# Re: POST with huge HTTP body **URL:** \ **Category:** Mongrel\ **Created:** [October 15, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-post-with-huge-http-body/117275 "2007-10-15T15:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sinkva](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@sinkva](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sinkva)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-post-with-huge-http-body/117275/1 "2007-10-15T15:40:12Z")
A while ago I wrote a plugin to limit uploads in Mongrel. Mongrel does save uploads to a tempfile on disk - if the upload is bigger than about 12 KB - using a Ruby TempFile-object. (which stores in the $TMPDIR, /tmp on most systems). The request is handed over to Rails after it’s fully received by Mongrel. I’m not sure if this “saving to disk” works the same with chunked uploads (uploads without a Content-Length header). Maybe my plugin can help you: [http://slasaus.netsend.nl/articles/show/7](http://slasaus.netsend.nl/articles/show/7) (warning: it works, but is not very elegant). Gl, Tim ----- Original Message ---- From: Daniel B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 2:00:20 PM Subject: [Mongrel] POST with huge HTTP body Hi, I found the following page describing how to stream data from the server to the client: [http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionController/Streaming.html](http://api.rubyonrails.com/classes/ActionController/Streaming.html) I want to do the opposite, streaming data from the client to the server, letting the controller saving the data while it’s being received. In particular, I want to upload large files to the RailsDav ([http://www.liverail.net/railsdav](http://www.liverail.net/railsdav)) plugin, without having to store the entire file in memory during the operation. This seems to be a Mongrel problem, so I started looking at this plugin: [http://mongrel.rubyforge.org/docs/upload\_progress.html](http://mongrel.rubyforge.org/docs/upload_progress.html) How do I get Mongrel to store the incoming POST data in a tempfile, passing a handler to that file as the raw\_post field in the Rails request? Is it even possible? How is the “request” parameter to the process() method related to the “request” object in the Rails controllers? /Daniel * * * Mongrel-users mailing list removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/mongrel-users](http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/mongrel-users) ``` ____________________________________________________________________________________ ``` Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! [http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo\_panel\_invite.asp?a=7](http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7) ---
**Author:** ![sinkva](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@sinkva](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sinkva)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-post-with-huge-http-body/117275/2 "2007-10-15T16:10:41Z")
Thanks for the replies. The fact that Mongrel shouldn’t be the first one to get the POST/PUT data was a good point that I hadn’t thought of. However, even when talking directly to Mongrel, the memory consumption of the application increases until it crashes if too much data is sent. In my case, I was sending a 500MB file from a Webdav client. At some point all of it was loaded into RAM, which doesn’t work. Are there any more productive alternatives than writing the entire thing from scratch in C? Please? 🙂 /Daniel ---
**Author:** ![sinkva](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@sinkva](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sinkva)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 7:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-post-with-huge-http-body/117275/3 "2007-10-16T07:49:32Z")
On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:10:06 +0200 “Daniel B.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > from scratch in C? Please? 🙂 > Daniel, Mongrel is a library. Not a server. I just wrote a server with the library. Look past mongrel\_rails and into the heart of the RDoc. You will find your answer there. (Probably somewhere in the place where it mentions handlers and filters.) – Zed A. Shaw - Hate: [http://savingtheinternetwithhate.com/](http://savingtheinternetwithhate.com/) - Good: [http://www.zedshaw.com/](http://www.zedshaw.com/) - Evil: [http://yearofevil.com/](http://yearofevil.com/)