XSendFile

The XSendFile plugin provides a simple interface for sending files via the X-Sendfile HTTP header. This enables your web server to serve the file directly from disk, instead of streaming it through your Rails process. This is faster and saves a lot of memory if you‘re using Mongrel. Not every web server supports this header. YMMV.

The interface is as close as possible to Rails’ ActionController::Streaming#send_file method.

Installation

First, you need to install the plugin. From the root of your Rails app run:

  ruby script/plugin install http://john.guen.in/svn/plugins/x_send_file

Set up your web server

If you have not already installed/enabled/configured X-Sendfile support for your web server, now‘s the time.

Apache users should look into mod_xsendfile
celebnamer.celebworld.ws/stuff/mod_xsendfile
Lighttpd users may need to configure mod_fastcgi or mod_proxy_core (depending on your version).
blog.lighttpd.net/articles/2006/07/02/x-sendfile

blog.lighttpd.net/articles/2006/07/22/mod_proxy_core-got-x-sendfile-support
If you are using something else, I‘m sure you‘re smart enough to figure it out :)

Usage

The x_send_file method takes the same options as Rails’ send_file method.

  x_send_file('/path/to/file')

  x_send_file('/path/to/image.jpg', :type => 'image/jpeg', :disposition => 'inline')

It also has a few new options. You can overwrite the HTTP header it uses (the default is ‘X-Sendfile’).

  x_send_file('/path/to/file/', :header => 'X-LIGHTTPD-SEND-FILE')

Configuration

You can easily set any of the options you would pass to the method, as global defaults for the plugin. This is particularly useful if your server requires a HTTP header other than ‘X-Sendfile’ and you like to keep your code DRY. Just place the following in your environment.rb.

  XSendFile::Plugin.options[:header] = 'X-LIGHTTPD-SEND-FILE'

Though you probably won‘t need to, you can change the default for any other option the same way:

  XSendFile::Plugin.options[:disposition] = 'inline'

Now, if you‘re feeling really adventurous, you can have x_send_file take over any time send_file is called.

  XSendFile::Plugin.replace_send_file!

This is a little scary, but it lends itself nicely to neat tricks like:

  XSendFile::Plugin.replace_send_file! unless ENV['RAILS_ENV'] = 'development'

Warning

Never, never do anything remotely like this:

  x_send_file(params[:path])