Customizing the Server

Although Gemstash is designed for as minimal setup as possible, there may be times you will want to change some of the default configuration. By the end of this guide, you will be able to customize some of the Gemstash behavior, including where files are stored, what database Gemstash uses, and how Gemstash caches certain requests.

Setup

Several customizable options are available via an interactive Gemstash command. Run gemstash setup and answer the questions it provides (a blank answer will use the default value):

$ gemstash setup
Where should files go? [~/.gemstash]
Cache with what? [MEMORY, memcached] <strong>memcached</strong>
What is the comma separated Memcached servers? [localhost:11211]
What database adapter? [SQLITE3, postgres] <strong>postgres</strong>
Where is the database? [postgres:///gemstash]
Checking that the cache is available
Checking that the database is available
The database is not available

Once you've answered the questsions, some checks will be made to ensure the configuration will work. For example, the database didn't exist in the previous example, so the command failed and the configuration wasn't saved. If the command passes, you may provide the --redo option to force configuration to be redone:

$ gemstash setup --redo
Where should files go? [~/.gemstash]
Cache with what? [MEMORY, memcached] <strong>memcached</strong>
What is the comma separated Memcached servers? [localhost:11211]
What database adapter? [SQLITE3, postgres]
Checking that the cache is available
Checking that the database is available
You are all setup!

Once all checks have passed, Gemstash will store your answers in the configuration file located at ~/.gemstash/config.yml.

Files

Storage in Gemstash defaults to ~/.gemstash unless otherwise specified. You can change this in your config file via the :base_path key:

# ~/.gemstash/config.yml
---
:base_path: "/var/gemstash"

When customizing the base_path, the directory must exist, otherwise Gemstash will fail to run. Thus, if you want to use /var/gemstash like in the previous example, make sure to mkdir /var/gemstash and grant access to the directory for the user you run Gemstash with.

Database

The :db_adapter configuration key specifies what database you will be using. The default :db_adapter is sqlite3, which will use a database file located within your :base_path. The database file will always be named gemstash.db.

You may also use postgres for your :db_adapter. When using PostgreSQL, you need to specify the :db_url to point to an existing database. Here is an example configuration to use the postgres adapter:

# ~/.gemstash/config.yml
---
:db_adapter: postgres
:db_url: postgres:///gemstash

Regardless of the adapter you choose, the database will automatically migrate to your version of Gemstash whenever the database is needed. Except for sqlite3, you only need to ensure the database exists and Gemstash will do the rest.

Cache

Certain things (like dependencies) are cached in memory. This avoids web calls to the gem source, and database calls for private gems. The memory cache can optionally be swapped out with a Memcached server (or cluster of servers). To use Memcached, you must update the :cache_type configuration key to be memcached, and provide the servers via the :memcached_servers configuration key:

# ~/.gemstash/config.yml
---
:cache_type: memcached
:memcached_servers: memcached1.local:11211,memcached2.local:11211

Note that the :memcached_servers requires a comma separated list of servers. All caching lasts for 30 minutes.

Server

Gemstash uses Puma and Rack as the server. Alternate server configurations are not currently supported, but you can take a look at the Puma configuration and the rackup file for inspiration.

While the server is not customizable, the way Gemstash binds the port can be changed. To change the binding, update the :bind configuration key:

# ~/.gemstash/config.yml
---
:bind: tcp://0.0.0.0:4242

This maps directly to the Puma bind flag, and will support anything valid for that flag.

Config File Location

By default, configuration for Gemstash will be at ~/.gemstash/config.yml. This can be changed by providing the --config-file option to the various Gemstash commands:

$ gemstash setup --config-file ./gemstash-config.yml
$ gemstash authorize --config-file ./gemstash-config.yml
$ gemstash start --config-file ./gemstash-config.yml
$ gemstash stop --config-file ./gemstash-config.yml
$ gemstash status --config-file ./gemstash-config.yml

When providing --config-file to gemstash setup, the provided file will be output to with the provided configuration. This will overwrite any existing configuration. If the file doesn't exist when providing --config-file to gemstash start, gemstash stop, gemstash status, and gemstash authorize, the default configuration will be used.