Devise's helper - confirmation_url(@resource, confirmation_token: @token) - returns localhost3000

rubyonrails-talk
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My question: Is there a way for Rails to know if it is running under Apache or under Webrick?

Background: I run my Rails website in two environments

  1. Under webrick
  2. Under Apache

I am “successfully” sending email when I want my registering user to confirm the user’s identity.

Devise massages …gems/devise-4.3.0/app/views/devise/mailer/confirmation_instructions.html.erb

Welcome <%= @email %>!

You can confirm your account email through the link below:

<%= link_to 'Confirm my account', confirmation_url(@resource, confirmation_token: @token) %>

``

So I was very puzzled (and spent a couple of hours investigating code) why all the emails had a confirmation link similar to http://localhost:3000/users/confirmation?confirmation_token=wZ4QQPTH2dHi84ku9z2ms

That is, why is Devise referring to localhost:3000 even when I’m running under Apache.

The code in ~/.rbenv/versions/2.4.1/lib/ruby/gems/2.4.0/gems/devise-4.3.0/lib/devise/controllers/url_helpers.rb is rather complex … Well above my head.

So I said to myself, “Self, surely someone else has had this problem.” Yup. They have.

I found the answer in Redirecting to Google Groups.

But I still don’t know of a robust way to test the environment: Webrick or Apache

2

? "environment" usually refers to one of "development", "test", or "production".

Also, what does "under Apache" mean? Using Passenger? Or as a proxy? If the latter, something has to be doing the actual serving (i.e. puma, unicorn, thin, webrick (not in production!)).

Clarification?

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Re: [Rails] Devise’s helper - confirmation_url(@resource, confirmation_token: @token) - returns localhost3000 Hassan, My comments interspersed. And thank you for your quick reply. Ralph Tuesday, July 25, 2017, 1:00:16 PM, you wrote:

My question: Is there a way for Rails to know if it is running under Apache or under Webrick? Background: I run my Rails website in two environments

  1. Under webrick
  2. Under Apache ? “environment” usually refers to one of “development”, “test”, or “production”.**Ok … you are correct. So what is the correct phrase for knowing what kind of server Rails is running under? HS> Also, what does “under Apache” mean? Using Passenger? Or as a proxy? If the latter, something has to be doing the actual serving (i.e. puma, unicorn, thin, webrick (not in production!)).“Under Apache” means, I think, Apache is somewhere in the rack. (My understanding of “rack” is, at best, nebulous. **HS> Clarification?**Hassan, you know a LOT more about this than I do. If my English is unclear, it is because I’m not sure of what I am talking about. So, again, thank you for your response and patience. HS> – Hassan Schroeder ------------------------ hassan.schroeder@gmail.com **HS> twitter: @hassan
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So what is the correct phrase for knowing what kind of server Rails is running under?

"what server?" should do :slight_smile:

> Also, what does "under Apache" mean? Using Passenger? Or as > a proxy? If the latter, something has to be doing the actual serving > (i.e. puma, unicorn, thin, webrick (not in production!)).

"Under Apache" means, I think, Apache is somewhere in the rack. (My understanding of "rack" is, at best, nebulous.

First, "Apache" is the name of an organization; "Apache httpd" is a web server (which many people erroneously refer to as "Apache").

Did you install and configure this yourself, or was it provided by someone else?

Can you describe exactly how you're starting "Apache"?

5

On an ancient version of Rails (2.3) ENV["SERVER_SOFTWARE"] contains "Apache" when I am running with Passenger. Do not know about later versions.

Norm

6

Hassan,

Comments interspersed.

And, again, thank you.

Ralph

So what is the correct phrase for knowing what kind of server Rails is

running under?

“what server?” should do :slight_smile:

Ok, that was easy.

Also, what does “under Apache” mean? Using Passenger? Or as

a proxy? If the latter, something has to be doing the actual serving

(i.e. puma, unicorn, thin, webrick (not in production!)).

“Under Apache” means, I think, Apache is somewhere in the rack. (My

understanding of “rack” is, at best, nebulous.

First, “Apache” is the name of an organization; “Apache httpd” is a

web server (which many people erroneously refer to as “Apache”).

Lordy, you’re even more of a pedant than I am. :slight_smile:

Did you install and configure this yourself, or was it provided by

someone else?

I installed the system myself. It was about as much fun as going to the dentist while having a stomach flu.

Just for giggles I’ll describe my system: Windows 7 host VMware Workstation Ubuntu 16.04 client

I don’t have a clue how I would have gotten as far as I have without VMWare.

Can you describe exactly how you’re starting “Apache”?

Sure. I start Apache httpd with the following script: #!/bin/bash

export RALPH_SUPPRESS_HTTPS= sudo apache2ctl start

``

When I run webrick my script is #!/bin/bash

export RALPH_SUPPRESS_HTTPS=true sudo apache2ctl stop rails s

``

So I use the environment variable `RALPH_SUPPRESS_HTTPS as a proxy for whether I’m using webrick or Apache httpd

And, again, Hassan, thank you `

7

Norm,

Please see my answer to Hassan.

I think I’m doing something similar to that ancient version.

I can report that in my operating environment, there is no environment variable named SERVER_SOFTWARE.

Ralph

8

First, "Apache" is the name of an organization; "Apache httpd" is a web server (which many people erroneously refer to as "Apache").

Lordy, you're even more of a pedant than I am. :slight_smile:

It's a losing battle, but the ASF (Apache Software Foundation) hosts/sponsors hundreds of OSS projects (e.g. Apache Tomcat, Apache Commons) and it can get confusing when people use "Apache" without any qualifier. But moving on...

I installed the system myself.

Do you remember configuring httpd for something called "Passenger"? If not, what kind of configuration was done to access your Rails app?

So I use the environment variable RALPH_SUPPRESS_HTTPS as a proxy for whether I'm using webrick or Apache httpd

You can get the command used to start the server (last shell command) from the environment with "printenv _" e.g.

  puts "started with #{`printenv _`}"

Try putting the above line at the bottom of config/environment.rb and starting your app both ways to confirm.

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I think Passenger is running

The following is what I see before I invoked Firefox ralph-data@ralph-data:~$ date Wed Jul 26 08:27:49 MDT 2017 ralph-data@ralph-data:~$ passenger -v Phusion Passenger 5.1.1 ralph-data@ralph-data:~$ sudo passenger-status [sudo] password for ralph-data: Version : 5.1.1 Instance: 6eCdJWUs (Apache/2.4.18 (Ubuntu) Phusion_Passenger/5.1.1)

----------- General information ----------- Max pool size : 6 App groups : 0 Processes : 0 Requests in top-level queue : 0

----------- Application groups -----------

``

And once I start Firefox I see ralph-data@ralph-data:~$ sudo passenger-status Version : 5.1.1 Instance: 6eCdJWUs (Apache/2.4.18 (Ubuntu) Phusion_Passenger/5.1.1)

----------- General information ----------- Max pool size : 6 App groups : 1 Processes : 4 Requests in top-level queue : 0

----------- Application groups ----------- /home/ralph-data (development): App root: /home/ralph-data Requests in queue: 0

  • PID: 2602 Sessions: 0 Processed: 22 Uptime: 11s CPU: 7% Memory : 79M Last used: 8s ago
  • PID: 2614 Sessions: 0 Processed: 1 Uptime: 8s CPU: 4% Memory : 60M Last used: 8s ago
  • PID: 2623 Sessions: 0 Processed: 1 Uptime: 8s CPU: 4% Memory : 52M Last used: 8s ago
  • PID: 2632 Sessions: 0 Processed: 0 Uptime: 8s CPU: 0% Memory : 2M Last used: 8s ago

ralph-data@ralph-data:~$

``

And this is what I have in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/ralph-data.com.conf

Shnelvar

See SSL/TLS Strong Encryption: How-To - Apache HTTP Server Version 2.4

Turning on

LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so

appears to break Apache

This was fixed by running a2enmod ssl.

The running of a2enmod ssl appears to make the line below unnecessary

LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so

Listen 443

<VirtualHost *:443>

See Setting up Apache Server with SSL Support on Ubuntu

DocumentRoot /var/www/html

DocumentRoot /home/ralph-data/public

Shnelvar:

See Deploying a Ruby application - Apache - Passenger Library

PassengerRuby /home/ralph-data/.rbenv/versions/2.4.1/bin/ruby

ServerName ralph-data.com:443 ServerAlias www.ralph-data.com:443 SSLEngine on

Shnelvar: SSL Certiticate

SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/private/ralph-data_com.crt

Shnelvar: Pivate key

SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/myserver.key

Shnelvar:

See Deploying a Ruby application - Apache - Passenger Library

Relax Apache security settings

<Directory /home/ralph-data/public> RailsEnv development Allow from all Options -MultiViews # Uncomment this if you’re on Apache > 2.4: Require all granted ServerAlias ralph-data.com ServerAlias www.ralph-data.com

``

This is what I get when I want to see the Apache httpd version ralph-data@ralph-data:~$ sudo apachectl -V [sudo] password for ralph-data: Server version: Apache/2.4.18 (Ubuntu) Server built: 2017-06-26T11:58:04 Server’s Module Magic Number: 20120211:52 Server loaded: APR 1.5.2, APR-UTIL 1.5.4 Compiled using: APR 1.5.2, APR-UTIL 1.5.4 Architecture: 64-bit Server MPM: prefork threaded: no forked: yes (variable process count) Server compiled with… -D APR_HAS_SENDFILE -D APR_HAS_MMAP -D APR_HAVE_IPV6 (IPv4-mapped addresses enabled) -D APR_USE_SYSVSEM_SERIALIZE -D APR_USE_PTHREAD_SERIALIZE -D SINGLE_LISTEN_UNSERIALIZED_ACCEPT -D APR_HAS_OTHER_CHILD -D AP_HAVE_RELIABLE_PIPED_LOGS -D DYNAMIC_MODULE_LIMIT=256 -D HTTPD_ROOT=“/etc/apache2” -D SUEXEC_BIN=“/usr/lib/apache2/suexec” -D DEFAULT_PIDLOG=“/var/run/apache2.pid” -D DEFAULT_SCOREBOARD=“logs/apache_runtime_status” -D DEFAULT_ERRORLOG=“logs/error_log” -D AP_TYPES_CONFIG_FILE=“mime.types” -D SERVER_CONFIG_FILE=“apache2.conf” ralph-data@ralph-data:~$

``

Thanks for asking. It’s a good review of what I’ve done. :slight_smile:

I’ve read overviews about Passenger … but I still don’t get what it does. Does it sit between Apache (httpd) and Rails? What does it do that Apache (httpd) doesn’t do?

Ralph

10

I think Passenger is running

Yep, looks like.

I've read overviews about Passenger ... but I still don't get what it does. Does it sit between Apache (httpd) and Rails? What does it do that Apache (httpd) doesn't do?

Apache httpd handles different kinds of requests and responses through modules -- static file serving, directory listing, proxy via http, ajp, etc. Passenger provides a rack interface which is what Rails uses to talk to the outside world (and which is provided by webrick, puma, unicorn, thin, etc.).

I'm not a Passenger fan after discovering that any startup error in production dumps a page full of sensitive data out for anyone to see, which seems utterly braindead...

11

Hassan:

  1. Does Passenger dump that sensitive data in development?

2 How hard is it to remove Passenger? What are the downsides to removing it?

Ralph

12

Not since several versions ago. They heard your displeasure and did something about it.

Walter

13

Hassan:

1) Does Passenger dump that sensitive data in development?

2 How hard is it to remove Passenger? What are the downsides to removing it?

You have to replace it with *something* -- Unicorn, Puma, basically another app server. Rails won't do much besides talk to Rack, to reach the outside world, you need something that implements call() and writes out headers and body to stdout.

Walter

14

Well in that case -- nnnnevermind :grinning:

Still, I prefer the flexibility of having a proxy in front of Unicorn or Puma since I can strip out nonsense requests like "/phpmyadmin" before they pollute my Rails logs (among other things).

Setting that up is a whole new learning though, and may not be all that helpful for anyone who's already happy with Passenger.