# FAILSAFE error with uploads

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/failsafe-error-with-uploads/128369>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [February 7, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/failsafe-error-with-uploads/128369 "2008-02-07T03:20:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KenM](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@KenM](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/KenM)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/failsafe-error-with-uploads/128369/1 "2008-02-07T03:20:19Z")

</div>

I’ve just upgraded a production web site with some new code to handle  
file uploads, using both the standard post technique and swfupload.  
This code was working perfectly in my development environment, and I’m  
not sure what I should ever start to look for. Here’s the stack dump:

/!\ FAILSAFE /!\ Wed Feb 06 19:13:41 -0700 2008  
Status: 500 Internal Server Error  
protocol error  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action\_controller/  
request.rb:510:in `read' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/ request.rb:510:in`read\_multipart’  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action\_controller/  
request.rb:445:in `parse_multipart_form_parameters' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/ request.rb:383:in`parse\_formatted\_request\_parameters’  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action\_controller/  
cgi\_process.rb:78:in `request_parameters' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/ request.rb:287:in`parameters’  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action\_controller/  
request.rb:22:in `request_method' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/ request.rb:35:in`method’  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action\_controller/  
routing.rb:1483:in `extract_request_environment' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/ routing.rb:1424:in`recognize’  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action\_controller/  
dispatcher.rb:170:in `handle_request' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/ dispatcher.rb:115:in`dispatch’  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action\_controller/  
dispatcher.rb:126:in `dispatch_cgi' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/ dispatcher.rb:9:in`dispatch’  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/railties/lib/fcgi\_handler.rb:101:in  
`process_request' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/railties/lib/fcgi_handler.rb:149:in`with\_signal\_handler’  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/railties/lib/fcgi\_handler.rb:99:in  
`process_request' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/railties/lib/fcgi_handler.rb:77:in`process\_each\_request’  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/fcgi.rb:612:in `each_cgi' /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/fcgi.rb:609:in`each’  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/fcgi.rb:609:in `each_cgi' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/railties/lib/fcgi_handler.rb:76:in`process\_each\_request’  
/my/app/web/vendor/rails/railties/lib/fcgi\_handler.rb:50:in  
`process!' /my/app/web/vendor/rails/railties/lib/fcgi_handler.rb:24:in`process!’  
/my/app/web/public/dispatch.fcgi:26

Regardless of how the file is uploaded, this is the termination point  
of the error:

/my/app/web/vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action\_controller/request.rb:  
510:in `read’

which is this line:

status = body.read(boundary\_size)

So, it seems that the upload is barfing when trying to read the  
streaming content.

This happens with both Firefox and IE. Does anyone have any ideas why  
this is happening? Help!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KenM](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@KenM](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/KenM)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/failsafe-error-with-uploads/128369/2 "2008-02-07T14:45:30Z")

</div>

I’m still struggling with this one - any ideas?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KenM](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@KenM](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/KenM)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/failsafe-error-with-uploads/128369/3 "2008-02-08T15:16:48Z")

</div>

Apparently, this issue is related to the combination of Apache/  
lighttpd and fastcgi. Dropping lighttpd and fastcgi in favour of  
Mongrel has solved the problem.

I’d still like to know why this problem just started happening - what  
did I change to break my code?

Ah well - it’s working now, so it’s certainly a lower priority  
now…