Javascript file not compiled in production with Rails asset pipeline

Posted on 25 May 2012 by kosmas

Problem

You have updated your application to the new 3.1.x or 3.2.x rails, and you are using the new asset pipeline.
You have a javascript file (example.js) that is only called in a specific view or conditionally (especially for css).
The application works fine in the development environment but when deploying in the production (or staging) server, you get an error like the following in the log file:

ActionView::Template::Error (example.js isn't precompiled)

Solution

As the new asset pipeline puts everything together in one file, your file that is called from a different place cannot be found.
Even if you include your example.js in the application.js manifest file with a //= require example, you still get the same error.
It is possible to compile a single javascript file separately from all the other ones.
So what you have to do is include the following into your necessary environment file (staging.rb, production.rb etc), or in the application.rb file if it going to be used in more than one environments.

config.assets.precompile += ['example.js']

Make sure that you include the .js in the code above, and then redeploy with capistrano cap staging|production deploy.

Using Postfix to send out emails from development environment in Rails

Posted on 9 May 2012 by kosmas

Problem

You want to be able to send emails from your development enironment using Postfix in your (K)Ubuntu pc.

Solution

First you would need to install postfix:

sudo apt-get install postfix

and then you would need to change an option in postfix to not use tls, so change /etc/postfix/main.cf:

sudo vi /etc/postfix/main.cf

and change the smtpd_use_tls from yes to no:

smtpd_use_tls=no

restart your postfix server:

sudo /usr/sbin/postfix reload

and then setup your config/development.rb as follows:

config.action_mailer.delivery_method = :smtp
config.action_mailer.smtp_settings = {
  address:                 "127.0.0.1",
  port:                    25,
  enable_starttls_auto:    false
}

Command line mail message with postfix in (K)ubuntu

Posted on 8 May 2012 by kosmas

Problem

You have installed postfix in your local development machine (sudo apt-get install postfix), and you want to test sending emails from the command line using mail email_address@someone.com

Solution

You would first need to install the mailutils package:

sudo apt-get install mailutils

then you can send an email by:

mail email_name@example.com
CC: (leave blank)
Subject: Test subject
Main message body

and you can send it by pressing Ctrl+D

Redirecting postfix email to a different email account

Posted on 23 April 2012 by kosmas

Problem

You have setup your Rails app to send out emails using postfix, but you also want to redirect the incoming emais to a different account.

Solution

Edit the postfix configuration file vi /etc/postfix/main.cf and add the following two lines at the bottom:

virtual_alias_domains = outgoing_domain.com
virtual_alias_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtual

And then add the redirections to the virtual file with vi /etc/postfix/virtual:

outgoing_email@outgoing_domain.com           other_account@other_domain.com
@outgoing_domain.com                         other_account@other_domain.com

Then run the following two commands to restart postfix:

postmap /etc/postfix/virtual
postfix reload

* Based on the post here

Having both the www and without domain names in Apache

Posted on 19 April 2012 by kosmas

Problem

You would like to have both www.domain.name and domain.name server by Apache.

Solution

In your vhost configuration add the following two lines:

ServerName www.domain.name
ServerAlias domain.name

Starting console in staging or production environment

Posted on 16 April 2012 by kosmas

Problem

You would like to start your rails console in an environment that is not the development, like staging or production.

Solution

Using the latest 3 shortcut you can use:

rails c staging

Could not find activesupport-3.0.12 in any of the sources (Bundler::GemNotFound)

Posted on 19 March 2012 by kosmas

Problem

You are trying to update your rails app deployed on a server, for example from 3.0.11 to 3.0.12, and at the same time trying to update the Ruby version from 1.9.2 to 1.9.3 but you are getting the following error from passenger:

    Could not find activesupport-3.0.12 in any of the sources (Bundler::GemNotFound)

Solution

You would need to reinstall and compile the passenger module with the newest Ruby 1.9.3 installation.

gem install passenger

passenger-install-apache2-module

and then modify the apache configuration file as in:

The Apache 2 module was successfully installed.                   

Please edit your Apache configuration file, and add these lines:

   LoadModule passenger_module /usr/local/rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125/gems/passenger-3.0.11/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so
   PassengerRoot /usr/local/rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125/gems/passenger-3.0.11
   PassengerRuby /usr/local/rvm/wrappers/ruby-1.9.3-p125/ruby

After you restart Apache, you are ready to deploy any number of Ruby on Rails
applications on Apache, without any further Ruby on Rails-specific
configuration!

and then reload your apache configuration

sudo /etc/init.di/apache2 reload

Creating a Vagrant Box with Debian Lenny 32, rvm and Ruby 1.9.3

Posted on 16 March 2012 by kosmas

As an addition to the excellent beta book ‘Deploying Rails’, as I had problems using the suggested lucid64 image, I’ve tried to install a debian lenny 32 image with rvm and Ruby 1.9.3.

The steps needed are listed below

Download the lenny package:

localhost$ vagrant box add debian-lenny-32 https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/glassesdirect-boxen/debian/debian_lenny_32.box

Make a new directory for the virtual box:

localhost$ mkdir -p ~/deployingrails/lenny32

change into created directory and create the Vagrant file:
```
localhost$ cd ~/deployingrails/lenny32
vagrant init
```
change the Vagrant file to use the virtual box we have downloaded:
```
Vagrant::Config.run do |config|
  config.vm.box = "lenny32"
end
```
Start the VM:
```
localhost$ vagrant up
```
If there is a warning about the Guest additions here install the latest guest additions by following the description here, but only use the update and upgrade steps as:
```
localhost$ vagrant ssh
vagrant$ sudo apt-get update
vagrant$ sudo apt-get upgrade
```
After finishing the upgrade logout (exit) from the VM and issue the command to restart the VM:
```
localhost$ vagrant reload
```
login to the VM again:
```
localhost$ vagrant ssh
```

Install curl to be able to download the installation script for:

vagrant$ sudo apt-get install curl

Download and install rvm by using the script described here http://beginrescueend.com/rvm/install/ :

vagrant$ bash -s stable < <(curl -s https://raw.github.com/wayneeseguin/rvm/master/binscripts/rvm-installer)

Add the loading of the RVM function into .bashrc, by running the following in the command prompt:

vagrant$ echo '[[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ]] && . "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" # Load RVM function' >> ~/.bashrc

Reload the bashrc file:
```
vagrant$ source ~/.bashrc
```

Make sure that the rvm is loaded as function:

vagrant$ type rvm | head -1
rvm is a function

Run the rvm requirement to see the needed libraries and then run the suggested ones (except libreadline6 and libreadline6-dev that are not there in debian):

vagrant$ sudo apt-get install build-essential openssl curl git-core zlib1g zlib1g-dev libssl-dev libyaml-dev libsqlite3-0 libsqlite3-dev sqlite3 libxml2-dev libxslt-dev autoconf libc6-dev ncurses-dev automake libtool bison

Install Ruby 1.9.3 :
```
vagrant$ rvm install ruby-1.9.3
```
Use the ruby 1.9.3 as default:
```
vagrant$ rvm use 1.9.3 --default
```

Finally create a new VM package to use in future:

localhost$ vagrant package --output lenny32-rvm-ruby193

And add it our box list:

localhost$ vagrant box add lenny32-rvm-ruby193 lenny32-rvm-ruby193
localhost$ vagrant box list

cannot load such file — zlib

Posted on 3 March 2012 by kosmas

Problemo

You are trying to install a gem with rvm but you are getting the following error:

ERROR: Loading command: install (LoadError
cannot load such file — zlib
ERROR: While executing gem … (NameError)
uninitialized constant Gem::Commands::InstallCommand

Solution

Following from the post here

you would need to install the zlib library with rvm, uninstall your ruby version and then install the ruby version again with the folowing:

rvm pkg install zlib

rvm uninstall 1.9.3

rvm install 1.9.3

Adding a record in Rails through javascript

Posted on 27 February 2012 by kosmas

Problem

You would like to trigger a record insertion after a specific action has happened through javascript (ie drag – drop an item into a container), in a rails application.

Solution

You would need to get the object attributes from the html page somehow (ie user_id and user_name), and then have a function in your application js that calls the post function.

So if you have a drag and drop container for example then the code in the application.js should be like the following:

$("#name_of_container").droppable({
  drop: handleDropEvent
});

function handleDropEvent(event,ui) {
  var user_id = ui.draggable.attr("user_id");
  var user_name = ui.draggable.attr("user_name");
  $.post('/users', {user: {user_id: user_id, name: user_name}})
}

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Web notebook about thoughts and discoveries in DevOps, SRE, Software Engineering….

Javascript file not compiled in production with Rails asset pipeline

Using Postfix to send out emails from development environment in Rails

Command line mail message with postfix in (K)ubuntu

Redirecting postfix email to a different email account

Having both the www and without domain names in Apache

Starting console in staging or production environment

Could not find activesupport-3.0.12 in any of the sources (Bundler::GemNotFound)

Creating a Vagrant Box with Debian Lenny 32, rvm and Ruby 1.9.3

cannot load such file — zlib

Adding a record in Rails through javascript