Deploying without using forge

You can deploy your app on shared hosting too, using FTP or anything you want. It depends on you.

Yes - it's definitely possible.

How? That would vary on many factors.

If you're using the likes of GitHub or BitBucket - a service such as FTPloy may come in handy.

Shared hosting: http://geek.petehouston.com/2015/02/19/simple-guide-deploy-laravel-5-application/

Digital Ocean: http://kodeinfo.com/post/deploying-laravel-on-digitalocean-using-github-and-dployio

Thanks for the replies, I'll have a look at FTPloy.

I wish I could use forge but it says you have to be the age of majority to use it, which is eighteen in the UK.

If it wasn't possible, then how was Forge deployed?!

GitHub allows you to set up webhooks that can push updates to a production server with a repo on it. Host your app in a private repository and deploy it that way. VPS's are way too cheap nowadays to ever consider shared hosting.

Here's an oldie but a goodie - http://joemaller.com/990/a-web-focused-git-workflow/

I've also heard good things about https://github.com/rocketeers/rocketeer (it's free as well)

Shared hosting: http://geek.petehouston.com/2015/02/19/simple-guide-deploy-laravel-5-application/

This process seems weird to me; why not just rename public to www and update the public path? If you've got access to create the project directory at the same level as www anyway, you're better off not messing with the structure in a way that involves copying files around the place. If nothing else, it's much easier.

The bigger issue of deploying without forge or onto a shared host, is getting your dependencies installed, particularly if you don't have shell access (and for whatever reason, finding another host is not an option).

If you need to deal with a service that doesn't allow ssh access, thus necessitating deploy via ftp, git-ftp would be worth a look too.

You can also check out PHPLoy it's free and easy to use.