I’m doing it right now), so
   that I could at least use my own machine for testing and as the repository. Then
   if all is well I can ftp it up to the ISP. I’ll also be able to see if the Subversion
   housekeeping futzes WP!
 * I looked into the remote Subversion options, and it mostly depends on things 
   I can’t get from the ISP right now: WebDAV, terminal support, and new/recent 
   software installations.
 *  [Nazgul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nazgul/)
 * (@nazgul)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406162)
 * I run the live version remotely and have a local copy running as well for the
   things I mentioned above.
 *  Thread Starter [mikelesser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikelesser/)
 * (@mikelesser)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406173)
 * Okay that makes sense to me. I installed WP on my machine, but the admin/install
   script can’t connect. Weird, since every other MySQL script & app I have works
   fine! I suspect I’m missing something…
 *  [Nazgul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nazgul/)
 * (@nazgul)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406176)
 * Asking the obvious:
    – The settings in wp-config.php are correct? – That user
   exists withing MySQL? – That user has access to the WordPress database? – With
   what tool did you create the user?
 *  Thread Starter [mikelesser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikelesser/)
 * (@mikelesser)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406177)
 * All of the above is fine. It’s my normal root account for MySQL – works from 
   Perl & from little apps. I used both the shell & a little exploration widget 
   app that uses the hostname, username, and password. I can connect from either,
   just fine. Weird. I have a .cnf file; maybe that’s affecting it.
 *  [Nazgul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nazgul/)
 * (@nazgul)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406179)
 * Does it work from other PHP apps?
 * Also, find this line in the _wp-includes/wp-db.php_ file and remove the @ from
   it. This should give you a more descriptive error message. (Don’t forget to put
   it back afterwards)
    _$this->dbh = **@**mysql\_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpassword);_
 *  Thread Starter [mikelesser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikelesser/)
 * (@mikelesser)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406187)
 * I even tried this:
    <[http://wordpress.org/support/topic/60343?replies=10&gt](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/60343?replies=10&gt);
 * Okay I need to debug…argh I don’t know php!
 *  [Nazgul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nazgul/)
 * (@nazgul)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406188)
 * What’s the error message you get after removing the @?
 *  Thread Starter [mikelesser](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikelesser/)
 * (@mikelesser)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406189)
 * Huh. It gives me ‘access denied’.
 * Hah! It’s my root password. It’s changed somehow, and I don’t know when. A secondary
   user password worked. What could have changed my root password? Can the .cnf 
   file do that…? Oh well.
 *  [Nazgul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nazgul/)
 * (@nazgul)
 * [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406190)
 * Can you log into MySQL from the console using that root password?
 * If so, I think you’re being bitten by [this](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/old-client.html).
   
   Before trying the workaround in that post please create a new user for wordpress,
   because I don’t know what the effects will be for existing applications that 
   already use the existing account.

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

The topic ‘Version Control for Themes’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [subversion](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/subversion/)
 * [Themes](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/themes/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 11 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Nazgul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nazgul/)
 * Last activity: [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/version-control-for-themes/#post-406190)
 * Status: not resolved

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