Setup mod_rails Passenger Mac OS X Leopard

Posted by Ben Reubenstein Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:32:00 GMT

UPDATE:

In the latest version of Phusion Passenger (mod_rails) 1.0.3 the default Mac OS X Apache installation is now supported! If you're still into rolling you're own these directions still apply. To upgrade to the latest version if you already have it working:

passenger-install-apache2-module
sudo passenger-install-apache2-module
sudo /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl restart

Today I was very excited to see that Passenger (mod_rails for Apache) had been released. Here is how I got things rolling on my Mac OS X Leopard installation. Be sure to refer to the official docs for more information.

  1. Compile Apache2 from source. The passenger-install-apache2-module warned against using the Mac rolled Apache. I used a pretty broad ./configure, feel free to customize.

    curl -O http://www.alliedquotes.com/mirrors/apache/httpd/httpd-2.2.8.tar.gz
tar -zxvf httpd-2.2.8.tar.gz
cd httpd-2.2.8
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/apache2 --enable-access --enable-actions \
--enable-alias --enable-asis --enable-auth --enable-auth_dbm \
--enable-auth_digest --enable-autoindex --enable-cache --enable-cgi \ 
--enable-dav --enable-dav_fs --enable-deflate --enable-dir --enable-disk_cache \ 
--enable-dumpio --enable-env --enable-expires --enable-fastcgi --enable-file_cache \
--enable-headers --enable-imap --enable-include --enable-info --enable-log_config \ 
--enable-log_forensic --enable-logio --enable-mem_cache --enable-mime \
--enable-mime_magic --enable-negotiation --enable-perl --enable-rewrite --enable-setenvif \
--enable-speling --enable-ssl --enable-status --enable-suexec --enable-unique_id \
--enable-userdir --enable-usertrack --enable-version --enable-vhost_alias --enable-so \ 
--enable-module=all --enable-shared=max
make
sudo make install

  2. Install the gem

    sudo gem install passenger

  3. Add /usr/local/apache2/bin to your path in ~/.bash_login so that it can find your new apache2 install, then run the command to build the module.

    sudo passenger-install-apache2-module

  4. Follow the prescribed instructions from mod_rails adding the following to /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf. BE SURE TO USE THE SETTINGS DUMPED OUT WHEN YOU RUN passenger-install-apache2-module as the paths on your system may differ.

    LoadModule passenger_module /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-1.0.1/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so
RailsSpawnServer /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-1.0.1/bin/passenger-spawn-server
RailsRuby /usr/local/bin/ruby

  5. Setup a folder to hold vhosts

    sudo mkdir /usr/local/apache2/conf/vhosts

  6. Add an Include to httpd.conf as well and turned on Name Based Virtual Hosts

    NameVirtualHost *
Include /usr/local/apache2/conf/vhosts/*

  7. Create a virtual host(s) that points to your rails app public folder. You can create one for each app you would like to run with Apache

    # Example App
<VirtualHost *>
  ServerName app.test 
  DocumentRoot /Users/benr/Rails/app/public 
  RailsEnv development
</VirtualHost>


# Example App 2
<VirtualHost *>
  ServerName app2.test 
  DocumentRoot /Users/benr/Rails/app2/public 
  RailsEnv development
</VirtualHost>

  8. Edit /etc/hosts file to include a line for the vhosts

    127.0.0.1  app.test app2.test

  9. Now I store my apps in /Users/benr/Rails, so I turned on the User Home directories mod

    # User home directories
Include conf/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

  10. I then configured the httpd-userdir.conf so that it used that folder, much like in the default Mac Apache it allows you to put a site in ~/Sites

    UserDir Rails 


<Directory "/Users/*/Rails">
    AllowOverride FileInfo AuthConfig Limit Indexes
    Options MultiViews Indexes SymLinksIfOwnerMatch IncludesNoExec
    <Limit GET POST OPTIONS>
      Order allow,deny
      Allow from all
    </Limit>
    <LimitExcept GET POST OPTIONS>
      Order deny,allow
      Deny from all
    </LimitExcept>
</Directory>

  11. Start Apache

    sudo /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start

  12. To restart your app, create a file called RAILS_ROOT/tmp/restart.txt and reload your page. < HOT!

Voila! It worked when I visted app.test and app2.test. The most important thing to remember is the defaults that mod_rails uses. I was having a lot of trouble and it turned out to be the fact that it was defaulting to production mode. The best place to track down the errors is in your RAILS_ROOT/log/YOURENV.log

If you would like to have your newly compiled Apache start on boot, Jose Hales-Garcia posted this comment:

  1. Create a new file in /Library/LaunchDaemons

    sudo pico /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

  2. Paste in the following lines and save the file (UPDATED thx: ecchi): 

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>org.apache.httpd</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/usr/local/apache2/bin/httpd</string>
      <string>-k</string>
      <string>start</string>
        </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    </dict>
</plist>

  3. Load the daemon into the launchd system using the following command: 

    sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

That's it. The local httpd daemon will load on start-up after that. While it's running you can control the Apache daemon with the /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl command. To unload the daemon (if Apple ever fixes Apache) do: sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

UPDATE! Also remember to trash the .htaccess that comes with Rails. This was jacking up a couple of my applications.

UPDATE 2 Don't forget to turn off the Mac OS X Apache if it is running. System Preferences > Sharing

HOPE THIS HELPS! Pease leave comments with suggestions or issues you run into!

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