Hello Everyone,
Mongrel is due for a 0.3.12 release which will feature some pretty insane
goodies for everyone. There's talk of IOWA support, lots of speed
improvements (including sendfile support), a great Configurator which makes
configuring Mongrel a snap (especially for framework implementers), and a
ton of debugging stuff.
WARNING
This is a pre-release announcement for the Mongrel Web Server 0.3.12.
That's ****PRE-release*** not release, not gold, not stable, not
will-keep-your-children-alive-in-a-snow-storm release. PRE. PRE means it
will not work for you. PRE means you will test and tell me what's wrong
because you like me and Mongrel. PRE means you will not run this release on
your MoneyMakerWeb2OhMatic 6000 web site and then complain to me that you
have lost billions in the baby trafficking market.
DON'T CRY
Now that everyone is sufficiently scared, the list of what's changed is
given at:
http://mongrel.rubyforge.org/news.html
Go ahead and do this to try out the 0.3.12 release for me (pretty please):
$ gem uninstall mongrel
$ gem uninstall gem_plugin
$ gem install mongrel --source=http://mongrel.rubyforge.org/releases/
And if you want to play with the deadly edge you can also do:
$ gem install sendfile
This will give you a sendfile send for all of your static files. Even
though everyone was raving about sendfile speed being like setting a cat on
fire, it's actually only about 20% faster. Let me know what you find (and
if it works).
CHANGES
* A more complete Configurator and RailsConfigurator. These make setting up
Rails super easy but is mostly for framework implementers to use. Still,
it's wicked neat API.
* The mongrel_rails script is implemented using the new Configurator scheme
and works much better.
* You can pass a config file to mongrel_rails start and it will load that
(command line options override) using the -C option.
* Graceful restart works more reliably (not in Win32 since it uses
services).
* Reload works better and doesn't break the restart.
* More logging of the start-up process.
* There is a wicked nice debugging framework that logs object counts, open
files, and request params between each request. Try mongrel_rails start -B
and look in log/mongrel_debug.
* The Rails specific components are now in Mongrel::Rails modules.
* More examples using the Mongrel::Configurator.
* Dramatic speed improvements on FreeBSD, especially if you install the
ruby18-nopthreads version.
* Slight speed improvements on Mac OSX. OSX is like shoving a slug through
a cheese grater. What's wrong with Apple?
* Platforms that can install ruby-sendfile will get an estimated 20% speed
boost in static file serving. This is currently FreeBSD, Linux, and
Solaris.
* Lots of little bug fixes and minor speed tweaks.
Try out the release and let me know if I missed anything. It should work
with Rails 1.1RC1 but I haven't tested extensively.
SPONSORSHIP
Mongrel now has sponsorship from Eastmedia (http://www.eastmedia.com) in
partnership with Verisign (http://www.verisign.com/) to make Mongrel fast
and stable enough for enterprise class loads (meaning "gigantic", not "Java
style"). Their sponsorship has made it possible to get large pools of test
servers, payment to work on Mongrel, and a real application to use Mongrel
on. Everyone should toss out a thanks to them since this may mean I'll get
to work on Mongrel full time in the near future and it will raise the
quality of Ruby application hosting in general. Not to mention the fact
that they are letting all of my Mongrel work stay LGPL licensed and open
source.
Other companies benefiting from Ruby should take this as an example. I can
think of quite a few things (Ruby 1.9 and a real virtual machine are just
two) that need some serious commercial cash to get them in gear. If you're
making money off Ruby consider hiring a developer part-time, full-time, or
posting a bounty for something you and the community needs. There's no
better time for enlightened self-interest than now.
Zed A. Shaw
http://www.zedshaw.com/
