rails 4.0.0 → 4.2.11.3

data/guides/source/configuring.md

@@ -30,10 +30,10 @@ Configuring Rails Components
 
 In general, the work of configuring Rails means configuring the components of Rails, as well as configuring Rails itself. The configuration file `config/application.rb` and environment-specific configuration files (such as `config/environments/production.rb`) allow you to specify the various settings that you want to pass down to all of the components.
 
-For example, the default `config/application.rb` file includes this setting:
+For example, the `config/application.rb` file includes this setting:
 
 ```ruby
-config.filter_parameters += [:password]
+config.time_zone = 'Central Time (US & Canada)'
 ```
 
 This is a setting for Rails itself. If you want to pass settings to individual Rails components, you can do so via the same `config` object in `config/application.rb`:
@@ -56,16 +56,19 @@ These configuration methods are to be called on a `Rails::Railtie` object, such
     end
     ```
 
-* `config.asset_host` sets the host for the assets. Useful when CDNs are used for hosting assets, or when you want to work around the concurrency constraints builtin in browsers using different domain aliases. Shorter version of `config.action_controller.asset_host`.
+* `config.asset_host` sets the host for the assets. Useful when CDNs are used for hosting assets, or when you want to work around the concurrency constraints built-in in browsers using different domain aliases. Shorter version of `config.action_controller.asset_host`.
 
 * `config.autoload_once_paths` accepts an array of paths from which Rails will autoload constants that won't be wiped per request. Relevant if `config.cache_classes` is false, which is the case in development mode by default. Otherwise, all autoloading happens only once. All elements of this array must also be in `autoload_paths`. Default is an empty array.
 
 * `config.autoload_paths` accepts an array of paths from which Rails will autoload constants. Default is all directories under `app`.
 
-* `config.cache_classes` controls whether or not application classes and modules should be reloaded on each request. Defaults to false in development mode, and true in test and production modes. Can also be enabled with `threadsafe!`.
+* `config.cache_classes` controls whether or not application classes and modules should be reloaded on each request. Defaults to false in development mode, and true in test and production modes.
 
 * `config.action_view.cache_template_loading` controls whether or not templates should be reloaded on each request. Defaults to whatever is set for `config.cache_classes`.
 
+* `config.beginning_of_week` sets the default beginning of week for the
+application. Accepts a valid week day symbol (e.g. `:monday`).
+
 * `config.cache_store` configures which cache store to use for Rails caching. Options include one of the symbols `:memory_store`, `:file_store`, `:mem_cache_store`, `:null_store`, or an object that implements the cache API. Defaults to `:file_store` if the directory `tmp/cache` exists, and to `:memory_store` otherwise.
 
 * `config.colorize_logging` specifies whether or not to use ANSI color codes when logging information. Defaults to true.
@@ -83,7 +86,7 @@ These configuration methods are to be called on a `Rails::Railtie` object, such
     end
     ```
 
-* `config.dependency_loading` is a flag that allows you to disable constant autoloading setting it to false. It only has effect if `config.cache_classes` is true, which it is by default in production mode. This flag is set to false by `config.threadsafe!`.
+* `config.dependency_loading` is a flag that allows you to disable constant autoloading setting it to false. It only has effect if `config.cache_classes` is true, which it is by default in production mode.
 
 * `config.eager_load` when true, eager loads all registered `config.eager_load_namespaces`. This includes your application, engines, Rails frameworks and any other registered namespace.
 
@@ -97,23 +100,27 @@ These configuration methods are to be called on a `Rails::Railtie` object, such
 
 * `config.file_watcher` the class used to detect file updates in the filesystem when `config.reload_classes_only_on_change` is true. Must conform to `ActiveSupport::FileUpdateChecker` API.
 
-* `config.filter_parameters` used for filtering out the parameters that you don't want shown in the logs, such as passwords or credit card numbers.
+* `config.filter_parameters` used for filtering out the parameters that
+you don't want shown in the logs, such as passwords or credit card
+numbers. New applications filter out passwords by adding the following `config.filter_parameters+=[:password]` in `config/initializers/filter_parameter_logging.rb`.
 
 * `config.force_ssl` forces all requests to be under HTTPS protocol by using `ActionDispatch::SSL` middleware.
 
-* `config.log_level` defines the verbosity of the Rails logger. This option defaults to `:debug` for all modes except production, where it defaults to `:info`.
+* `config.log_formatter` defines the formatter of the Rails logger. This option defaults to an instance of `ActiveSupport::Logger::SimpleFormatter` for all modes except production, where it defaults to `Logger::Formatter`.
+
+* `config.log_level` defines the verbosity of the Rails logger. This option defaults to `:debug` for all environments.
 
-* `config.log_tags` accepts a list of methods that respond to `request` object. This makes it easy to tag log lines with debug information like subdomain and request id — both very helpful in debugging multi-user production applications.
+* `config.log_tags` accepts a list of methods that the `request` object responds to. This makes it easy to tag log lines with debug information like subdomain and request id - both very helpful in debugging multi-user production applications.
 
-* `config.logger` accepts a logger conforming to the interface of Log4r or the default Ruby `Logger` class. Defaults to an instance of `ActiveSupport::Logger`, with auto flushing off in production mode.
+* `config.logger` accepts a logger conforming to the interface of Log4r or the default Ruby `Logger` class. Defaults to an instance of `ActiveSupport::Logger`.
 
 * `config.middleware` allows you to configure the application's middleware. This is covered in depth in the [Configuring Middleware](#configuring-middleware) section below.
 
 * `config.reload_classes_only_on_change` enables or disables reloading of classes only when tracked files change. By default tracks everything on autoload paths and is set to true. If `config.cache_classes` is true, this option is ignored.
 
-* `config.secret_key_base` used for specifying a key which allows sessions for the application to be verified against a known secure key to prevent tampering. Applications get `config.secret_key_base` initialized to a random key in `config/initializers/secret_token.rb`.
+* `secrets.secret_key_base` is used for specifying a key which allows sessions for the application to be verified against a known secure key to prevent tampering. Applications get `secrets.secret_key_base` initialized to a random key present in `config/secrets.yml`.
 
-* `config.serve_static_assets` configures Rails itself to serve static assets. Defaults to true, but in the production environment is turned off as the server software (e.g. Nginx or Apache) used to run the application should serve static assets instead. Unlike the default setting set this to true when running (absolutely not recommended!) or testing your app in production mode using WEBrick. Otherwise you won´t be able use page caching and requests for files that exist regularly under the public directory will anyway hit your Rails app.
+* `config.serve_static_files` configures Rails itself to serve static files. Defaults to true, but in the production environment is turned off as the server software (e.g. NGINX or Apache) used to run the application should serve static assets instead. Unlike the default setting set this to true when running (absolutely not recommended!) or testing your app in production mode using WEBrick. Otherwise you won't be able use page caching and requests for files that exist regularly under the public directory will anyway hit your Rails app.
 
 * `config.session_store` is usually set up in `config/initializers/session_store.rb` and specifies what class to use to store the session. Possible values are `:cookie_store` which is the default, `:mem_cache_store`, and `:disabled`. The last one tells Rails not to deal with sessions. Custom session stores can also be specified:
 
@@ -125,15 +132,12 @@ These configuration methods are to be called on a `Rails::Railtie` object, such
 
 * `config.time_zone` sets the default time zone for the application and enables time zone awareness for Active Record.
 
-* `config.beginning_of_week` sets the default beginning of week for the application. Accepts a valid week day symbol (e.g. `:monday`).
-
-* `config.whiny_nils` enables or disables warnings when a certain set of methods are invoked on `nil` and it does not respond to them. Defaults to true in development and test environments.
-
 ### Configuring Assets
 
-* `config.assets.enabled` a flag that controls whether the asset pipeline is enabled. It is explicitly initialized in `config/application.rb`.
+* `config.assets.enabled` a flag that controls whether the asset
+pipeline is enabled. It is set to true by default.
 
-* `config.assets.compress` a flag that enables the compression of compiled assets. It is explicitly set to true in `config/production.rb`.
+* `config.assets.raise_runtime_errors` Set this flag to `true` to enable additional runtime error checking. Recommended in `config/environments/development.rb` to minimize unexpected behavior when deploying to `production`.
 
 * `config.assets.css_compressor` defines the CSS compressor to use. It is set by default by `sass-rails`. The unique alternative value at the moment is `:yui`, which uses the `yui-compressor` gem.
 
@@ -145,7 +149,9 @@ These configuration methods are to be called on a `Rails::Railtie` object, such
 
 * `config.assets.prefix` defines the prefix where assets are served from. Defaults to `/assets`.
 
-* `config.assets.digest` enables the use of MD5 fingerprints in asset names. Set to `true` by default in `production.rb`.
+* `config.assets.manifest` defines the full path to be used for the asset precompiler's manifest file. Defaults to a file named `manifest-<random>.json` in the `config.assets.prefix` directory within the public folder.
+
+* `config.assets.digest` enables the use of MD5 fingerprints in asset names. Set to `true` by default in `production.rb` and `development.rb`.
 
 * `config.assets.debug` disables the concatenation and compression of assets. Set to `true` by default in `development.rb`.
 
@@ -189,11 +195,11 @@ The full set of methods that can be used in this block are as follows:
 Every Rails application comes with a standard set of middleware which it uses in this order in the development environment:
 
 * `ActionDispatch::SSL` forces every request to be under HTTPS protocol. Will be available if `config.force_ssl` is set to `true`. Options passed to this can be configured by using `config.ssl_options`.
-* `ActionDispatch::Static` is used to serve static assets. Disabled if `config.serve_static_assets` is `false`.
+* `ActionDispatch::Static` is used to serve static assets. Disabled if `config.serve_static_files` is `false`.
 * `Rack::Lock` wraps the app in mutex so it can only be called by a single thread at a time. Only enabled when `config.cache_classes` is `false`.
 * `ActiveSupport::Cache::Strategy::LocalCache` serves as a basic memory backed cache. This cache is not thread safe and is intended only for serving as a temporary memory cache for a single thread.
 * `Rack::Runtime` sets an `X-Runtime` header, containing the time (in seconds) taken to execute the request.
-* `Rails::Rack::Logger` notifies the logs that the request has began. After request is complete, flushes all the logs.
+* `Rails::Rack::Logger` notifies the logs that the request has begun. After request is complete, flushes all the logs.
 * `ActionDispatch::ShowExceptions` rescues any exception returned by the application and renders nice exception pages if the request is local or if `config.consider_all_requests_local` is set to `true`. If `config.action_dispatch.show_exceptions` is set to `false`, exceptions will be raised regardless.
 * `ActionDispatch::RequestId` makes a unique X-Request-Id header available to the response and enables the `ActionDispatch::Request#uuid` method.
 * `ActionDispatch::RemoteIp` checks for IP spoofing attacks and gets valid `client_ip` from request headers. Configurable with the `config.action_dispatch.ip_spoofing_check`, and `config.action_dispatch.trusted_proxies` options.
@@ -206,7 +212,7 @@ Every Rails application comes with a standard set of middleware which it uses in
 * `ActionDispatch::Flash` sets up the `flash` keys. Only available if `config.action_controller.session_store` is set to a value.
 * `ActionDispatch::ParamsParser` parses out parameters from the request into `params`.
 * `Rack::MethodOverride` allows the method to be overridden if `params[:_method]` is set. This is the middleware which supports the PATCH, PUT, and DELETE HTTP method types.
-* `ActionDispatch::Head` converts HEAD requests to GET requests and serves them as so.
+* `Rack::Head` converts HEAD requests to GET requests and serves them as so.
 
 Besides these usual middleware, you can add your own by using the `config.middleware.use` method:
 
@@ -217,13 +223,13 @@ config.middleware.use Magical::Unicorns
 This will put the `Magical::Unicorns` middleware on the end of the stack. You can use `insert_before` if you wish to add a middleware before another.
 
 ```ruby
-config.middleware.insert_before ActionDispatch::Head, Magical::Unicorns
+config.middleware.insert_before Rack::Head, Magical::Unicorns
 ```
 
 There's also `insert_after` which will insert a middleware after another:
 
 ```ruby
-config.middleware.insert_after ActionDispatch::Head, Magical::Unicorns
+config.middleware.insert_after Rack::Head, Magical::Unicorns
 ```
 
 Middlewares can also be completely swapped out and replaced with others:
@@ -240,8 +246,14 @@ config.middleware.delete "Rack::MethodOverride"
 
 ### Configuring i18n
 
+All these configuration options are delegated to the `I18n` library.
+
+* `config.i18n.available_locales` whitelists the available locales for the app. Defaults to all locale keys found in locale files, usually only `:en` on a new application.
+
 * `config.i18n.default_locale` sets the default locale of an application used for i18n. Defaults to `:en`.
 
+* `config.i18n.enforce_available_locales` ensures that all locales passed through i18n must be declared in the `available_locales` list, raising an `I18n::InvalidLocale` exception when setting an unavailable locale. Defaults to `true`. It is recommended not to disable this option unless strongly required, since this works as a security measure against setting any invalid locale from user input.
+
 * `config.i18n.load_path` sets the path Rails uses to look for locale files. Defaults to `config/locales/*.{yml,rb}`.
 
 ### Configuring Active Record
@@ -258,9 +270,11 @@ config.middleware.delete "Rack::MethodOverride"
 
 * `config.active_record.table_name_suffix` lets you set a global string to be appended to table names. If you set this to `_northwest`, then the Customer class will look for `customers_northwest` as its table. The default is an empty string.
 
+* `config.active_record.schema_migrations_table_name` lets you set a string to be used as the name of the schema migrations table.
+
 * `config.active_record.pluralize_table_names` specifies whether Rails will look for singular or plural table names in the database. If set to true (the default), then the Customer class will use the `customers` table. If set to false, then the Customer class will use the `customer` table.
 
-* `config.active_record.default_timezone` determines whether to use `Time.local` (if set to `:local`) or `Time.utc` (if set to `:utc`) when pulling dates and times from the database. The default is `:utc` for Rails, although Active Record defaults to `:local` when used outside of Rails.
+* `config.active_record.default_timezone` determines whether to use `Time.local` (if set to `:local`) or `Time.utc` (if set to `:utc`) when pulling dates and times from the database. The default is `:utc`.
 
 * `config.active_record.schema_format` controls the format for dumping the database schema to a file. The options are `:ruby` (the default) for a database-independent version that depends on migrations, or `:sql` for a set of (potentially database-dependent) SQL statements.
 
@@ -270,6 +284,18 @@ config.middleware.delete "Rack::MethodOverride"
 
 * `config.active_record.cache_timestamp_format` controls the format of the timestamp value in the cache key. Default is `:number`.
 
+* `config.active_record.record_timestamps` is a boolean value which controls whether or not timestamping of `create` and `update` operations on a model occur. The default value is `true`.
+
+* `config.active_record.partial_writes` is a boolean value and controls whether or not partial writes are used (i.e. whether updates only set attributes that are dirty). Note that when using partial writes, you should also use optimistic locking `config.active_record.lock_optimistically` since concurrent updates may write attributes based on a possibly stale read state. The default value is `true`.
+
+* `config.active_record.maintain_test_schema` is a boolean value which controls whether Active Record should try to keep your test database schema up-to-date with `db/schema.rb` (or `db/structure.sql`) when you run your tests. The default is true.
+
+* `config.active_record.dump_schema_after_migration` is a flag which
+  controls whether or not schema dump should happen (`db/schema.rb` or
+  `db/structure.sql`) when you run migrations. This is set to false in
+  `config/environments/production.rb` which is generated by Rails. The
+  default value is true if this configuration is not set.
+
 The MySQL adapter adds one additional configuration option:
 
 * `ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::MysqlAdapter.emulate_booleans` controls whether Active Record will consider all `tinyint(1)` columns in a MySQL database to be booleans and is true by default.
@@ -296,11 +322,13 @@ The schema dumper adds one additional configuration option:
 
 * `config.action_controller.allow_forgery_protection` enables or disables CSRF protection. By default this is `false` in test mode and `true` in all other modes.
 
-* `config.action_controller.relative_url_root` can be used to tell Rails that you are deploying to a subdirectory. The default is `ENV['RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT']`.
+* `config.action_controller.relative_url_root` can be used to tell Rails that you are [deploying to a subdirectory](configuring.html#deploy-to-a-subdirectory-relative-url-root). The default is `ENV['RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT']`.
 
 * `config.action_controller.permit_all_parameters` sets all the parameters for mass assignment to be permitted by default. The default value is `false`.
 
-* `config.action_controller.action_on_unpermitted_params` enables logging or raising an exception if parameters that are not explicitly permitted are found. Set to `:log` or `:raise` to enable. The default value is `:log` in development and test environments, and `false` in all other environments.
+* `config.action_controller.action_on_unpermitted_parameters` enables logging or raising an exception if parameters that are not explicitly permitted are found. Set to `:log` or `:raise` to enable. The default value is `:log` in development and test environments, and `false` in all other environments.
+
+* `config.action_controller.always_permitted_parameters` sets a list of whitelisted parameters that are permitted by default. The default values are `['controller', 'action']`.
 
 ### Configuring Action Dispatch
 
@@ -318,6 +346,46 @@ The schema dumper adds one additional configuration option:
 
 * `config.action_dispatch.tld_length` sets the TLD (top-level domain) length for the application. Defaults to `1`.
 
+* `config.action_dispatch.http_auth_salt` sets the HTTP Auth salt value. Defaults
+to `'http authentication'`.
+
+* `config.action_dispatch.signed_cookie_salt` sets the signed cookies salt value.
+Defaults to `'signed cookie'`.
+
+* `config.action_dispatch.encrypted_cookie_salt` sets the encrypted cookies salt
+value. Defaults to `'encrypted cookie'`.
+
+* `config.action_dispatch.encrypted_signed_cookie_salt` sets the signed
+encrypted cookies salt value. Defaults to `'signed encrypted cookie'`.
+
+* `config.action_dispatch.perform_deep_munge` configures whether `deep_munge`
+  method should be performed on the parameters. See [Security Guide](security.html#unsafe-query-generation)
+  for more information. It defaults to true.
+
+* `config.action_dispatch.rescue_responses` configures what exceptions are assigned to an HTTP status. It accepts a hash and you can specify pairs of exception/status. By default, this is defined as:
+
+  ```ruby
+  config.action_dispatch.rescue_responses = {
+    'ActionController::RoutingError'              => :not_found,
+    'AbstractController::ActionNotFound'          => :not_found,
+    'ActionController::MethodNotAllowed'          => :method_not_allowed,
+    'ActionController::UnknownHttpMethod'         => :method_not_allowed,
+    'ActionController::NotImplemented'            => :not_implemented,
+    'ActionController::UnknownFormat'             => :not_acceptable,
+    'ActionController::InvalidAuthenticityToken'  => :unprocessable_entity,
+    'ActionController::InvalidCrossOriginRequest' => :unprocessable_entity,
+    'ActionDispatch::ParamsParser::ParseError'    => :bad_request,
+    'ActionController::BadRequest'                => :bad_request,
+    'ActionController::ParameterMissing'          => :bad_request,
+    'ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound'                => :not_found,
+    'ActiveRecord::StaleObjectError'              => :conflict,
+    'ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid'                 => :unprocessable_entity,
+    'ActiveRecord::RecordNotSaved'                => :unprocessable_entity
+  }
+  ```
+
+  Any exceptions that are not configured will be mapped to 500 Internal Server Error.
+
 * `ActionDispatch::Callbacks.before` takes a block of code to run before the request.
 
 * `ActionDispatch::Callbacks.to_prepare` takes a block to run after `ActionDispatch::Callbacks.before`, but before the request. Runs for every request in `development` mode, but only once for `production` or environments with `cache_classes` set to `true`.
@@ -340,17 +408,19 @@ The schema dumper adds one additional configuration option:
 
 * `config.action_view.logger` accepts a logger conforming to the interface of Log4r or the default Ruby Logger class, which is then used to log information from Action View. Set to `nil` to disable logging.
 
-* `config.action_view.erb_trim_mode` gives the trim mode to be used by ERB. It defaults to `'-'`. See the [ERB documentation](http://www.ruby-doc.org/stdlib/libdoc/erb/rdoc/) for more information.
+* `config.action_view.erb_trim_mode` gives the trim mode to be used by ERB. It defaults to `'-'`, which turns on trimming of tail spaces and newline when using `<%= -%>` or `<%= =%>`. See the [Erubis documentation](http://www.kuwata-lab.com/erubis/users-guide.06.html#topics-trimspaces) for more information.
 
 * `config.action_view.embed_authenticity_token_in_remote_forms` allows you to set the default behavior for `authenticity_token` in forms with `:remote => true`. By default it's set to false, which means that remote forms will not include `authenticity_token`, which is helpful when you're fragment-caching the form. Remote forms get the authenticity from the `meta` tag, so embedding is unnecessary unless you support browsers without JavaScript. In such case you can either pass `:authenticity_token => true` as a form option or set this config setting to `true`
 
-* `config.action_view.prefix_partial_path_with_controller_namespace` determines whether or not partials are looked up from a subdirectory in templates rendered from namespaced controllers. For example, consider a controller named `Admin::PostsController` which renders this template:
+* `config.action_view.prefix_partial_path_with_controller_namespace` determines whether or not partials are looked up from a subdirectory in templates rendered from namespaced controllers. For example, consider a controller named `Admin::ArticlesController` which renders this template:
 
     ```erb
-    <%= render @post %>
+    <%= render @article %>
     ```
 
-    The default setting is `true`, which uses the partial at `/admin/posts/_post.erb`. Setting the value to `false` would render `/posts/_post.erb`, which is the same behavior as rendering from a non-namespaced controller such as `PostsController`.
+    The default setting is `true`, which uses the partial at `/admin/articles/_article.erb`. Setting the value to `false` would render `/articles/_article.erb`, which is the same behavior as rendering from a non-namespaced controller such as `ArticlesController`.
+
+* `config.action_view.raise_on_missing_translations` determines whether an error should be raised for missing translations
 
 ### Configuring Action Mailer
 
@@ -372,17 +442,25 @@ There are a number of settings available on `config.action_mailer`:
 
 * `config.action_mailer.raise_delivery_errors` specifies whether to raise an error if email delivery cannot be completed. It defaults to true.
 
-* `config.action_mailer.delivery_method` defines the delivery method. The allowed values are `:smtp` (default), `:sendmail`, and `:test`.
+* `config.action_mailer.delivery_method` defines the delivery method and defaults to `:smtp`. See the [configuration section in the Action Mailer guide](http://guides.rubyonrails.org/action_mailer_basics.html#action-mailer-configuration) for more info.
 
 * `config.action_mailer.perform_deliveries` specifies whether mail will actually be delivered and is true by default. It can be convenient to set it to false for testing.
 
 * `config.action_mailer.default_options` configures Action Mailer defaults. Use to set options like `from` or `reply_to` for every mailer. These default to:
 
     ```ruby
-    :mime_version => "1.0",
-    :charset      => "UTF-8",
-    :content_type => "text/plain",
-    :parts_order  => [ "text/plain", "text/enriched", "text/html" ]
+    mime_version:  "1.0",
+    charset:       "UTF-8",
+    content_type: "text/plain",
+    parts_order:  ["text/plain", "text/enriched", "text/html"]
+    ```
+
+    Assign a hash to set additional options:
+
+    ```ruby
+    config.action_mailer.default_options = {
+      from: "noreply@example.com"
+    }
     ```
 
 * `config.action_mailer.observers` registers observers which will be notified when mail is delivered.
@@ -397,16 +475,32 @@ There are a number of settings available on `config.action_mailer`:
     config.action_mailer.interceptors = ["MailInterceptor"]
     ```
 
+* `config.action_mailer.preview_path` specifies the location of mailer previews.
+
+    ```ruby
+    config.action_mailer.preview_path = "#{Rails.root}/lib/mailer_previews"
+    ```
+
+* `config.action_mailer.show_previews` enable or disable mailer previews. By default this is `true` in development.
+
+    ```ruby
+    config.action_mailer.show_previews = false
+    ```
+
 ### Configuring Active Support
 
 There are a few configuration options available in Active Support:
 
 * `config.active_support.bare` enables or disables the loading of `active_support/all` when booting Rails. Defaults to `nil`, which means `active_support/all` is loaded.
 
+* `config.active_support.test_order` sets the order that test cases are executed. Possible values are `:sorted` and `:random`. Currently defaults to `:sorted`. In Rails 5.0, the default will be changed to `:random` instead.
+
 * `config.active_support.escape_html_entities_in_json` enables or disables the escaping of HTML entities in JSON serialization. Defaults to `false`.
 
 * `config.active_support.use_standard_json_time_format` enables or disables serializing dates to ISO 8601 format. Defaults to `true`.
 
+* `config.active_support.time_precision` sets the precision of JSON encoded time values. Defaults to `3`.
+
 * `ActiveSupport::Logger.silencer` is set to `false` to disable the ability to silence logging in a block. The default is `true`.
 
 * `ActiveSupport::Cache::Store.logger` specifies the logger to use within cache store operations.
@@ -417,17 +511,133 @@ There are a few configuration options available in Active Support:
 
 * `ActiveSupport::Deprecation.silenced` sets whether or not to display deprecation warnings.
 
-* `ActiveSupport::Logger.silencer` is set to `false` to disable the ability to silence logging in a block. The default is `true`.
 
 ### Configuring a Database
 
-Just about every Rails application will interact with a database. The database to use is specified in a configuration file called `config/database.yml`.  If you open this file in a new Rails application, you'll see a default database configured to use SQLite3. The file contains sections for three different environments in which Rails can run by default:
+Just about every Rails application will interact with a database. You can connect to the database by setting an environment variable `ENV['DATABASE_URL']` or by using a configuration file called `config/database.yml`.
+
+Using the `config/database.yml` file you can specify all the information needed to access your database:
+
+```yaml
+development:
+  adapter: postgresql
+  database: blog_development
+  pool: 5
+```
+
+This will connect to the database named `blog_development` using the `postgresql` adapter. This same information can be stored in a URL and provided via an environment variable like this:
+
+```ruby
+> puts ENV['DATABASE_URL']
+postgresql://localhost/blog_development?pool=5
+```
+
+The `config/database.yml` file contains sections for three different environments in which Rails can run by default:
 
 * The `development` environment is used on your development/local computer as you interact manually with the application.
 * The `test` environment is used when running automated tests.
 * The `production` environment is used when you deploy your application for the world to use.
 
-TIP: You don't have to update the database configurations manually. If you look at the options of the application generator, you will see that one of the options is named `--database`. This option allows you to choose an adapter from a list of the most used relational databases. You can even run the generator repeatedly: `cd .. && rails new blog --database=mysql`. When you confirm the overwriting of the `config/database.yml` file, your application will be configured for MySQL instead of SQLite.  Detailed examples of the common database connections are below.
+If you wish, you can manually specify a URL inside of your `config/database.yml`
+
+```
+development:
+  url: postgresql://localhost/blog_development?pool=5
+```
+
+The `config/database.yml` file can contain ERB tags `<%= %>`. Anything in the tags will be evaluated as Ruby code. You can use this to pull out data from an environment variable or to perform calculations to generate the needed connection information.
+
+
+TIP: You don't have to update the database configurations manually. If you look at the options of the application generator, you will see that one of the options is named `--database`. This option allows you to choose an adapter from a list of the most used relational databases. You can even run the generator repeatedly: `cd .. && rails new blog --database=mysql`. When you confirm the overwriting of the `config/database.yml` file, your application will be configured for MySQL instead of SQLite. Detailed examples of the common database connections are below.
+
+
+### Connection Preference
+
+Since there are two ways to set your connection, via environment variable it is important to understand how the two can interact.
+
+If you have an empty `config/database.yml` file but your `ENV['DATABASE_URL']` is present, then Rails will connect to the database via your environment variable:
+
+```
+$ cat config/database.yml
+
+$ echo $DATABASE_URL
+postgresql://localhost/my_database
+```
+
+If you have a `config/database.yml` but no `ENV['DATABASE_URL']` then this file will be used to connect to your database:
+
+```
+$ cat config/database.yml
+development:
+  adapter: postgresql
+  database: my_database
+  host: localhost
+
+$ echo $DATABASE_URL
+```
+
+If you have both `config/database.yml` and `ENV['DATABASE_URL']` set then Rails will merge the configuration together. To better understand this we must see some examples.
+
+When duplicate connection information is provided the environment variable will take precedence:
+
+```
+$ cat config/database.yml
+development:
+  adapter: sqlite3
+  database: NOT_my_database
+  host: localhost
+
+$ echo $DATABASE_URL
+postgresql://localhost/my_database
+
+$ bin/rails runner 'puts ActiveRecord::Base.configurations'
+{"development"=>{"adapter"=>"postgresql", "host"=>"localhost", "database"=>"my_database"}}
+```
+
+Here the adapter, host, and database match the information in `ENV['DATABASE_URL']`.
+
+If non-duplicate information is provided you will get all unique values, environment variable still takes precedence in cases of any conflicts.
+
+```
+$ cat config/database.yml
+development:
+  adapter: sqlite3
+  pool: 5
+
+$ echo $DATABASE_URL
+postgresql://localhost/my_database
+
+$ bin/rails runner 'puts ActiveRecord::Base.configurations'
+{"development"=>{"adapter"=>"postgresql", "host"=>"localhost", "database"=>"my_database", "pool"=>5}}
+```
+
+Since pool is not in the `ENV['DATABASE_URL']` provided connection information its information is merged in. Since `adapter` is duplicate, the `ENV['DATABASE_URL']` connection information wins.
+
+The only way to explicitly not use the connection information in `ENV['DATABASE_URL']` is to specify an explicit URL connection using the `"url"` sub key:
+
+```
+$ cat config/database.yml
+development:
+  url: sqlite3:NOT_my_database
+
+$ echo $DATABASE_URL
+postgresql://localhost/my_database
+
+$ bin/rails runner 'puts ActiveRecord::Base.configurations'
+{"development"=>{"adapter"=>"sqlite3", "database"=>"NOT_my_database"}}
+```
+
+Here the connection information in `ENV['DATABASE_URL']` is ignored, note the different adapter and database name.
+
+Since it is possible to embed ERB in your `config/database.yml` it is best practice to explicitly show you are using the `ENV['DATABASE_URL']` to connect to your database. This is especially useful in production since you should not commit secrets like your database password into your source control (such as Git).
+
+```
+$ cat config/database.yml
+production:
+  url: <%= ENV['DATABASE_URL'] %>
+```
+
+Now the behavior is clear, that we are only using the connection information in `ENV['DATABASE_URL']`.
 
 #### Configuring an SQLite3 Database
 
@@ -472,11 +682,9 @@ development:
   encoding: unicode
   database: blog_development
   pool: 5
-  username: blog
-  password:
 ```
 
-Prepared Statements can be disabled thus:
+Prepared Statements are enabled by default on PostgreSQL. You can be disable prepared statements by setting `prepared_statements` to `false`:
 
 ```yaml
 production:
@@ -484,6 +692,16 @@ production:
   prepared_statements: false
 ```
 
+If enabled, Active Record will create up to `1000` prepared statements per database connection by default. To modify this behavior you can set `statement_limit` to a different value:
+
+```
+production:
+  adapter: postgresql
+  statement_limit: 200
+```
+
+The more prepared statements in use: the more memory your database will require. If your PostgreSQL database is hitting memory limits, try lowering `statement_limit` or disabling prepared statements.
+
 #### Configuring an SQLite3 Database for JRuby Platform
 
 If you choose to use SQLite3 and are using JRuby, your `config/database.yml` will look a little different. Here's the development section:
@@ -525,10 +743,81 @@ Change the username and password in the `development` section as appropriate.
 
 By default Rails ships with three environments: "development", "test", and "production". While these are sufficient for most use cases, there are circumstances when you want more environments.
 
-Imagine you have a server which mirrors the production environment but is only used for testing. Such a server is commonly called a "staging server". To define an environment called "staging" for this server just by create a file called `config/environments/staging.rb`. Please use the contents of any existing file in `config/environments` as a starting point and make the necessary changes from there.
+Imagine you have a server which mirrors the production environment but is only used for testing. Such a server is commonly called a "staging server". To define an environment called "staging" for this server, just create a file called `config/environments/staging.rb`. Please use the contents of any existing file in `config/environments` as a starting point and make the necessary changes from there.
+
+That environment is no different than the default ones, start a server with `rails server -e staging`, a console with `rails console staging`, `Rails.env.staging?` works, etc.
+
+
+### Deploy to a subdirectory (relative url root)
+
+By default Rails expects that your application is running at the root
+(eg. `/`). This section explains how to run your application inside a directory.
+
+Let's assume we want to deploy our application to "/app1". Rails needs to know
+this directory to generate the appropriate routes:
+
+```ruby
+config.relative_url_root = "/app1"
+```
+
+alternatively you can set the `RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT` environment
+variable.
+
+Rails will now prepend "/app1" when generating links.
+
+#### Using Passenger
+
+Passenger makes it easy to run your application in a subdirectory. You can find the relevant configuration in the [Passenger manual](http://www.modrails.com/documentation/Users%20guide%20Apache.html#deploying_rails_to_sub_uri).
+
+#### Using a Reverse Proxy
 
-That environment is no different than the default ones, start a server with `rails server -e staging`, a console with `rails console staging`,  `Rails.env.staging?` works, etc.
+Deploying your application using a reverse proxy has definite advantages over traditional deploys. They allow you to have more control over your server by layering the components required by your application.
 
+Many modern web servers can be used as a proxy server to balance third-party elements such as caching servers or application servers.
+
+One such application server you can use is [Unicorn](http://unicorn.bogomips.org/) to run behind a reverse proxy.
+
+In this case, you would need to configure the proxy server (NGINX, Apache, etc) to accept connections from your application server (Unicorn). By default Unicorn will listen for TCP connections on port 8080, but you can change the port or configure it to use sockets instead.
+
+You can find more information in the [Unicorn readme](http://unicorn.bogomips.org/README.html) and understand the [philosophy](http://unicorn.bogomips.org/PHILOSOPHY.html) behind it.
+
+Once you've configured the application server, you must proxy requests to it by configuring your web server appropriately. For example your NGINX config may include:
+
+```
+upstream application_server {
+  server 0.0.0.0:8080
+}
+
+server {
+  listen 80;
+  server_name localhost;
+
+  root /root/path/to/your_app/public;
+
+  try_files $uri/index.html $uri.html @app;
+
+  location @app {
+    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
+    proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
+    proxy_redirect off;
+    proxy_pass http://application_server;
+  }
+
+  # some other configuration
+}
+```
+
+Be sure to read the [NGINX documentation](http://nginx.org/en/docs/) for the most up-to-date information.
+
+#### Considerations when deploying to a subdirectory
+
+Deploying to a subdirectory in production has implications on various parts of
+Rails.
+
+* development environment:
+* testing environment:
+* serving static assets:
+* asset pipeline:
 
 Rails Environment Settings
 --------------------------
@@ -537,7 +826,7 @@ Some parts of Rails can also be configured externally by supplying environment v
 
 * `ENV["RAILS_ENV"]` defines the Rails environment (production, development, test, and so on) that Rails will run under.
 
-* `ENV["RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT"]` is used by the routing code to recognize URLs when you deploy your application to a subdirectory.
+* `ENV["RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT"]` is used by the routing code to recognize URLs when you [deploy your application to a subdirectory](configuring.html#deploy-to-a-subdirectory-relative-url-root).
 
 * `ENV["RAILS_CACHE_ID"]` and `ENV["RAILS_APP_VERSION"]` are used to generate expanded cache keys in Rails' caching code. This allows you to have multiple separate caches from the same application.
 
@@ -564,7 +853,7 @@ Rails has 5 initialization events which can be hooked into (listed in the order
 
 * `before_eager_load`: This is run directly before eager loading occurs, which is the default behavior for the `production` environment and not for the `development` environment.
 
-* `after_initialize`: Run directly after the initialization of the application, but before the application initializers are run.
+* `after_initialize`: Run directly after the initialization of the application, after the application initializers in `config/initializers` are run.
 
 To define an event for these hooks, use the block syntax within a `Rails::Application`, `Rails::Railtie` or `Rails::Engine` subclass:
 
@@ -590,17 +879,17 @@ WARNING: Some parts of your application, notably routing, are not yet set up at
 
 ### `Rails::Railtie#initializer`
 
-Rails has several initializers that run on startup that are all defined by using the `initializer` method from `Rails::Railtie`. Here's an example of the `initialize_whiny_nils` initializer from Active Support:
+Rails has several initializers that run on startup that are all defined by using the `initializer` method from `Rails::Railtie`. Here's an example of the `set_helpers_path` initializer from Action Controller:
 
 ```ruby
-initializer "active_support.initialize_whiny_nils" do |app|
-  require 'active_support/whiny_nil' if app.config.whiny_nils
+initializer "action_controller.set_helpers_path" do |app|
+  ActionController::Helpers.helpers_path = app.helpers_paths
 end
 ```
 
 The `initializer` method takes three arguments with the first being the name for the initializer and the second being an options hash (not shown here) and the third being a block. The `:before` key in the options hash can be specified to specify which initializer this new initializer must run before, and the `:after` key will specify which initializer to run this initializer _after_.
 
-Initializers defined using the `initializer` method will be ran in the order they are defined in, with the exception of ones that use the `:before` or `:after` methods.
+Initializers defined using the `initializer` method will be run in the order they are defined in, with the exception of ones that use the `:before` or `:after` methods.
 
 WARNING: You may put your initializer before or after any other initializer in the chain, as long as it is logical. Say you have 4 initializers called "one" through "four" (defined in that order) and you define "four" to go _before_ "four" but _after_ "three", that just isn't logical and Rails will not be able to determine your initializer order.
 
@@ -620,7 +909,7 @@ Below is a comprehensive list of all the initializers found in Rails in the orde
 
 * `initialize_cache` If `Rails.cache` isn't set yet, initializes the cache by referencing the value in `config.cache_store` and stores the outcome as `Rails.cache`. If this object responds to the `middleware` method, its middleware is inserted before `Rack::Runtime` in the middleware stack.
 
-* `set_clear_dependencies_hook` Provides a hook for `active_record.set_dispatch_hooks` to use, which will run before this initializer. This initializer — which runs only if `cache_classes` is set to `false` — uses `ActionDispatch::Callbacks.after` to remove the constants which have been referenced during the request from the object space so that they will be reloaded during the following request.
+* `set_clear_dependencies_hook` Provides a hook for `active_record.set_dispatch_hooks` to use, which will run before this initializer. This initializer - which runs only if `cache_classes` is set to `false` - uses `ActionDispatch::Callbacks.after` to remove the constants which have been referenced during the request from the object space so that they will be reloaded during the following request.
 
 * `initialize_dependency_mechanism` If `config.cache_classes` is true, configures `ActiveSupport::Dependencies.mechanism` to `require` dependencies rather than `load` them.
 
@@ -628,20 +917,6 @@ Below is a comprehensive list of all the initializers found in Rails in the orde
 
 * `i18n.callbacks` In the development environment, sets up a `to_prepare` callback which will call `I18n.reload!` if any of the locales have changed since the last request. In production mode this callback will only run on the first request.
 
-* `active_support.initialize_whiny_nils` Requires `active_support/whiny_nil` if `config.whiny_nils` is true. This file will output errors such as:
-
-    ```
-    Called id for nil, which would mistakenly be 4 — if you really wanted the id of nil, use object_id
-    ```
-
-    And:
-
-    ```
-    You have a nil object when you didn't expect it!
-    You might have expected an instance of Array.
-    The error occurred while evaluating nil.each
-    ```
-
 * `active_support.deprecation_behavior` Sets up deprecation reporting for environments, defaulting to `:log` for development, `:notify` for production and `:stderr` for test. If a value isn't set for `config.active_support.deprecation` then this initializer will prompt the user to configure this line in the current environment's `config/environments` file. Can be set to an array of values.
 
 * `active_support.initialize_time_zone` Sets the default time zone for the application based on the `config.time_zone` setting, which defaults to "UTC".
@@ -652,9 +927,9 @@ Below is a comprehensive list of all the initializers found in Rails in the orde
 
 * `action_view.set_configs` Sets up Action View by using the settings in `config.action_view` by `send`'ing the method names as setters to `ActionView::Base` and passing the values through.
 
-* `action_controller.logger` Sets `ActionController::Base.logger` — if it's not already set — to `Rails.logger`.
+* `action_controller.logger` Sets `ActionController::Base.logger` - if it's not already set - to `Rails.logger`.
 
-* `action_controller.initialize_framework_caches` Sets `ActionController::Base.cache_store` — if it's not already set — to `Rails.cache`.
+* `action_controller.initialize_framework_caches` Sets `ActionController::Base.cache_store` - if it's not already set - to `Rails.cache`.
 
 * `action_controller.set_configs` Sets up Action Controller by using the settings in `config.action_controller` by `send`'ing the method names as setters to `ActionController::Base` and passing the values through.
 
@@ -662,7 +937,7 @@ Below is a comprehensive list of all the initializers found in Rails in the orde
 
 * `active_record.initialize_timezone` Sets `ActiveRecord::Base.time_zone_aware_attributes` to true, as well as setting `ActiveRecord::Base.default_timezone` to UTC. When attributes are read from the database, they will be converted into the time zone specified by `Time.zone`.
 
-* `active_record.logger` Sets `ActiveRecord::Base.logger` — if it's not already set — to `Rails.logger`.
+* `active_record.logger` Sets `ActiveRecord::Base.logger` - if it's not already set - to `Rails.logger`.
 
 * `active_record.set_configs` Sets up Active Record by using the settings in `config.active_record` by `send`'ing the method names as setters to `ActiveRecord::Base` and passing the values through.
 
@@ -672,7 +947,7 @@ Below is a comprehensive list of all the initializers found in Rails in the orde
 
 * `active_record.set_dispatch_hooks` Resets all reloadable connections to the database if `config.cache_classes` is set to `false`.
 
-* `action_mailer.logger` Sets `ActionMailer::Base.logger` — if it's not already set — to `Rails.logger`.
+* `action_mailer.logger` Sets `ActionMailer::Base.logger` - if it's not already set - to `Rails.logger`.
 
 * `action_mailer.set_configs` Sets up Action Mailer by using the settings in `config.action_mailer` by `send`'ing the method names as setters to `ActionMailer::Base` and passing the values through.
 
@@ -702,7 +977,7 @@ Below is a comprehensive list of all the initializers found in Rails in the orde
 
 * `ensure_autoload_once_paths_as_subset` Ensures that the `config.autoload_once_paths` only contains paths from `config.autoload_paths`. If it contains extra paths, then an exception will be raised.
 
-* `add_to_prepare_blocks` The block for every `config.to_prepare` call in the application, a railtie or engine is added to the `to_prepare` callbacks for Action Dispatch which will be ran per request in development, or before the first request in production.
+* `add_to_prepare_blocks` The block for every `config.to_prepare` call in the application, a railtie or engine is added to the `to_prepare` callbacks for Action Dispatch which will be run per request in development, or before the first request in production.
 
 * `add_builtin_route` If the application is running under the development environment then this will append the route for `rails/info/properties` to the application routes. This route provides the detailed information such as Rails and Ruby version for `public/index.html` in a default Rails application.
 
@@ -733,4 +1008,63 @@ Since the connection pooling is handled inside of Active Record by default, all
 
 Any one request will check out a connection the first time it requires access to the database, after which it will check the connection back in, at the end of the request, meaning that the additional connection slot will be available again for the next request in the queue.
 
-NOTE. If you have enabled `Rails.threadsafe!` mode then there could be a chance that several threads may be accessing multiple connections simultaneously. So depending on your current request load, you could very well have multiple threads contending for a limited amount of connections.
+If you try to use more connections than are available, Active Record will block
+and wait for a connection from the pool. When it cannot get connection, a timeout
+error similar to given below will be thrown.
+
+```ruby
+ActiveRecord::ConnectionTimeoutError - could not obtain a database connection within 5 seconds. The max pool size is currently 5; consider increasing it:
+```
+
+If you get the above error, you might want to increase the size of connection
+pool by incrementing the `pool` option in `database.yml`
+
+NOTE. If you are running in a multi-threaded environment, there could be a chance that several threads may be accessing multiple connections simultaneously. So depending on your current request load, you could very well have multiple threads contending for a limited amount of connections.
+
+
+Custom configuration
+--------------------
+
+You can configure your own code through the Rails configuration object with custom configuration under the `config.x` property. It works like this:
+
+  ```ruby
+  config.x.payment_processing.schedule = :daily
+  config.x.payment_processing.retries  = 3
+  config.x.super_debugger = true
+  ```
+
+These configuration points are then available through the configuration object:
+
+  ```ruby
+  Rails.configuration.x.payment_processing.schedule # => :daily
+  Rails.configuration.x.payment_processing.retries  # => 3
+  Rails.configuration.x.super_debugger              # => true
+  Rails.configuration.x.super_debugger.not_set      # => nil
+  ```
+
+You can also use Rails::Application.config_for to load whole configuration files:
+
+  ```ruby
+  # config/payment.yml:
+  production:
+    environment: production
+    merchant_id: production_merchant_id
+    public_key:  production_public_key
+    private_key: production_private_key
+  development:
+    environment: sandbox
+    merchant_id: development_merchant_id
+    public_key:  development_public_key
+    private_key: development_private_key
+
+  # config/application.rb
+  module MyApp
+    class Application < Rails::Application
+      config.x.payment = config_for(:payment)
+    end
+  end
+  ```
+
+  ```ruby
+  Rails.configuration.x.payment['merchant_id'] # => production_merchant_id or development_merchant_id
+  ```