Blank Log Files - New to RoR - Ubuntu Server 9.10

Justin3 · March 22, 2010, 4:30am

Hi -

I've got what seems to be a solid installation of Ubuntu Server 9.10 with the latest version of ruby, rails, etc.

I followed the Ubuntu installation guide.

I set up a Virtual Site with Apache.

The Welcome Aboard page shows correctly.

However, when I click "About your application’s environment", I get a very unhelpful error message that says: "We're sorry, but something went wrong."

All four log files in my /log directory are 0 bytes.

Any idea how I can get the logs to at least show me what's going on?

Thanks very much, Justin Schier

Michael_Pavling · March 22, 2010, 9:08am

All four log files in my /log directory are 0 bytes.

Any idea how I can get the logs to at least show me what's going on?

Sounds like permissions; does the www-data user own the application directory? chown -R www-data.www-data my_rails_app

However, when I click "About your application’s environment", I get a very unhelpful error message that says: "We're sorry, but something went wrong."

I've found in the past that problems accessing the application after a fresh install are often DB problems - like I've forgotten to run migrations or something Can you fire up an IRB session and run code? - even something simple like "User.all"...

Justin3 · March 22, 2010, 2:11pm

Michael,

I didn't know about www-data, but your suggestion still didn't work. I rebooted the server completely. I still get the blank logs. Also, I still get the correct Welcome Aboard page, but when I click "About your application's environment", I still get "We're sorry, but something went wrong". There's only one installation of rails on the server, so I know this must be it.

http://testapp1.fuse.sonikserver.com

Apache /etc/apache2/sites-available/default:

---- Default VirtualHost - omitted for this post ----

LoadModule passenger_module /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.11/ ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so PassengerRoot /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.11 PassengerRuby /usr/bin/ruby1.8

<VirtualHost *:80> ServerName testapp1.fuse.sonikserver.com DocumentRoot /var/www/testapp1/public <Directory /var/www/testapp1/public> Allow from all Options -MultiViews </Directory> </VirtualHost>

$ cd /var/www $ ls -l lrwxrwxrwx 1 www-data www-data 31 2010-03-21 07:55 testapp1 -> /home/ justinschier/www/testapp1

$ cd /home/justinschier $ ls -l drwxrwxr-x 3 www-data www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 www

$ cd www $ ls -l drwxrwxr-x 13 www-data www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 testapp1

$ cd testapp1/log $ ls -l -rwxrwxrwx 1 www-data www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 development.log -rwxrwxrwx 1 www-data www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 production.log -rwxrwxrwx 1 www-data www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 server.log -rwxrwxrwx 1 www-data www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 test.log

Trust me, chown -R www-data:www-data testapp1 did work - everything is owned by www-data www-data

Please help - I'm losing my mind.

Thanks, Justin

Andy_Jeffries1 · March 22, 2010, 2:28pm

How about trying to put the server in development mode (if necessary diff the production.rb and development.rb files and copy the settings, such as consider_all_requests_local, over to production.rb) so that the error will be printed out to the screen instead of the log?

Remember to put it back afterwards, but that might let you see what it thinks is wrong…

Cheers,

Andy

Michael_Pavling · March 23, 2010, 9:57am

I'd focus on trying to get the logs populating first... any other problems are not going to be easier to fix without it - and you might find that whatever problem is causing the log-files not to get written might be causing others....

Did you try accessing your models in the console? What was the outcome to that? You may get a hint that pushes you in the right direction.

Anyway, the idea to change the owner of the files is more general than specific; I'm assuming your server's using the www-data user to run the site - if it's a different user, the ownership needs to be different. Anything in the Apache error logs?

Michael_Pavling · March 23, 2010, 10:16am

I just checked a server I have here (Ubuntu 9.04LTS) and the directory ownership is slightly different to what I said. I've got it as: chown -R root.www-data my_rails_app

Also worth checking the permissions of the log folder, and if there's log files in there, check their perms - delete them if necessary and see if the app recreates them once all the ownership is set.

Justin3 · March 23, 2010, 7:38pm

Michael,

Thanks SO much for helping me. I still haven't gotten the logs to populate, even with root:www-data

No luck with your chown -R root:www-data testapp1 If restarted apache: /etc/init.d/apache2 restart * Restarting web server apache2 ... waiting ...done.

My symbolic link: $ cd /var/www $ ls -l lrwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 31 2010-03-21 07:55 testapp1 -> /home/ justinschier/www/testapp1

My home www folder: $ cd /home/justinschier $ ls -l drwxrwxrwx 3 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 www

My testapp1 folder: $ cd /home/justinschier/www $ ls -l drwxrwxrwx 13 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 testapp1

My log folder: $ cd /home/justinschier/www/testapp1 $ ls -l ... drwxrwxrwx 2 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 log ... (everything's the same permissions and ownership as log)

My log files: -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 1676 2010-03-22 20:58 development.log -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 production.log -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 server.log -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 test.log

I know the development.log is showing now, BUT that's because I tried running WebBrick. That's why there's something in there.

My /public folder (no .htaccess file): $ cd /home/justinschier/www/testapp1/public $ ls -al drwxrwxrwx 5 root www-data 4096 2010-03-22 08:21 . drwxrwxrwx 13 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 .. -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 947 2010-03-20 08:02 404.html -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 930 2010-03-20 08:02 422.html -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 948 2010-03-20 08:02 500.html -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 favicon.ico drwxrwxrwx 2 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 images -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 7466 2010-03-20 08:02 index.html drwxrwxrwx 2 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 javascripts -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 204 2010-03-20 08:02 robots.txt drwxrwxrwx 3 root www-data 4096 2010-03-22 15:30 stylesheets

Still when I run this, the log files don't grow at all: http://testapp1.fuse.sonikserver.com/ Welcome Aboard Page loads correctly

http://testapp1.fuse.sonikserver.com/rails/info/properties and I still get "We're sorry, but something went wrong"

Apache has instances running as both root and www-data: $ ps aux | grep apache2 root 14157 0.0 0.3 141016 8040 ? Ss 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start root 14170 0.0 0.0 23192 1888 ? Sl 12:24 0:00 /var/ lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.11/ext/apache2/ ApplicationPoolServerExecutable 0 /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/ passenger-2.2.11/bin/passenger-spawn-server /usr/bin/ruby1.8 /tmp/ passenger.14157 www-data 14175 0.0 0.2 141492 6036 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14176 0.0 0.2 141348 5812 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14177 0.0 0.2 141348 5812 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14178 0.0 0.2 141476 5796 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14179 0.0 0.2 141476 5924 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14183 0.0 0.2 141476 5852 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14188 0.0 0.2 141016 4692 ? S 12:25 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start root 14206 0.0 0.0 7340 884 pts/0 S+ 12:27 0:00 grep apache2

I even got rid of the symbolic link (above) and no change:

$ vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

Now reads:

... default part ommitted for this post ....

LoadModule passenger_module /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.11/ ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so PassengerRoot /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.11 PassengerRuby /usr/bin/ruby1.8

<VirtualHost *:80> ServerName testapp1.fuse.sonikserver.com DocumentRoot /home/justinschier/www/testapp1/public <Directory /home/justinschier/www/testapp1/public> Allow from all Options -MultiViews </Directory> </VirtualHost>

Man, I am so out of ideas. Anything else you can think of for me to try?

Thanks again SOOO much. If you have an Amazon wish list, I'm totally buying you something.

Justin

Michael_Pavling · March 23, 2010, 7:52pm

Justin,

I don't know what you're so impressed with me for... we've not sorted your problem. And I'm afraid I pretty much out of ideas, I'm afraid

It's bugging me, because I had the *same* issue a couple of weeks ago (log files not being written to), although my application was working. But I can't remember what was the thing that fixed it, and I'm not at home to look to see if I made any notes.

Just looking through your post again; if you delete the log files, do they get created by Apache? And what does the tail of the Apache log say?

Craig_White2 · March 23, 2010, 8:30pm

Michael,

Thanks SO much for helping me. I still haven't gotten the logs to populate, even with root:www-data

No luck with your chown -R root:www-data testapp1 If restarted apache: /etc/init.d/apache2 restart * Restarting web server apache2 ... waiting ...done.

My symbolic link: $ cd /var/www $ ls -l lrwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 31 2010-03-21 07:55 testapp1 -> /home/ justinschier/www/testapp1

My home www folder: $ cd /home/justinschier $ ls -l drwxrwxrwx 3 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 www

My testapp1 folder: $ cd /home/justinschier/www $ ls -l drwxrwxrwx 13 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 testapp1

My log folder: $ cd /home/justinschier/www/testapp1 $ ls -l ... drwxrwxrwx 2 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 log ... (everything's the same permissions and ownership as log)

My log files: -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 1676 2010-03-22 20:58 development.log -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 production.log -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 server.log -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 test.log

I know the development.log is showing now, BUT that's because I tried running WebBrick. That's why there's something in there.

My /public folder (no .htaccess file): $ cd /home/justinschier/www/testapp1/public $ ls -al drwxrwxrwx 5 root www-data 4096 2010-03-22 08:21 . drwxrwxrwx 13 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 .. -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 947 2010-03-20 08:02 404.html -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 930 2010-03-20 08:02 422.html -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 948 2010-03-20 08:02 500.html -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 0 2010-03-20 08:02 favicon.ico drwxrwxrwx 2 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 images -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 7466 2010-03-20 08:02 index.html drwxrwxrwx 2 root www-data 4096 2010-03-20 08:02 javascripts -rwxrwxrwx 1 root www-data 204 2010-03-20 08:02 robots.txt drwxrwxrwx 3 root www-data 4096 2010-03-22 15:30 stylesheets

Still when I run this, the log files don't grow at all: http://testapp1.fuse.sonikserver.com/ Welcome Aboard Page loads correctly

http://testapp1.fuse.sonikserver.com/rails/info/properties and I still get "We're sorry, but something went wrong"

Apache has instances running as both root and www-data: $ ps aux | grep apache2 root 14157 0.0 0.3 141016 8040 ? Ss 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start root 14170 0.0 0.0 23192 1888 ? Sl 12:24 0:00 /var/ lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.11/ext/apache2/ ApplicationPoolServerExecutable 0 /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/ passenger-2.2.11/bin/passenger-spawn-server /usr/bin/ruby1.8 /tmp/ passenger.14157 www-data 14175 0.0 0.2 141492 6036 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14176 0.0 0.2 141348 5812 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14177 0.0 0.2 141348 5812 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14178 0.0 0.2 141476 5796 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14179 0.0 0.2 141476 5924 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14183 0.0 0.2 141476 5852 ? S 12:24 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 14188 0.0 0.2 141016 4692 ? S 12:25 0:00 /usr/ sbin/apache2 -k start root 14206 0.0 0.0 7340 884 pts/0 S+ 12:27 0:00 grep apache2

I even got rid of the symbolic link (above) and no change:

$ vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

Now reads:

... default part ommitted for this post ....

LoadModule passenger_module /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.11/ ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so PassengerRoot /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.11 PassengerRuby /usr/bin/ruby1.8

<VirtualHost *:80> ServerName testapp1.fuse.sonikserver.com DocumentRoot /home/justinschier/www/testapp1/public <Directory /home/justinschier/www/testapp1/public> Allow from all Options -MultiViews </Directory> </VirtualHost>

Man, I am so out of ideas. Anything else you can think of for me to try?

Thanks again SOOO much. If you have an Amazon wish list, I'm totally buying you something.

Justin3 · April 7, 2010, 12:21am

Success!! (Sorry for the delay - I've been under the weather and busy with some other things)

It's working in development, but not production mode. (Can you help with that?)

The changes I made: 1. Change ownership on everything to www-data:www-data 2. chmod -R 775 /home 3. Added RailsEnv development to apache config 4. touch /home/justinschier/testapp1/tmp/restart.txt 5. Deleted /log/production.log

After that, I got the configuration screen to show correctly and the development.log was written

However, when I changed to RailsEnv production and restarted apache, now I get "We're sorry, but something went wrong". I'm sure the / config/environments/production.rb file is original. The /log/ production.log file was re-created automatically

The production.log now only has this one line: # Logfile created on Tue Apr 06 15:11:14 -0700 2010

Questions: A. Should justinschier be the user, instead of www-data? B. Is there anything else I should check to see why production isn't working?

Thanks very, very much, Justin Schier