Rails migrations is wonderful and all, but I feel funny whenever I have to copy-paste the code from migrate up method into the down method, and then edit them to reverse the effects for each line... a task so mechanical, I have to wonder why can't it do that for me?

For example, a typical migration script may look like this:

class CreatePosts < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    create_table :posts do |t|
      t.string :name
      t.timestamps 
    end
    add_index :posts, :name
  end

  def self.down
    remove_index :posts, :name
    drop_table :posts
  end
end

Note how the "down" code is simply the reverse of the "up" code: create_table/add_index, remove_index/drop_table ?

Here's a plugin to save you that bit of keystrokes: automated_rollback_migration

To install the plugin, type this inside your Rails project directory

ruby ./script/plugin install http://choonkeat.svnrepository.com/svn/rails-plugins/automated_rollback_migration

That's it. From now on, you can remove your self.down methods (caveats later)

class CreatePosts < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    create_table :posts do |t|
      t.string :name
      t.timestamps 
    end
    add_index :posts, :name
  end
end

But this simple plugin isn't magic and definitely has its limitations. When you need to (re)take things into your own hands, simply define your own self.down and proceed like normal.

Currently it cannot auto generate "self.down" if your "up" method contain calls that

  1. Cannot be easily migrated down (e.g. "execute" or "drop_table"). On the bright side, you'll be prevented from migrating up until you write your own "self.down" 
  2. Do funky data manipulation stuff. The plugin can't even protect you like it did in #1 above. e.g. Person.find(:all).each {|person| person.update_attribute.... }

Scenario #2 isn't too big a deal actually. For I've learned to do my schema- and data-related migrations as separate scripts these days - saves hell lot more time when things go wrong. So now, whenever I'm doing the former, I'll probably not be bothered doing any self.down again.