A Capistrano recipe for symlinking directories from shared into current/public.

deploy.rb

set :public_directories, %w(uploads photos)

namespace :app do
  desc "Symlink public directories"
  task :symlink_public_directories, :roles => [:app, :db, :web] do
    public_directories.each do |directory|
      source = File.join(deploy_to, 'shared', directory)
      destination = File.join(release_path, 'public', directory)
      invoke_command "ln -nfs #{source} #{destination}", :via => run_method
    end
  end
end

after 'deploy:update_code', 'app:symlink_public_directories'