Hi there, I am working in a RoR application which allows certain users to upload files. Currently I store these files in a directory called "files". This directory is located in the RoR application directory: rails/rails_application/files So users don't have access to them. Now I want users to be able to download some of these files (they will search based on some parameters). With this setup I cannot link from my views to that files since they are out of the public directory. I could move the files directory to the public directory but then everybody will have access to those files. Any idea about how to implement this? Thank you in advance, David
on 19.01.2006 19:16
on 19.01.2006 19:22
what about a symlink? YOu need some way of getting those files into the public directory so its a matter of how you want to do it. Bottom line is they will need to be there at some point. Maybe on a per request basis copy the original file to the public directory with some random generated name to make it obscure, and then delete it. adam
on 19.01.2006 19:31
David -- send_file [1] is probably what you're looking for. cheers Gerret [1] http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionController/Streaming.html#M000044
on 19.01.2006 19:52
You want to use an FCGI authorizer, but it is a fairly advanced
technique. The authorizer will ping your app and let you decide
whether to authorize access by returning HTTP 200 to grant access.
The big win is that the files are sent using the web server instead of
routing them through Ruby. lighttpd and apache use the OS implemented
sendfile() which is many times more CPU friendly that sending the file
with Rails. Think of what will happen if 500 users ask for a 100MB
file and they are all using dialup.
Here's the lighttpd setup, apache supports it too but not webrick.
fastcgi.server = (
"/private" =>
( "localhost-d" =>
( "min-procs" => 1,
"max-procs" => 1,
"socket" => "log/fcgi.socket",
"bin-path" => "public/dispatch.fcgi",
"bin-environment" => ( "RAILS_ENV" => "development" ),
"docroot" => "private",
"mode" => "authorizer"
)
),
".fcgi" =>
( "localhost-f" =>
(
"min-procs" => 1,
"max-procs" => 1,
"socket" => "log/fcgi.socket",
"bin-path" => "public/dispatch.fcgi",
"bin-environment" => ( "RAILS_ENV" => "development" ),
"mode" => "responder"
)
)
)
--
Jon Smirl
jonsmirl@gmail.com
on 19.01.2006 20:01
if you use lighttpd, there is an anti-hotlinking mod http://lighttpd.net/documentation/trigger_b4_dl.html
on 19.01.2006 20:07
I use lighttpd to create an asset server like files.myuser.example.com
# Asset Host
$HTTP["host"] =~ "^files\.([\w\d\.]+)\.example\.(com|org|net)" {
server.document-root = "/path/to/storage_dir/"
url.rewrite-once = ("/files/(.*)" => "/%1/$1")
}
This takes a request like:
http://files.myuser.example.com/files/images/mypic.gif
and routes it to:
/path/to/storage_dir/myuser/images/mypic.gif
You could combine this with FCGI authorizer like Jon Smirl mentioned.
- Ryan Heneise
on 19.01.2006 23:05
Hi there, Thanks to everybody for the replies. They are very helpful. I will evaluate all the different solutions but I think send_file is what I was looking for. Thanks again, David On Thu, Jan 19, 2006 at 06:51:20PM +0100, Gerret Apelt wrote: > > what about a symlink? YOu need some way of getting those files into > > On 1/19/06, David Rio Deiros <driodeiros@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > Thank you in advance, > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails -- ---------------------- David Rio Deiros Software Engineer Console, Inc. Tel: 619.237.5552 Fax: 619.237.5269 http://www.console.net
on 19.01.2006 23:47
On 1/19/06, David Rio Deiros <driodeiros@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi there, > > Thanks to everybody for the replies. They are very helpful. > > I will evaluate all the different solutions but I think send_file > is what I was looking for. Note that ruby send_file ties up your FCGI process until the file is sent. This will take a long time for a video download or a dialup user. You may end up needing a lot of simultaneous FCGI processes. Authorizer ties up the web server for the duration, but not the FCGI process. The web server is is multithreaded so it can handle being tied up. -- Jon Smirl jonsmirl@gmail.com
on 19.01.2006 23:50
On 1/19/06, David Rio Deiros <driodeiros@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi there, > > Thanks to everybody for the replies. They are very helpful. > > I will evaluate all the different solutions but I think send_file > is what I was looking for. Note that ruby send_file ties up your FCGI process until the file is sent. This may take a long time for a video download or a dialup user. You may end up needing a lot of simultaneous FCGI processes. Authorizer ties up the web server for the duration, but not the FCGI process. -- Jon Smirl jonsmirl@gmail.com
on 20.01.2006 00:51
On 1/19/06, Jon Smirl <jonsmirl@gmail.com> wrote: > Here's the lighttpd setup, apache supports it too but not webrick. > Do you have any documentation or website where I can find info about setting this up under apache? Thanks, Santiago
on 20.01.2006 00:57
On 1/19/06, Santiago Erquicia <santiago.erquicia@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Here's the lighttpd setup, apache supports it too but not webrick. > > > > Do you have any documentation or website where I can find info about > setting this up under apache? http://www.fastcgi.com/mod_fastcgi/docs/mod_fastcgi.html > > Thanks, > Santiago > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > -- Jon Smirl jonsmirl@gmail.com