# How to set cgi temp directory for uploads?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-set-cgi-temp-directory-for-uploads/136265>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [April 30, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-set-cgi-temp-directory-for-uploads/136265 "2008-04-30T08:00:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_OSHara)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-set-cgi-temp-directory-for-uploads/136265/1 "2008-04-30T08:00:38Z")

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Hi all,  
my application has some very large file uploads, up to around 200MB.  
This  
eats up all my /tmp space (1 Gig) and so the upload fails. I get this  
message: No space left on device - /tmp/CGI16004-2

Is there a way to configure rails (or cgi.rb, as the case may be) to use  
a  
different tmp directory for file uploads?

Thanks,  
Sean

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**Author:** ![Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_OSHara)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 8:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-set-cgi-temp-directory-for-uploads/136265/2 "2008-04-30T08:11:02Z")

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I am using act\_as\_attachment

in Model I have this :

has\_attachment :storage =\> :file\_system,  
:resize\_to =\> [300,185],  
:thumbnails =\> { :thumb =\> [84,60]},  
:size =\> 0.megabyte…300.megabytes,  
:content\_type =\> :image,  
:path\_prefix =\> ‘public/images/package’,  
:processor =\> ‘Rmagick’  
validates\_as\_attachment

reinhart  
[http://teapoci.blogspot.com](http://teapoci.blogspot.com)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_OSHara)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 10:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-set-cgi-temp-directory-for-uploads/136265/3 "2008-04-30T10:13:21Z")

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On Apr 30, 6:59 am, “Sean O’Hara” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Hi all,  
> my application has some very large file uploads, up to around 200MB. This  
> eats up all my /tmp space (1 Gig) and so the upload fails. I get this  
> message: No space left on device - /tmp/CGI16004-2
> 
> Is there a way to configure rails (or cgi.rb, as the case may be) to use a  
> different tmp directory for file uploads?

I think I am correct in saying that it all funnels through  
[http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Dir.src/M002349.html](http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Dir.src/M002349.html) which  
suggests that setting one of those environment variables will do the  
trick.

Fred

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_OSHara)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-set-cgi-temp-directory-for-uploads/136265/4 "2008-04-30T15:43:14Z")

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On 30 Apr 2008, at 14:02, Sean O’Hara wrote:

> Thanks for the suggestion. How would I set the environment variables  
> for rails, or mongrel?

You could just set ENV[‘Foo’]=‘bar’ in your environment.rb file.

Fred

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_OSHara)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-set-cgi-temp-directory-for-uploads/136265/5 "2008-04-30T16:04:29Z")

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Thanks! That seemed to work (console now says /var/tmp for Dir::tmpdir).  
Just have to wait for the long upload to complete to see how it is  
handled.  
take care,  
sean

On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 9:41 AM, Frederick C. \<

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**Author:** ![Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sean\_OSHara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_OSHara)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-set-cgi-temp-directory-for-uploads/136265/6 "2008-04-30T15:03:07Z")

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Thanks for the suggestion. How would I set the environment variables for  
rails, or mongrel?  
Sean

On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 4:12 AM, Frederick C. \<