# Concern about stability

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/concern-about-stability/71358>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [October 7, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/concern-about-stability/71358 "2006-10-07T17:08:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/concern-about-stability/71358/1 "2006-10-07T17:08:44Z")

</div>

Hi,

I am building a test site on my PowerBook (G4) using rails, sqlite3, and  
webrick.  
While running in development mode, the web server completely halted.  
Error message is:

* * *

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sqlite3-ruby-1.1.0/lib/sqlite3/resultset.rb:74:  
[BUG] Segmentation fault  
ruby 1.8.4 (2005-12-24) [powerpc-darwin8.7.0]

## Abort trap

It looks like sqlite3-ruby module has a bug.

My questions are:

- Why did the web server die when sqlite3 had a problem?
- Is it because it’s development mode?
- Or is it because it’s webrick which is not a very strong web server?

I am very worried that something like this might happen in a production  
site.  
Is it likely to happen?

Thanks.

Sam

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/concern-about-stability/71358/2 "2006-10-07T17:22:19Z")

</div>

2006/10/7, Sam K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> Hi,
> 
> I am building a test site on my PowerBook (G4) using rails, sqlite3, and  
> webrick.  
> While running in development mode, the web server completely halted.

The PowerBook isn’t your production platform, right? Why the worries  
then?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/concern-about-stability/71358/3 "2006-10-07T17:28:21Z")

</div>

sqlite is not production material and if you are using AJAX it is not  
even  
development material.  
You will get all sorts of problems regarding multiple access to the  
database.

On 10/7/06, Codeblogger [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> The PowerBook isn’t your production platform, right? Why the worries then?
> 
> >

–  
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark;  
professionals built the Titanic!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/concern-about-stability/71358/4 "2006-10-07T19:53:28Z")

</div>

Hi Tom,

Tom M. wrote:

> sqlite3 is a client library with no server. The process using  
> it (WEBrick running your Rails program) is segfaulting, so it’s  
> not sqlite3 that is having the problem, per se, but your program  
> indirectly due to its usage of sqlite3.

Now I understand. SQLite3 is an embedded DB unlike MySQL.  
I forgot that.

> You won’t need to worry about this in production, because the web server  
> will not be processing Rails requests. Instead, it will be serving  
> static  
> content and passing dynamic requests back to the application layer  
> servers,  
> perhaps mongrel or FCGI.

Thanks for the explanation. I’m not worried now.

> As in all things, it’s very important in a production environment to be  
> certain that if a process fails for any reason, it will be restarted.

Do I have to configure it like that or is it already configured like  
that?

Sam

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@ssk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ssk)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/concern-about-stability/71358/5 "2006-10-07T19:02:27Z")

</div>

On Oct 7, 2006, at 8:08 AM, Sam K. wrote:

> My questions are:
> 
> - Why did the web server die when sqlite3 had a problem?

sqlite3 is a client library with no server. The process using  
it (WEBrick running your Rails program) is segfaulting, so it’s  
not sqlite3 that is having the problem, per se, but your program  
indirectly due to its usage of sqlite3.

> - Is it because it’s development mode?

No.

> - Or is it because it’s webrick which is not a very strong web server?

No.

You won’t need to worry about this in production, because the web server  
will not be processing Rails requests. Instead, it will be serving  
static  
content and passing dynamic requests back to the application layer  
servers,  
perhaps mongrel or FCGI.

As in all things, it’s very important in a production environment to be  
certain that if a process fails for any reason, it will be restarted.

–  
– Tom M.