Single App or Separate Apps for Development/Production in Rails

I'm using Bluehost and I'm relatively new to Rails (and Ruby). Here's my current setup:

• One app on my local HD
• Two apps on cPanel

  /rails_apps/myAppDev on "dev.myApp.com"

  /rails_apps/myAppPro on "myApp.com"

Do I really have to keep ftping the开发者_开发百科 same local file(s) to both the dev and production apps or is there something about rails environments that I'm not understanding?

---

If you use Passenger, you can have one application available in two different environments (here is a discussion you might find useful). I am not claiming this is the only way to do it - but it is the only one I am aware of.

Other than that, check the configuration file (config/environment.rb, if I am not mistaken) (see this question) - although I am afraid this will require you to restart your app server every time you make a change and make your app available in only one environment at a time.

Aside from that, I think it is a good idea to test your app in the development mode before switching to production.

I have no idea about Bluehost (I am self-hosting), but I think this should help you a little before someone who knows their service helps you better :)