# Ruby on Rails on Linux - Any suggestions/Help? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 8, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-on-linux-any-suggestions-help/59944 "2006-05-08T21:42:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e47774/32.png) [@Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jentgen_Georges_jr)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-on-linux-any-suggestions-help/59944/1 "2006-05-08T21:42:53Z")
Hi, I’m really new to RoR and I’m trying to setup a development or even production server for Ruby on Rails. I’m trying to do it on Linux Debian, but somehow, I always get this Error: Application Error - Rails application failed to start properly This was running on Debian Linux, Apache2, Mysql and FastCGI. The Tutorial I used: [http://o9y.net/archives/2006/02/17/ruby-on-rails-mittels-mod\_fcgi-fur-apache](http://o9y.net/archives/2006/02/17/ruby-on-rails-mittels-mod_fcgi-fur-apache) -2-unter-debian/ (German) Well, I installed everything as described in one of those many tutorials on the net, but I don’t get it to work. Maybe someone has some tips I schould do to get it work? Or maybe someone might tell me what Setup might be the best on Linux??? I always worked with Debian, but I could switch to any other if someone tells me which might be the best for this task. Thanks -Georges ---
**Author:** ![Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e47774/32.png) [@Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jentgen_Georges_jr)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-on-linux-any-suggestions-help/59944/2 "2006-05-08T21:46:04Z")
Check your logs, development.log for rails and the apache logs. Try your app in webrick. ~ Ben On 5/8/06, Jentgen Georges jr. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Application Error - Rails application failed to start properly > > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) – Ben R. 303-947-0446 [http://www.benr75.com](http://www.benr75.com) ---
**Author:** ![Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e47774/32.png) [@Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jentgen_Georges_jr)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-on-linux-any-suggestions-help/59944/3 "2006-05-08T22:31:27Z")
Well, It seems that there might be a problem with my FastCGI installation for Apache. This is in my log/error.log from my rails Project: FastCGI: incomplete headers (0 bytes) ruby 1.8.2 (2005-04-11) [i386-linux] Rails 1.1.2 -Georges ---
**Author:** ![Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e47774/32.png) [@Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jentgen_Georges_jr)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 8:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-on-linux-any-suggestions-help/59944/4 "2006-05-09T08:25:13Z")
Jentgen Georges jr. escribió:\> Rails 1.1.2 Hi Georges, I use Debian/testing (2.6.8-2-386) and I have a protocol to set up an application with virtual hosts (Apache) Is in spanish (don’t have too much time in this moment to translate it, sorry) see it attached below: 1. Tomamos como ejemplo el tutorial Four days on rails 2. Como root en /var/www/: #rails ToDo 3. Con el phpnyadmin creamos la base de datos ‘todos’ y la tabla ‘categories’ 4. En /var/www/ToDo/ (de ahora en adelante ~/ToDo) hacemos: #ruby script/generate scaffold category 5. Editamos ~/ToDo/config/database.yml y ponemos: 6. Editamos ~/ToDo/public/.htaccess y quitamos el símbolo ‘#’ de las líneas sgtes.: 7. En /etc/apache2/sites-available/default introducimos al final: 8. En /etc/apache2/apache2.conf quitamos el símbolo ‘#’ de la línea: 9. No olvidar reiniciar el servidor apache cuando hagamos cualquier cambio: 10. No olvidar añadir en /etc/hosts el nombre del nuevo host (todos) y tampoco de los permisos en /var/www/todos/ de forma: chmod -R 777 \* /todos Hope this helps Antonio ---
**Author:** ![Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e47774/32.png) [@Jentgen\_Georges\_jr](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jentgen_Georges_jr)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-on-linux-any-suggestions-help/59944/5 "2006-05-09T14:55:09Z")
On Mon, May 08, 2006 at 09:39:48PM +0200, Jentgen Georges jr. wrote: } Hi, I’m really new to RoR and I’m trying to setup a development or even } production server for Ruby on Rails. } } I’m trying to do it on Linux Debian, but somehow, I always get this Error: } } Application Error - Rails application failed to start properly } } This was running on Debian Linux, Apache2, Mysql and FastCGI. Apache2 does not play nicely with mod\_fastcgi. You need mod\_fcgid. Conveniently, this involves just apt-get install libapache2-mod-fcgid. } The Tutorial I used: } [http://o9y.net/archives/2006/02/17/ruby-on-rails-mittels-mod\_fcgi-fur-apache-2-unter-debian/](http://o9y.net/archives/2006/02/17/ruby-on-rails-mittels-mod_fcgi-fur-apache-2-unter-debian/) (German) […] I don’t know German, I’m afraid, but it appears that the tutorial is having you build mod\_fastcgi yourself. I’m not sure why, since it is available precompiled as a Debian package. More to the point, it doesn’t work particularly well with Apache2. } Maybe someone has some tips I schould do to get it work? Or maybe someone } might tell me what Setup might be the best on Linux??? Apache2 is fine. Debian is great. MySQL… eh, to each his own. FastCGI is a good choice in other environments, but you need mod\_fcgid. A quick Google search for mod\_fcgid and rails gives a number of pages with useful information. That said, here’s what I have in /etc/apache2/sites-available/default (note that this is for an app running at a path on a main server rather than as its own virtual host, as shown on the Alias line): DefaultInitEnv RAILS\_ENV production Alias /bookmarkfeeds /home/gss/work/ruby/bookmarkfeeds/public Options ExecCGI +FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All order allow,deny allow from all RedirectMatch ^/bookmarkfeeds/$ /bookmarkfeeds/feeds/ RedirectMatch ^/bookmarkfeeds$ /bookmarkfeeds/feeds/ Note that those last two RedirectMatch lines are specific to my app, and don’t apply in general. And yes, I am running it out of my home directory, because I feel like it. In addition, I had to modify the RAILS\_ROOT/public/.htaccess file to change the following two lines (they are not contiguous in the file): AddHandler fastcgi-script .fcgi RewriteRule ^(.\*)$ dispatch.cgi [QSA,L] …to… AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi RewriteRule ^(.\*)$ dispatch.fcgi [QSA,L] Finally, since I have this running at /bookmarkfeeds instead of at / I needed this line in the .htaccess file as well: RewriteBase /bookmarkfeeds } I always worked with Debian, but I could switch to any other if someone } tells me which might be the best for this task. There will always be people who think that their system is better than yours. I can assure you that it is possible and even moderately easy to get mod\_fcgid working with Rails and Apache2 under Debian. I’ve done it. I have it running on my own machine. } Thanks } -Georges –Greg