12 files changed, 55 insertions, 28 deletions
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/routing/inspector.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/routing/inspector.rb
index c18dc94d4f..d7412daec2 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/routing/inspector.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/routing/inspector.rb
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ module ActionDispatch
       end
 
       def internal?
-        path =~ %r{/rails/info.*|^#{Rails.application.config.assets.prefix}}
+        controller =~ %r{^rails/info|^rails/welcome} || path =~ %r{^#{Rails.application.config.assets.prefix}}
       end
 
       def engine?
diff --git a/guides/source/getting_started.md b/guides/source/getting_started.md
index 54200768e6..02ec024e5b 100644
--- a/guides/source/getting_started.md
+++ b/guides/source/getting_started.md
@@ -215,11 +215,7 @@ Open the `app/views/welcome/index.html.erb` file in your text editor and edit it
 
 ### Setting the Application Home Page
 
-Now that we have made the controller and view, we need to tell Rails when we want Hello Rails! to show up. In our case, we want it to show up when we navigate to the root URL of our site, <http://localhost:3000>. At the moment, however, the "Welcome Aboard" smoke test is occupying that spot.
-
-To fix this, delete the `index.html` file located inside the `public` directory of the application.
-
-You need to do this because Rails will serve any static file in the `public` directory that matches a route in preference to any dynamic content you generate from the controllers. The `index.html` file is special: it will be served if a request comes in at the root route, e.g. <http://localhost:3000>. If another request such as <http://localhost:3000/welcome> happened, a static file at `public/welcome.html` would be served first, but only if it existed.
+Now that we have made the controller and view, we need to tell Rails when we want Hello Rails! to show up. In our case, we want it to show up when we navigate to the root URL of our site, <http://localhost:3000>. At the moment, "Welcome Aboard" is occupying that spot.
 
 Next, you have to tell Rails where your actual home page is located.
 
@@ -233,7 +229,6 @@ Blog::Application.routes.draw do
   # first created -> highest priority.
   # ...
   # You can have the root of your site routed with "root"
-  # just remember to delete public/index.html.
   # root to: "welcome#index"
 ```
 
@@ -558,7 +553,7 @@ parameter, which in our case will be the id of the post. Note that this
 time we had to specify the actual mapping, `posts#show` because
 otherwise Rails would not know which action to render.
 
-As we did before, we need to add the `show` action in 
+As we did before, we need to add the `show` action in
 `app/controllers/posts_controller.rb` and its respective view.
 
 ```ruby
diff --git a/railties/CHANGELOG.md b/railties/CHANGELOG.md
index 01dd86c23e..543e080ae6 100644
--- a/railties/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/railties/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 ## Rails 4.0.0 (unreleased) ##
 
+*   The public/index.html is no longer generated for new projects. Page is replaced by internal welcome_controller inside of railties
+
+    *Richard Schneeman*
+
 *   Add ENV['RACK_ENV'] support to `rails runner/console/server`.
 
     *kennyj*
- 
+
 *   Add `db` to list of folders included by `rake notes` and `rake notes:custom`. *Antonio Cangiano*
 
 *   Engines with a dummy app include the rake tasks of dependencies in the app namespace.
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails.rb b/railties/lib/rails.rb
index b6a9eccdb6..2797205334 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails.rb
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ end
 
 module Rails
   autoload :Info, 'rails/info'
-  autoload :InfoController, 'rails/info_controller'
+  autoload :InfoController,    'rails/info_controller'
+  autoload :WelcomeController, 'rails/welcome_controller'
 
   class << self
     attr_accessor :application, :cache, :logger
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/application/finisher.rb b/railties/lib/rails/application/finisher.rb
index 2d87b8594a..09902ad597 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/application/finisher.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/application/finisher.rb
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ module Rails
             get '/rails/info/properties' => "rails/info#properties"
             get '/rails/info/routes'     => "rails/info#routes"
             get '/rails/info'            => "rails/info#index"
+            get '/'                      => "rails/welcome#index"
           end
         end
       end
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/app_base.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators/app_base.rb
index de3127f43e..77db881b65 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/app_base.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/app_base.rb
@@ -52,9 +52,6 @@ module Rails
         class_option :skip_javascript,    type: :boolean, aliases: '-J', default: false,
                                           desc: 'Skip JavaScript files'
 
-        class_option :skip_index_html,    type: :boolean, aliases: '-I', default: false,
-                                          desc: 'Skip public/index.html and app/assets/images/rails.png files'
-
         class_option :dev,                type: :boolean, default: false,
                                           desc: "Setup the #{name} with Gemfile pointing to your Rails checkout"
 
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
index 18637451ac..c98f021cfe 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
@@ -97,11 +97,6 @@ module Rails
 
     def public_directory
       directory "public", "public", recursive: false
-      if options[:skip_index_html]
-        remove_file "public/index.html"
-        remove_file 'app/assets/images/rails.png'
-        keep_file 'app/assets/images'
-      end
     end
 
     def script
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/config/routes.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/config/routes.rb
index 631543c705..22a6aeb5fe 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/config/routes.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/config/routes.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   # The priority is based upon order of creation: first created -> highest priority.
   # See how all your routes lay out with "rake routes".
 
-  # You can have the root of your site routed with "root" just remember to delete public/index.html.
+  # You can have the root of your site routed with "root"
   # root to: 'welcome#index'
 
   # Example of regular route:
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/public/index.html b/railties/lib/rails/templates/rails/welcome/index.html.erb
index dd09a96de9..6a1754d81e 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/public/index.html
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/templates/rails/welcome/index.html.erb
@@ -223,7 +223,6 @@
             </li>
 
             <li>
-              <h2>Set up a default route and remove <span class="filename">public/index.html</span></h2>
               <p>Routes are set up in <span class="filename">config/routes.rb</span>.</p>
             </li>
 
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/welcome_controller.rb b/railties/lib/rails/welcome_controller.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..45b764fa6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/welcome_controller.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+class Rails::WelcomeController < ActionController::Base # :nodoc:
+  self.view_paths = File.expand_path('../templates', __FILE__)
+  layout nil
+
+  def index
+  end
+end
diff --git a/railties/test/application/routing_test.rb b/railties/test/application/routing_test.rb
index ffcdeac7f0..3691ad2723 100644
--- a/railties/test/application/routing_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/application/routing_test.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ module ApplicationTests
       teardown_app
     end
 
+    test "rails/welcome in development" do
+      app("development")
+      get "/"
+      assert_equal 200, last_response.status
+    end
+
     test "rails/info/routes in development" do
       app("development")
       get "/rails/info/routes"
@@ -27,6 +33,36 @@ module ApplicationTests
       assert_equal 200, last_response.status
     end
 
+    test "root takes precedence over internal welcome controller" do
+      app("development")
+
+      get '/'
+      assert_match %r{<h1>Getting started</h1>} , last_response.body
+
+      controller :foo, <<-RUBY
+        class FooController < ApplicationController
+          def index
+            render text: "foo"
+          end
+        end
+      RUBY
+
+      app_file 'config/routes.rb', <<-RUBY
+        AppTemplate::Application.routes.draw do
+          root to: "foo#index"
+        end
+      RUBY
+
+      get '/'
+      assert_equal 'foo', last_response.body
+    end
+
+    test "rails/welcome in production" do
+      app("production")
+      get "/"
+      assert_equal 404, last_response.status
+    end
+
     test "rails/info/routes in production" do
       app("production")
       get "/rails/info/routes"
diff --git a/railties/test/generators/app_generator_test.rb b/railties/test/generators/app_generator_test.rb
index 5ea31f2e0f..b7e366d266 100644
--- a/railties/test/generators/app_generator_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/generators/app_generator_test.rb
@@ -55,7 +55,6 @@ class AppGeneratorTest < Rails::Generators::TestCase
     assert_file "app/views/layouts/application.html.erb", /javascript_include_tag\s+"application"/
     assert_file "app/assets/stylesheets/application.css"
     assert_file "config/application.rb", /config\.assets\.enabled = true/
-    assert_file "public/index.html", /url\("assets\/rails.png"\);/
   end
 
   def test_invalid_application_name_raises_an_error
@@ -251,13 +250,6 @@ class AppGeneratorTest < Rails::Generators::TestCase
     end
   end
 
-  def test_generator_if_skip_index_html_is_given
-    run_generator [destination_root, '--skip-index-html']
-    assert_no_file 'public/index.html'
-    assert_no_file 'app/assets/images/rails.png'
-    assert_file 'app/assets/images/.keep'
-  end
-
   def test_creation_of_a_test_directory
     run_generator
     assert_file 'test'