# Mongrel HTTP Library 0.2.2 (Serving Directories) **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [February 3, 2006, 8:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825 "2006-02-03T08:24:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/da6949/32.png) [@Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Zed_S)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 8:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825/1 "2006-02-03T08:24:58Z")
Hey Folks, Another announcement of Mongrel – the fastest little web server library for Ruby yet. This release is nice in that it should build on win32 better and it now sports a small DirHandler that can serve directories and files. This means Mongrel is closer to replacing WEBrick as a Rails debug runner. You can get the releases and information from: - [http://rubyforge.org/projects/mongrel/](http://rubyforge.org/projects/mongrel/) – project page - [http://mongrel.rubyforge.org/](http://mongrel.rubyforge.org/) – RDoc documentation. == Install and Upgrade People who use(d) RubyGems can simply do: gem install mongrel -or- gem upgrade And they’ll get the new gear. You can go back to the project page and download the source .tgz if you installed using that. == Changes - Fixed a header so that win32 folks can build it. - Added all CGI parameters that didn’t cause security or performance problems. - Forced the sockets to not do reverse name lookup (huge performance hit for little benefit). - Created a REQUEST\_URI parameter that has the original untouched URI used in the request. This is the string used to lookup the handlers and create the SCRIPT\_NAME and PATH\_INFO parameters. - Implemented a basic directory serving handler called DirHandler. It will serve files in a directory, print a simple directory listing, and tries to protect against malicious path requests. - Some minor code clean-ups and additional documentation regarding constants used. == The DirHandler The really simple DirHandler is used like this (from the examples/ simpletest.rb file): h = Mongrel::HttpServer.new(“0.0.0.0”, “3000”) h.register(“/files”, Mongrel::DirHandler.new(“.”)) h.run.join This simply sets things up so that when people go to /files, they get the contents of the current directory. The DirHandler expands the path you give it so that when requests come in, it can expand them too and make sure that both paths have the same prefix. If not it will reject them. There is also an option to turn off the directory listings using the second parameter to DirHandler.new(). This initial file serving is very simplistic since it doesn’t map extensions to mime types yet. It should be a good start for some people though. == Feedback Thanks for all the feedback and bug reports so far. With directory serving and complete CGI parameters out of the way I’m going to start working on a Rails runner using Mongrel next, and possibly a caching system. Goal for the weekend will be to get a Rails application running in Mongrel standalone. Enjoy! Zed A. Shaw > **[Zed A. shaw](https://zedshaw.com/)** > > Personal essays and writings by Zed A. Shaw. ---
**Author:** ![Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/da6949/32.png) [@Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Zed_S)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825/2 "2006-02-03T15:39:14Z")
On 2/3/06, Zed S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > - Forced the sockets to not do reverse name lookup (huge performance > == The DirHandler > path you give it so that when requests come in, it can expand them Like Daniel S. in the previous version I’m getting errors when attempting the following on windows: irb(main):001:0\> require\_gem ‘mongrel’ =\> true irb(main):002:0\> p Mongrel NameError: uninitialized constant Mongrel from (irb):2 irb(main):003:0\> Looking at the gem install itself, everything seems to have been created correctly. I have a mongrel.rb in mongrel’s lib dir, just can’t seem to get it to actually LOAD correctly. Any help would be great. ---
**Author:** ![Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/da6949/32.png) [@Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Zed_S)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825/3 "2006-02-03T15:42:18Z")
On 2/3/06, Tanner B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > directories and files. This means Mongrel is closer to replacing > > > > and tries to protect against malicious path requests. > > h.run.join > > people though. > > Enjoy! > > irb(main):001:0\> require\_gem ‘mongrel’ Sorry for the double post, but as it turns out I get an Identical error on my Debian box as well, so something in the install seems to be a bit fubar’d. ---
**Author:** ![Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/da6949/32.png) [@Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Zed_S)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825/4 "2006-02-03T16:00:25Z")
Did you make sure to require rubygems first? Here’s my install: [zedshaw@dinky ~]$ irb -rubygems irb(main):001:0\> require ‘mongrel’ =\> true irb(main):002:0\> [zedshaw@dinky ~]$ irb(main):001:0\> require ‘rubygems’ =\> true irb(main):002:0\> require ‘mongrel’ =\> true [zedshaw@dinky ~]$ irb irb(main):001:0\> require ‘mongrel’ LoadError: no such file to load – http11 from ./mongrel.rb:2:in `require’ from ./mongrel.rb:2 from (irb):1 irb(main):002:0\> If you do irb -rubygems then it works. If you require ‘rubygems’ first it works. If you do neither it blows up. Let me know if that fixes it for you. Zed A. Shaw > **[Zed A. shaw](https://zedshaw.com/)** > > Personal essays and writings by Zed A. Shaw. ---
**Author:** ![Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/da6949/32.png) [@Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Zed_S)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825/5 "2006-02-03T16:09:32Z")
On 2/3/06, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > irb(main):002:0\> require ‘mongrel’ > works. If you do neither it blows up. > > Let me know if that fixes it for you. > > Zed A. Shaw > [http://www.zedshaw.com/](http://www.zedshaw.com/) Nope, different error now. (Other gems work just fine, so I don’t think it’s my gem install) irb(main):001:0\> require ‘rubygems’ =\> true irb(main):002:0\> require ‘mongrel’ NameError: uninitialized constant Mongrel from ./mongrel.rb:4 from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:21:in `require’ from (irb):2 irb(main):003:0\> ---
**Author:** ![Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/da6949/32.png) [@Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Zed_S)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825/6 "2006-02-03T16:24:43Z")
> - Fixed a header so that win32 folks can build it. What do I need to try to build it on win32? Can someone point me to the right compiler? -Sascha E. ---
**Author:** ![Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/da6949/32.png) [@Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Zed_S)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825/7 "2006-02-03T22:39:07Z")
> On 2/3/06, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > Did you make sure to require rubygems first? Here’s my install: > `require’ > from (irb):2 > irb(main):003:0\> Are you sure that you don’t have any previous versions of Mongrel installed via source? Or is ./mongrel.rb a file you’re working on that’s getting loaded when you do require? The reason I ask is “from ./mongrel.rb:4” means that you’re trying to use Mongrel modules at line 4. When I look at line 4 of the mongrel.rb library it’s a “require ‘stringio’” line. So, that error has to be coming from somewhere else. Make sure you can identify all the “mongrel.rb” files on your system and that you’re not loading the wrong one on accident. Zed A. Shaw > **[Zed A. shaw](https://zedshaw.com/)** > > Personal essays and writings by Zed A. Shaw. ---
**Author:** ![Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/da6949/32.png) [@Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Zed_S)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825/8 "2006-02-03T17:00:56Z")
Sascha E. wrote: > > - Fixed a header so that win32 folks can build it. > > What do I need to try to build it on win32? Can someone point me to the > right compiler? > > -Sascha E. Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 > **[Microsoft Learn: Build skills that open doors in your career](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/)** > > Gain technical skills through documentation and training, earn certifications and connect with the community ---
**Author:** ![Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/da6949/32.png) [@Zed\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Zed_S)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-http-library-0-2-2-serving-directories/102825/9 "2006-02-06T16:33:14Z")
On 2/3/06, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > =\> true > > installed via source? Or is ./mongrel.rb a file you’re working on that’s > > getting loaded when you do require? The reason I ask is “from > > ./mongrel.rb:4” means that you’re trying to use Mongrel modules at line 4. > > When I look at line 4 of the mongrel.rb library it’s a “require > > ‘stringio’” line. So, that error has to be coming from somewhere else. > > Make sure you can identify all the “mongrel.rb” files on your system and > that you’re not loading the wrong one on accident. Hah, interesting side note. Don’t name the test file mongrel.rb when attempting to test a file with a library named mongrel.rb. Well that was an interesting bug to track down. Thanks Zed A. Shaw