# Starting WEBrick from a ruby script

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-webrick-from-a-ruby-script/121259>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [November 26, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-webrick-from-a-ruby-script/121259 "2007-11-26T06:12:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Thufir)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-webrick-from-a-ruby-script/121259/1 "2007-11-26T06:12:49Z")

</div>

Depending on how WEBrick in invoked I get different results. If I  
invoke  
it like “expenses/script/server” and point the browser to \<http://  
localhost:3000/expenses\> I’ll get:

Not Found  
`/expenses’ not found.  
WEBrick/1.3.1 (Ruby/1.8.6/2007-09-24) at localhost:3000

However, if I change to the expenses directory and start WEBrick with  
“script/server” I get a different result of:

Routing Error

no route found to match “/expenses” with {:method=\>:get}

1.) why the discrepancy?  
2.) from a ruby script (start\_webrick.rb perhaps), how would WEBrick be  
invoked? Assuming that start\_webrick.rb is outside of the “expenses”  
directory created by rails.

Here’s output from WEBrick, if that’s at all useful:

thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $ expenses/script/server  
=\> Booting WEBrick…  
=\> Rails application started on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
=\> Ctrl-C to shutdown server; call with --help for options  
[2007-11-25 21:01:28] INFO WEBrick 1.3.1  
[2007-11-25 21:01:28] INFO ruby 1.8.6 (2007-09-24) [i686-linux]  
[2007-11-25 21:01:28] INFO WEBrick::HTTPServer#start: pid=9164  
port=3000  
#\<ArgumentError: Anonymous modules have no name to be referenced by\>  
[“/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active\_support/  
dependencies.rb:404:in `to_constant_name'", "/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:214:in `qualified\_name\_for’”, “/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/  
lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:476:in `const_missing'", "/usr/lib/ ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/dispatcher.rb:116:in `reset\_after\_dispatch’”, “/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/  
dispatcher.rb:50:in `dispatch'", "/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/ lib/webrick_server.rb:113:in `handle\_dispatch’”,  
“/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/  
gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/webrick\_server.rb:79:in `service'", "/usr/lib/ ruby/1.8/webrick/httpserver.rb:104:in `service’”, “/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/  
webrick/httpserver.rb:65:in `run'", "/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/ server.rb:173:in `start\_thread’”, “/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/  
server.rb:162:in `start'", "/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:162:in `start\_thread’”, “/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:95:in `start'", "/ usr/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:92:in `each’”, “/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/  
webrick/server.rb:92:in `start'", "/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/ server.rb:23:in `start’”, “/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:82:in  
`start'", "/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/ webrick_server.rb:63:in `dispatch’”, “/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/  
rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/webrick.rb:59”, “/usr/lib/ruby/  
site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in `gem_original_require'", "/ usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require’”,  
“/  
usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active\_support/  
dependencies.rb:495:in `require'", "/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:342:in `new\_constants\_in’”,  
“/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/lib/  
active\_support/dependencies.rb:495:in `require'", "/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/server.rb:39", "/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/ rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `gem\_original\_require’”,  
"/usr/lib/ruby/  
site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in `require'", "expenses/ script/server:3"] [2007-11-25 21:01:36] ERROR `/expenses’ not found.  
127.0.0.1 - - [25/Nov/2007:21:01:36 PST] “GET /expenses HTTP/1.1” 404  
278  
[http://developer.apple.com/tools/rubyonrails.html](http://developer.apple.com/tools/rubyonrails.html) → /expenses  
[2007-11-25 21:01:46] INFO going to shutdown …  
[2007-11-25 21:01:46] INFO WEBrick::HTTPServer#start done.  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $ cd expenses/  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode/expenses $  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode/expenses $ script/server  
=\> Booting WEBrick…  
=\> Rails application started on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
=\> Ctrl-C to shutdown server; call with --help for options  
[2007-11-25 21:02:05] INFO WEBrick 1.3.1  
[2007-11-25 21:02:05] INFO ruby 1.8.6 (2007-09-24) [i686-linux]  
[2007-11-25 21:02:05] INFO WEBrick::HTTPServer#start: pid=9167  
port=3000  
127.0.0.1 - - [25/Nov/2007:21:02:11 PST] “GET /expenses HTTP/1.1” 404  
622  
[http://developer.apple.com/tools/rubyonrails.html](http://developer.apple.com/tools/rubyonrails.html) → /expenses  
[2007-11-25 21:02:25] INFO going to shutdown …  
[2007-11-25 21:02:25] INFO WEBrick::HTTPServer#start done.  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode/expenses $  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode/expenses $

thanks,

Thufir

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Thufir)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2007, 6:50am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-webrick-from-a-ruby-script/121259/2 "2007-11-26T06:50:47Z")

</div>

On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 05:11:41 +0000, Thufir wrote:

> 2.) from a ruby script (start\_webrick.rb perhaps), how would WEBrick be  
> invoked? Assuming that start\_webrick.rb is outside of the “expenses”  
> directory created by rails.

thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $ cat expenses.rb  
system(“/home/thufir/rubyCode/expenses/script/server”)  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $

This gives the result of:

Routing Error

no route found to match “/expenses” with {:method=\>:get}

from [http://localhost:3000/expenses](http://localhost:3000/expenses) which, while not being the desired  
result, is at least consistent 🙂

-Thufir

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@Thufir](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Thufir)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2007, 9:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-webrick-from-a-ruby-script/121259/3 "2007-11-26T09:33:16Z")

</div>

It’s no doubt a bit kludgy, but I think I accomplished my purpose with:

thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $ cat railsExpenses.rb  
require ‘fileutils’

FileUtils.rmtree ‘expenses’

system(“rails expenses”)

##### configure the database

FileUtils.rm ‘expenses/config/database.yml’, :force =\> true

database\_yml = File.open(‘expenses/config/database.yml’, ‘w’)

database\_yml.puts "  
development:  
adapter: mysql  
database: expenses\_development  
username: root  
password:  
host: localhost  
socket: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock  
test:  
adapter: mysql  
database: expenses\_test  
username: root  
password:  
host: localhost  
socket: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock  
production:  
adapter: mysql  
database: expenses\_production  
username: root  
password:  
host: localhost  
socket: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock"

database\_yml.close

##### migration

system(“expenses/script/generate migration accounts”)

FileUtils.rm ‘expenses/db/migrate/001\_accounts.rb’, :force =\> true

\_001\_accounts = File.open(‘expenses/db/migrate/001\_accounts.rb’, ‘w’)

\_001\_accounts.puts "  
class Accounts \< ActiveRecord::Migration

```
    def self.up
            create_table :accounts do |table|
                    table.column :name, :string
                    table.column :budget, :float
            end
    end

    def self.down
            drop_table :accounts
    end

```

end"

\_001\_accounts.close

##### rake

FileUtils.cd(‘expenses’, :verbose =\> true) # chdir and report it  
system(“rake db:migrate --trace”)

##### [http://localhost:3000/expenses](http://localhost:3000/expenses)

system(“script/server”)  
thufir@arrakis ~/rubyCode $

-Thufir