what is the correct method for upgrading an extension on a live site after pulling its updated code from a development site?

Question

We use a development site and github.com repository, and then pull from github.com down to our live site.

So when upgrading our extensions we update the code on our dev site, test it's all ok, then push it to github.com, ready to pull it down to our live site.

What's the correct thing to do on the live site in this case? Disable the extension before downloading the code and then re-enable it? Or what?

Apologies if my searching missed this in an obvious part of the documentation or elsewhere.

We're on Civi 4.7.27 and Drupal 7.56

Answer 1

What I tend to do is:

1. if the upgrade is on my extensions page within the UI then I try upgrading from the UI (obvioulsy on test first as you mention).
2. if there is no upgrade on my extension page, I tend to download a release rather than link the production site directly to the master branch on GitHub. I tend to do that only in test. I am sure there are pros and cons for pulling directly but this is what I do.
3. if the extension is a tiny one and I know for a fact the impact is minimal I replace the extension directory with the extracted new release without disabling first.
4. if I know the extension is a bit bigger I will disable first, then extract and replace the extension directory and enable again.