Re: ENV["RACK_ENV"] is not set on startup [rack/rack GH-11]

[Matt Todd <chiology@gmail.com>]

Oh man, you're right... how hadn't I seen that before? Anyways, that's
interesting... not sure how I feel about it.

Guess we can only carry a "pristine" idea so far before it gets
cumbersome/difficult/bothersome.

Matt



On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 4:46 AM, James Tucker <jftucker@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 2 Apr 2010, at 05:03, Matt Todd wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 5:13 PM, Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> wrote:
>>> James Tucker <jftucker@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On 1 Apr 2010, at 09:21, Matt Todd wrote:
>>>>> I'm not a fan of --env/:env in general, specifically taking issue with
>>>>> implicitly modifying the middleware stack.
>>>>>
>>>>> Because of this, I'm actually quite happy with the fact that
>>>>> ENV['RACK_ENV'] isn't set when --env/:env is set.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd much rather this feature go away and let handling environments be
>>>>> left up to the user.
>>>>>
>>>>> More specifically:
>>>>> * --env/:env should default to "development"
>>>>> * --env/:env should set ENV['RACK_ENV']
>>>>> * --end/:env should have no other affect
>>>>> * applications/frameworks should adjust their environments according
>>>>> to ENV['RACK_ENV'] as they see fit
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm aware that this is mostly done to ease development and lower the
>>>>> barrier of entry, which I'm not opposed to doing, but I think there
>>>>> are other, better ways we can explore such as a separate
>>>>> feature/option, perhaps only in rackup, that can enable these
>>>>> middleware.
>>>>
>>>> Rackup wants a logger mostly. I'm actually wondering if rackup wants a
>>>> logger in all environments (not --envs) apart from CGI. We're never
>>>> going to please everyone on this front, but maybe we need a way for
>>>> rackup to turn off the default logger middleware separately to the
>>>> --env setting.
>>>>
>>>> --env development also has one other significantly relevant action,
>>>> and that is to add Rack::Lint to the middleware stack in order to
>>>> validate conformance to http and rack specs. I feel this should stay,
>>>> regardless of other changes.
>>>>
>>>> I propose then, that we modify the logger middleware setup to be
>>>> affected by another argument, and that --env development adds
>>>> Rack::Lint, any other --env does not modify the middleware stack at
>>>> all.
>>>
>>> Yes.  Lint is special.  It is important for development and should be
>>> easily toggleable between different environments.  Heck, I wouldn't mind
>>> a version that adds Lint between every part of the middleware stack,
>>> even.  That would of course be a pain to configure by hand.
>>
>> Ah, yeah, I see the value of that.
>>
>> Maybe there's another solution besides Lint just being a middleware?
>> Perhaps a Lintified response? Not saying the middleware is bad, just
>> looking at our options.
>>
>>>> This should be compatible with Rails envs, and also satisfy Erics
>>>> desires. We can also then deprecate the unusual "deployment"
>>>> environment which seems to be unique to rack.
>>>
>>> I prefer Matt's approach to not do any middleware changes to go with
>>> RACK_ENV (except Lint, above).
>>>
>>> Extra command-line options that try to do the same thing as editing
>>> config.ru make things more confusing than necessary.  I was not happy
>>> with Rails inventing their own middleware configuration, either.
>
> I must point you at the Handler implementations in core, most of which attach one or two middlewares to every app before attaching them to the server...
>
>>
>> Agreed, agreed, and agreed. Lint is acceptable, but I think there
>> shouldn't be any other side effects by setting the environment other
>> than making sure ENV['RACK_ENV'] is set, imo. To be clear, I think
>> that we are just making it easy for others to utilize this feature,
>> but if it was taken out of Rack altogether, nothing should change but
>> give frameworks a little more work.
>>
>>> If people want a request logger, they can configure Rack::CommonLogger,
>>> Clogger or whatever else in config.ru.
>>
>> Agreed.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Matt Todd
>> Highgroove Studios
>> www.highgroove.com
>> cell: 404-314-2612
>> blog: maraby.org
>>
>> Scout - Web Monitoring and Reporting Software
>> www.scoutapp.com
>>
>>
>> --
>> To unsubscribe, reply using "remove me" as the subject.
>
>



-- 
Matt Todd
Highgroove Studios
www.highgroove.com
cell: 404-314-2612
blog: maraby.org

Scout - Web Monitoring and Reporting Software
www.scoutapp.com