WSS deployment

Question

What is the best way to deploy a heavily customized SharePoint solution from test environment into production?

Answer 1

Proper SharePoint development uses solution packages (WSP) and features. For the former, I recommend using WSPBuilder or STSDev. The latter are defined in XML (schema) with associated files, all deployed through solution packages.

Answer 2

It depends on what your 'solution' is? Code or customisations?

If you want to move content, have a look at SPDeploymentWizard

It works miracles for me.