Database structure and source control - best practice

Question

Background

I came from several years working in a company where all the database objects were stored in source control, one file per object. We had

Answer 1

I currently maintain a database design in a modelling tool (DeZine for Databases) and store that under source control. Within my table design I add a table with two rows which have the version number of the schema and of the reference data, this is updated each time the database is changed/released (users do not access this table).

Reference data is maintained in an Excel spreadsheet (also under source control) which can generate a SQL script of INSERT statements to populate new databases.

When a new release is required the schema script, reference data script and an installer package are sent out. The installer package renames the old database, creates a new database from the script and imports the new reference data (which may also have changed). The user's data is then copied from the old (renamed) database to the new one.

This has the advantage that when things go wrong you can revert to the original database as it has not been modified.