working under webrick but not under passenger

[nesko]

Hi!

I have just added login feature to my rails application by following the
instructions from "Agile Web Development with Rails" but now I am getting
strange error (looks to me like some kind of routing problem) under the
passenger/apache. It is working fine under webrick.

The error is:
500 Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguratio n and was
unable to complete your request.

From the log:

[4;36;1mSQL (0.3ms)[0m [0;1mSET SQL_AUTO_IS_NUL L=0[0m

Processing ****Controller# index (for 192.168.1.101 at 2010-04-26
18:56:24) [GET]
[4;35;1mUser Columns (1.7ms)[0m [0mSHOW FIELDS FROM `users`[0m
[4;36;1mUser Load (0.7ms)[0m [0;1mSELECT * FROM `users` WHERE
(`users`.`id` IS NULL) LIMIT 1[0m
Redirected to https://******/login/login_page
Filter chain halted as [:authorize] rendered_or_red irected.
Completed in 31ms (DB: 3) | 302 Found [https://******/]

Does anybody have any suggestion what I could do to fix this?

--------------------------------------------
class LoginController < ApplicationCont roller

def add_user
@user = User.new(params[:user])
if request.post? and @user.save
flash.now[:notice] = "User #{@user.name} created"
@user = User.new
end
end

def login_page
session[:user_id] = nil
if request.post?
user = User.authentica te(params[:name], params[:password])
if user
session[:user_id] = user.id
session[:user_name] = user.name
uri = session[:original_uri]
session[:original_uri] = nil
redirect_to(uri || { :action => "index" })
else
flash[:notice] = "Invalid user/password combination"
end
end
end

def logout
session[:user_id] = nil
flash[:notice] = "Logged out"
redirect_to(:ac tion => "login_page ")
end

def index
end

def delete_user
if request.post?
user = User.find(param s[:id])
if User.count == 1
flash[:notice] = "You can't remove last remaining user!"
else
user.destroy
end
end
redirect_to(:ac tion => :list_users)
end

def list_users
@all_users = User.find(:all)
end
end
------------------------------------------

class ApplicationCont roller < ActionControlle r::Base
before_filter :authorize, :except => :login_page
helper :all # include all helpers, all the time
protect_from_fo rgery # See ActionControlle r::RequestForge ryProtection
for details
def create_default_ variables(ctrl_ name)
session[:ctrl_name] = ctrl_name
end
# Scrub sensitive parameters from your log
# filter_paramete r_logging :password
private
def authorize
unless User.find_by_id (session[:user_id])
session[:original_uri] = request.request _uri
flash[:notice] = "Please log in"
redirect_to(:co ntroller => "login", :action => "login_page ")
end
end
end
------------------------------------------------
require 'digest/sha1'

class User < ActiveRecord::B ase
validates_prese nce_of :name
validates_uniqu eness_of :name
attr_accessor :password_confi rmation
validates_confi rmation_of :password

def validate
errors.add_to_b ase("Missing password") if hashed_password .blank?
end

def self.authentica te(name, password)
user = self.find_by_na me(name)
if user
expected_passwo rd = encrypted_passw ord(password, user.salt)
if user.hashed_pas sword != expected_passwo rd
user = nil
end
end
user
end

# 'password' is a virtual attribute
def password
@password
end
def password=(pwd)
@password = pwd
create_new_salt
self.hashed_pas sword = User.encrypted_ password(self.p assword,
self.salt)
end

def after_destroy
if User.count.zero ?
raise "Can't delete last user"
end
end

private
def self.encrypted_ password(passwo rd, salt)
string_to_hash = password + "wibble" + salt # 'wibble' makes it
harder to guess
Digest::SHA1.he xdigest(string_ to_hash)
end

def create_new_salt
self.salt = self.object_id. to_s + rand.to_s
end
end
-----------------------------------------
login_page.html .erb

<div class="user-form">
<fieldset>
<legend>Pleas e Log In</legend>
<% form_tag do %>
<p>
<label for="name">Name :</label>
<%= text_field_tag :name, params[:name] %>
</p>
<p>
<label for="password"> Password:</label>
<%= password_field_ tag :password, params[:password] %>
</p>
<p><%= submit_tag "Login" %></p>
<% end %>
</fieldset>
</div>
-------------------------------------------
routes.rb

ActionControlle r::Routing::Rou tes.draw do |map|

map.resources :controller1
map.resources :controller2
...

map.root :controller => "controller 1"

map.connect ':controller/:action/:id'
map.connect ':controller/:action/:id.:format'
end

-------------------------------------------
and apache log:

[error] [client 192.168.1.101] Request exceeded the limit of 10 internal
redirects due to probable configuration error. Use
'LimitInternalR ecursion' to increase the limit if necessary. Use
'LogLevel debug' to get a backtrace.

"LogLevel debug" didn't produce any more information.

Update:


It is definitely routing problem.
I could partially solve the problem by adding this:

map.connect 'login', :controller => 'login', :action => "login_page "
map.connect 'login/list_users', :controller => "login", :action => "list_users "
map.connect 'login/add_user', :controller => "login", :action => "add_user"
map.connect 'login/logout', :controller => "login", :action => "logout"

to the routes.rb and just first line is working.
So redirecting to the <app>/login or typing it directly gives login_page action from the login controller.
The remaining problem is that I still can't use any action directly like /login/list_users or even login/login_page.

[improvcornartist]

Have you checked your session variables after login to make sure they are saving accurately? If they aren't, it could be redirecting you back and forth between the original uri and login.

[nesko]

Thanks for the reply! :)
Could you please be more specific about where I should check session variables.
And why doesn't this problem appear with explicit map.connect routes like
map.connect 'login', :controller => 'login', :action => "login_page "
I've checked for instance with:
map.add_user 'add_user', :controller => "login", :action => "add_user"
with
<%= link_to 'Add user', add_user_path %>
This is working with get but not with post.

[improvcornartist]

I would check within login_page.

def login_page
  session[:user_id] = nil
  if request.post?
    user = User.authenticate(params[:name], params[:password])
    if user
      session[:user_id] = user.id
      session[:user_name] = user.name
      uri = session[:original_uri]
      session[:original_uri] = nil
      # check here to see what is saved in session variables
      redirect_to(uri || { :action => "index" })
    else
      flash[:notice] = "Invalid user/password combination"
    end
  end
end

I'm not really sure why the problem doesn't appear with explicit map.connect routes.

[nesko]

The problem is that I (the application) will never even come so far (to the login_page) if I try to use full path:
<app>/login/login_page
Just 500 Internal Server Error is shown.
So the problem appears before any session variable is checked/used and therefor I don't see any point in checking session variables.
What I could conclude is that there is clear routing problem because for instance
map.connect 'login/add_user', :controller => "login", :action => "add_user"
is never triggered or recognized.
I have checked routes with
rts = ActionControlle r::Routing::Rou tes
logger.info(rts .routes)
and this is the related part:

ANY /login/ {:controller=>" login", :action=>"login _page"}
ANY /login/list_users/ {:controller=>" login", :action=>"list_ users"}
ANY /login/add_user/ {:controller=>" login", :action=>"add_u ser"}
ANY /login/logout/ {:controller=>" login", :action=>"logou t"}
but anyhow only first one is working.

[nesko]

By the way I'm using session variables in the rest of the application (mostly for the layout/menu things) and those are working fine.

[improvcornartist]

Is the line map.root :controller => "controller 1" still in your routes file? If so, does it behave as you think it should? When you try to go to login/add_user, you get the redirect error?

[nesko]

Yes it is and it is redirecting to the login_page ... well with this routing in place:

map.connect 'login', :controller => 'login', :action => "login_page "

The problem here is that I'm running in test environment and have never got so far to make a proper user I can use to log in (though flash is showing right message so post back is working).
What I tried was to exclude add_user from before_filter but then I get 500 error when posting back. add_user action is never triggered I guess because my logger comands are not writing anything in the log.

So post back is trying the /login/add_user path even if it is called by /add_user and routed by

map.add_user 'add_user', :controller => "login", :action => "add_user"

[nesko]

Update:

Sorry, I have just moved this
map.connect 'login/add_user', :controller => "login", :action => "add_user"
below
map.add_user 'add_user', :controller => "login", :action => "add_user"
and now add user is working and I can log in.
After that the rest of the application is working too.
Even redirect back and forth (to login when not logged in and back to the originated url) is working.

Thank you for the assistance because you gave me the idea how to circumvent the problem. I will be able to live with it using map.<action> shortcuts for the non scaffolding paths.
Though the problem remains and I would appreciate if you and/or other people can help me solve it completely.

[improvcornartist]

Sorry to keep asking questions. I'm not sure how to debug this one. When you go to add_user, are you passing any params? Does your log show any error details or backtrace?

[nesko]

No problem, I'm really pleased that you are asking questions. Just continue :)

Did you read my last post because it makes your first question a bit obsolete (with reordering routing rules I was able to add user and log in).

Now some more details how the error is manifested:

If I use direct path like /login/add_user I don't get anything in rails log - not a single row though I have config.log_leve l = :debug in environment.rb
The only thing I get is the same apache error log message:

[error] [client 192.168.1.101] Request exceeded the limit of 10 internal
redirects due to probable configuration error. Use
'LimitInternalR ecursion' to increase the limit if necessary. Use
'LogLevel debug' to get a backtrace.

That is why I feel so powerless. There is nothing to go on.
I have also posted this on 3 more rails forums but you are the only person (thank you :) ) that gave any response/comment.

[improvcornartist]

No, I did not see your last post. I must have been writing a response when you posted it. And you are right, it is very hard to debug when it doesn't give you any details. Sounds like there is still something in the routing or redirects that it doesn't like, but I don't see what it would be. Sorry I can't be of more help there.

[nesko]

few last words ...

Thank you for all your help.

I have also got this list_users.html .erb:

<h2>Administrators</h2>
<ul>
	<% for user in @all_users %>
		<li><%= link_to "[X]", { # link_to options
					 :controller => 'login',
					 :action => 'delete_user',
					 :id => user
					},
					{ # html options
					:method => :post,
					:confirm => "Really delete #{user.name}?"
				} %>
			<%= h(user.name) %>
		</li>
	<% end %>
</ul>

to work together with this route:

map.delete_user 'delete_user', :controller => "login", :action => "delete_user"

it is producing links that are in this form:

http://<app>/delete_user?id=1

and routing is working.
In some strange way passenger recognize available routes and adapt the link_to to match them. Some light in the darkness at last :)