Passenger makes deploying rails apps as easy as putting the file on the server and starting Apache. I have been using passenger for about 4 years and have used it for some very high scale projects. Passenger makes deployments very php like, what i mean by that is you can just drop the files and go. From my experience using Passenger the only time Apache need to be recycled is when adding a new controller or model. Adding actions inside an already existing controller Apache will not need to be restarted, you can simply start using that action.

The next big seller for me is the documentation on this product it’s been around for some time so there is a large community around “mod_rails / Passenger”. Passenger works on any POSIX-compliant operating system. In other words: practically any operating system on earth, except Microsoft Windows.

Passenger was super quick and easy to install and get a rails application running. Below i have detailed my installation on Mac OSX 10.6.4.

1) First I opened a terminal window and ran the command:

sudo gem install passenger

(Important note just remember to sudo).

2) Now lets install the apache2 module:

sudo passenger-install-apache2-module

After running the apache2-module command it will tell you what you can expect from the install process, just hit “Return”.

3) Now lets setup your Apache, the install will provide you with three lines that need to go into your Apache config document:

LoadModule passenger_module /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/passenger-3.0.0/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so
PassengerRoot /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/passenger-3.0.0
PassengerRuby /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby

NOTE: Don’t copy and paste mine, be sure to copy the output from the module install in your terminal window.

After restarting Apache you want to check and make sure AllowOverrides are set to all. Now create your rails project or use an existing one.

4) Now we need to setup a VirtualHost in apache, open the httpd-vhosts.conf file and add this:

<VirtualHost *:80>
	DocumentRoot "/var/www/path/to/your/rails/app"
	ServerName local.YourTestDomain.com
	RailsEnv development # <- important to set this here.
</VirtualHost>

Now restart apache once again and then edit your hosts file adding the local domain, once this has been done you can visit your local domain in a browser and you should now see your rail application running. No need to visit “localhost:3000” any more. Any time you create a new controller or model just restart Apache and reload the page.

I hope this has helped someone install this great product, i think you will find it very useful in the future for production rails app’s and just at home development. Read more about mod_rails / Passenger here.

I have no real results out of this but it’s something to keep in mind, why will my Vista computer boot at about the same as my Mac? Does my Mac really work better or does it just look as it works better by hiding processes and running background applications.

I think it all comes down to getting a computer with as much RAM as you can fit in it and a good processor.

For now, i will use both as needed… But you never know…

Download

Download wget for Mac OS X (124 KB)

Install wget

For normal mac setups.

# Open Terminal: Applications/Utilitys/Terminal
# This is assuming the wget folder is in Downloads
cd Downloads
cd wget
sudo mv wget /usr/local/bin
password:
sudo mv wget.1 /usr/local/man/man1
sudo mv wgetrc /usr/local/etc
 
# Close then reopen your terminal
# Now lets test! Simply do:
wget
 
 # Output
wget: missing URL
Usage: wget [OPTION]... [URL]...
 
Try `wget --help' for more options.

This will work 99% of the time, but i have seen one case that this did not work. When calling “sudo mv wget.1 /usr/local/man/man1″ and it responds “No such file or directory” do not freak out! I have the solution for you, below is for users that received an error after trying to move the wget.1 to man1 folder.

Install wget (option 2)

For other mac setups.

# ONLY IF YOU GOT AN ERROR "No such file or directory: MAN1"
# DO NOT USE THIS IF THE CODE ABOVE WORKED AND YOU CAN USE WGET
# May need to re-download
sudo mv wget /usr/bin
password:
sudo mv wget.1 /usr/share/man/man1
sudo mv wgetrc /usr/local/etc
 
# Close then reopen your terminal
# Now lets test! Simply do:
wget
 
# Output
wget: missing URL
Usage: wget [OPTION]... [URL]...
 
Try `wget --help' for more options.

So now thats installed, what do we use it for? Well are you wanting to download my lasted version of the Winn Guestbook? You can easily download it with wget now! Let me show you how!

# Download the latest version of the Winn Grestbook (v2.2.9)
# First 'cd' to the directory you want it to download too.
wget http://winn.ws/downloads/guestbook_v2-2-9.zip
 
# done!

Works great! Leran more about using wget and other commands with this book from amazon.com: MAC OS X UNIX Toolbox: 1000+ Commands for the Mac OS X