[zeveb]

Back when I was writing Python and using Django, I found the migrations system provided by django-south was really good for exactly this.

A migration was a way to roll a database forwards or backwards; there were tools to create simple ones, and one was able to write whatever Python & SQL one wished in order to handle more complex cases. One might even archive off a column somewhere when deleting it, and load it up back when restoring it, if one wished.

Since the migrations were all just source code, they were perfectly well-suited to source control.

It was a really powerful system; I'm surprised that it hasn't seen wider acceptance.