Ruby Forum Ruby on Rails > mongrel PID files and reboot

I have followed the instructions on the mongrel website, and now have
mongrel_cluster running my apps at boot time, works great.

Now, if the server goes down ungracefully, the mongrel processes do
not start up on reboot because the mongrel PID files are still hanging
around.

I have boot job that cleans those up now, but is there a "GOOD" way to
handle this ???

-- Thanks

Well, that's how I've handled it... I'd also like to know if anyone has 
any
better methods.

Actually, I just found this, its looks cleaner than what I have...

http://textsnippets.com/posts/show/931

Basically just a change to the mongrel_rails script to delete PID
files that reference a process that is not actually running...sounds
like a good thing to be included to me.

this is what I am using now (changed in mongrel-1.0.1/bin/
mongrel_rails
          if File.exist? defaults[:pid_file]
            #===== new stuff
            pid = File.new(defaults[:pid_file]).readline
            if `ps --pid #{pid} --no-headers`.length > 0
                log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} exists, but
is stale, and will be deleted so that this mongrel can run."
                File.delete(defaults[:pid_file])
            else
                log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} already
exists and the process id referred to in it is running.  This mongrel
is probably already running.  #{defaults[:log_file]} for errors.
EXITING."
                exit 1
            end
            #===== old stuff
            #log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} already exists.
Mongrel could be running already.  Check your #{defaults[:log_file]}
for errors."
            #log "!!! Exiting with error.  You must stop mongrel and
clear the .pid before I'll attempt a start."
            exit 1
          end

oops, this is actually what I am running now (again patched into /usr/
lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1/bin/mongrel_rails)



          if File.exist? defaults[:pid_file]
            #===== new stuff
            pid = File.new(defaults[:pid_file]).readline
            if `ps --pid #{pid} --no-headers`.length > 0
                log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} already
exists and the process id referenced is running.  This mongrel is
probably already running.  #{defaults[:log_file]} for errors.
EXITING."
                exit 1
            else
                log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} exists, but
is stale, and will be deleted so that this mongrel can run."
                File.delete(defaults[:pid_file])
            end
            #===== old stuff
            #log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} already exists.
Mongrel could be running already.  Check your #{defaults[:log_file]}
for errors."
            #log "!!! Exiting with error.  You must stop mongrel and
clear the .pid before I'll attempt a start."
          end

Found this thread searching the archives, after running into this same 
problem. Anyone know why this hasn't been added to mongrel_cluster trunk 
yet? Very annoying. Or maybe it has been, but just wasn't in the distro 
I got?

Problem is if your server/mongrels dies ungracefully,  then 
/etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster won't succesfully start up your mongrels 
again, since there are stale pids.

aktxyz@gmail.com wrote:
> oops, this is actually what I am running now (again patched into /usr/
> lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1/bin/mongrel_rails)
> 
> 
> 
>           if File.exist? defaults[:pid_file]
>             #===== new stuff
>             pid = File.new(defaults[:pid_file]).readline
>             if `ps --pid #{pid} --no-headers`.length > 0
>                 log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} already
> exists and the process id referenced is running.  This mongrel is
> probably already running.  #{defaults[:log_file]} for errors.
> EXITING."
>                 exit 1
>             else
>                 log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} exists, but
> is stale, and will be deleted so that this mongrel can run."
>                 File.delete(defaults[:pid_file])
>             end
>             #===== old stuff
>             #log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} already exists.
> Mongrel could be running already.  Check your #{defaults[:log_file]}
> for errors."
>             #log "!!! Exiting with error.  You must stop mongrel and
> clear the .pid before I'll attempt a start."
>           end

Okay, I found that, at least in the newest versions of mongrel_cluster, 
you can supply a --clean argument to have mongrel_cluster delete any 
leftover pids.

Anyone know how I get this to happen on boot? Right now I'm just linking 
/etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster to 
mongrel_cluster_gem/resources/mongrel_cluster . Any way short of hacking 
the source (meaning it will break next time I update) to get --clean to 
be the default for mongrel_cluster start?

Jonathan

Jonathan Rochkind wrote:
> Found this thread searching the archives, after running into this same 
> problem. Anyone know why this hasn't been added to mongrel_cluster trunk 
> yet? Very annoying. Or maybe it has been, but just wasn't in the distro 
> I got?
> 
> Problem is if your server/mongrels dies ungracefully,  then 
> /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster won't succesfully start up your mongrels 
> again, since there are stale pids.
> 
> aktxyz@gmail.com wrote:
>> oops, this is actually what I am running now (again patched into /usr/
>> lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1/bin/mongrel_rails)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>           if File.exist? defaults[:pid_file]
>>             #===== new stuff
>>             pid = File.new(defaults[:pid_file]).readline
>>             if `ps --pid #{pid} --no-headers`.length > 0
>>                 log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} already
>> exists and the process id referenced is running.  This mongrel is
>> probably already running.  #{defaults[:log_file]} for errors.
>> EXITING."
>>                 exit 1
>>             else
>>                 log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} exists, but
>> is stale, and will be deleted so that this mongrel can run."
>>                 File.delete(defaults[:pid_file])
>>             end
>>             #===== old stuff
>>             #log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} already exists.
>> Mongrel could be running already.  Check your #{defaults[:log_file]}
>> for errors."
>>             #log "!!! Exiting with error.  You must stop mongrel and
>> clear the .pid before I'll attempt a start."
>>           end