# Rack 0.3, a modular Ruby webserver interface **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [February 26, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rack-0-3-a-modular-ruby-webserver-interface/130217 "2008-02-26T13:51:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cneuhaus](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@cneuhaus](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cneuhaus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rack-0-3-a-modular-ruby-webserver-interface/130217/1 "2008-02-26T13:51:44Z")
Hello, Today I’m proud to release Rack 0.3. = Rack, a modular Ruby webserver interface Rack provides a minimal, modular and adaptable interface for developing web applications in Ruby. By wrapping HTTP requests and responses in the simplest way possible, it unifies and distills the API for web servers, web frameworks, and software in between (the so-called middleware) into a single method call. The exact details of this are described in the Rack specification, which all Rack applications should conform to. == Supported web servers The included _handlers_ connect all kinds of web servers to Rack: - Mongrel - Mongrel/Swiftcore (require it before requiring rack) - WEBrick - FCGI - CGI - SCGI - LiteSpeed These web servers include Rack handlers in their distributions: - Ebb - Fuzed - Thin Any valid Rack app will run the same on all these handlers, without changing anything. == Supported web frameworks The included _adapters_ connect Rack with existing Ruby web frameworks: - Camping These frameworks include Rack adapters in their distributions: - Coset - Halcyon - Maveric - Merb - Racktools::SimpleApplication - Ramaze - Sinatra - Vintage Ruby on Rails can be run with the adapter included with Thin, which will be merged into a later Rack version. Current links to these projects can be found at > **[Ramaze • The Web Framework for Rubyists](http://ramaze.net/#other-frameworks)** > > Ramaze is a very simple and straight-forward web-framework. == Available middleware Between the server and the framework, Rack can be customized to your applications needs using middleware, for example: - Rack::URLMap, to route to multiple applications inside the same process. - Rack::CommonLogger, for creating Apache-style logfiles. - Rack::ShowException, for catching unhandled exceptions and presenting them in a nice and helpful way with clickable backtrace. - Rack::File, for serving static files. - …many others! All these components use the same interface, which is described in detail in the Rack specification. You can choose to use them exactly in the way you want. == Convenience If you want to develop outside of existing frameworks, implement your own ones, or develop middleware, Rack provides many helpers to create Rack applications quickly and without doing the same web stuff all over: - Rack::Request, which also provides query string parsing and multipart handling. - Rack::Response, for convenient generation of HTTP replies and cookie handling. - Rack::MockRequest and Rack::MockResponse for efficient and quick testing of Rack application without real HTTP round-trips. == rackup rackup is a useful tool for running Rack applications, which uses the Rack::Builder DSL to configure middleware and build up applications easily. rackup automatically figures out the environment it is run in, and runs your application as FastCGI, CGI, or standalone with Mongrel or WEBrick—all from the same configuration. == Where can I get it? You can download Rack 0.3 at ``` http://chneukirchen.org/releases/rack-0.3.0.tar.gz http://rubyforge.org/projects/rack ``` Alternatively, you can checkout from the development repository with: ``` darcs get http://chneukirchen.org/repos/rack ``` (Patches using “darcs send” are most welcome.) == Installing with RubyGems A Gem of Rack is available. You can install it with: ``` gem install rack ``` I also provide a local mirror of the gems (and development snapshots) at my site: ``` gem install rack --source http://chneukirchen.org/releases/gems ``` == History - March 3rd, 2007: First public release 0.1. - May 16th, 2007: Second public release 0.2. - February 26th, 2008: Third public release 0.3. == Contact Please mail bugs, suggestions and patches to [mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid). Darcs repository (“darcs send” is welcome for patches): [http://chneukirchen.org/repos/rack](http://chneukirchen.org/repos/rack) You are also welcome to join the #rack channel on [irc.freenode.net](http://irc.freenode.net). == Thanks to - Michael F., for the helpful discussion, bugfixes and a better Rack::Request interface. - Adrian M., for the LiteSpeed handler. - Christoffer S., for the Rails adapter. - Tim F., for the HTTP authentication code. - Luc H. for the Cookie sessions, the static file handler and bugfixes. - blink for the Pool sessions, OpenID support, various tweaks, and bugreports. - Armin Ronacher, for the logo and racktools. - Aredridel, for bug fixing. - Gary W., for proposing a better Rack::Response interface. - Jonathan B., for improvements regarding Rack::Response. - Armin Röhrl, for tracking down bugs in the Cookie generator. - Alexander Kellett for testing the Gem and reviewing the announce. - Marcus Rückert, for help with configuring and debugging lighttpd. - The WSGI team for the well-done and documented work they’ve done and Rack builds up on. == Copyright Copyright (C) 2007, 2008 Christian N. [http://purl.org/net/chneukirchen](http://purl.org/net/chneukirchen) Rack is freely distributable under the terms of an MIT-style license. == Links Rack:: [http://rack.rubyforge.org/](http://rack.rubyforge.org/) Rack’s Rubyforge project:: [http://rubyforge.org/projects/rack](http://rubyforge.org/projects/rack) Christian N.:: [http://chneukirchen.org/](http://chneukirchen.org/) Happy hacking and have a nice day, Christian N. 5e92f2901d2dc77eb0453fc3acdd6c4a07fc167a rack-0.3.0.tar.gz fedf79e0fb9a41b2c442b982fa0546d2fd3ebec0 rack-0.3.0.gem ---
**Author:** ![cneuhaus](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@cneuhaus](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cneuhaus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rack-0-3-a-modular-ruby-webserver-interface/130217/2 "2008-02-26T14:30:45Z")
On 2008-02-26, Christian N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I also provide a local mirror of the gems (and development snapshots) > at my site: > > ``` > gem install rack --source http://chneukirchen.org/releases/gems > > ``` That’s gem install rack --source [Index of /releases/gems/](http://chneukirchen.org/releases/gems/) with rubygems 0.9.5.