1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064
1065
1066
1067
1068
1069
1070
1071
1072
1073
1074
1075
1076
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
1086
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140
1141
1142
1143
1144
1145
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
1154
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159
1160
1161
1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
1190
1191
1192
1193
1194
1195
1196
1197
1198
1199
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
1206
1207
1208
1209
1210
1211
1212
1213
1214
1215
1216
1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243
1244
1245
1246
1247
1248
1249
1250
1251
1252
1253
1254
1255
1256
1257
1258
1259
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
1283
1284
1285
1286
1287
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292
1293
1294
1295
1296
1297
1298
1299
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307
1308
1309
1310
1311
1312
1313
1314
1315
1316
1317
1318
1319
1320
1321
1322
1323
1324
1325
1326
1327
1328
1329
1330
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
1338
1339
1340
1341
1342
1343
1344
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
1359
1360
1361
1362
1363
1364
1365
1366
1367
1368
1369
1370
1371
1372
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377
1378
1379
1380
1381
1382
1383
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
1395
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413
1414
1415
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420
1421
1422
1423
1424
1425
1426
1427
1428
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
1434
1435
1436
1437
1438
1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453
1454
1455
1456
1457
1458
1459
1460
1461
1462
1463
1464
1465
1466
1467
1468
1469
1470
1471
1472
1473
1474
1475
1476
1477
1478
1479
1480
1481
1482
1483
1484
1485
1486
1487
1488
1489
1490
1491
1492
1493
1494
1495
1496
1497
1498
1499
1500
1501
1502
1503
1504
1505
1506
1507
1508
1509
1510
1511
1512
1513
1514
1515
1516
1517
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522
1523
1524
1525
1526
1527
1528
1529
1530
1531
1532
1533
1534
1535
1536
1537
1538
1539
1540
1541
1542
1543
1544
1545
1546
1547
1548
1549
1550
1551
1552
1553
1554
1555
1556
1557
1558
1559
1560
1561
1562
1563
1564
1565
1566
1567
1568
1569
1570
1571
1572
1573
1574
1575
1576
1577
1578
1579
1580
1581
1582
1583
1584
1585
1586
1587
1588
1589
1590
1591
1592
1593
1594
1595
1596
1597
1598
1599
1600
1601
1602
1603
1604
1605
1606
1607
1608
1609
1610
1611
1612
1613
1614
1615
1616
1617
1618
1619
1620
1621
1622
1623
1624
1625
1626
1627
1628
1629
1630
1631
1632
1633
1634
1635
1636
1637
1638
1639
1640
1641
1642
1643
1644
1645
1646
1647
1648
1649
1650
1651
1652
1653
1654
|
**DO NOT READ THIS FILE ON GITHUB, GUIDES ARE PUBLISHED ON https://guides.rubyonrails.org.**
Upgrading Ruby on Rails
=======================
This guide provides steps to be followed when you upgrade your applications to a newer version of Ruby on Rails. These steps are also available in individual release guides.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Advice
--------------
Before attempting to upgrade an existing application, you should be sure you have a good reason to upgrade. You need to balance several factors: the need for new features, the increasing difficulty of finding support for old code, and your available time and skills, to name a few.
### Test Coverage
The best way to be sure that your application still works after upgrading is to have good test coverage before you start the process. If you don't have automated tests that exercise the bulk of your application, you'll need to spend time manually exercising all the parts that have changed. In the case of a Rails upgrade, that will mean every single piece of functionality in the application. Do yourself a favor and make sure your test coverage is good _before_ you start an upgrade.
### The Upgrade Process
When changing Rails versions, it's best to move slowly, one minor version at a time, in order to make good use of the deprecation warnings. Rails version numbers are in the form Major.Minor.Patch. Major and Minor versions are allowed to make changes to the public API, so this may cause errors in your application. Patch versions only include bug fixes, and don't change any public API.
The process should go as follows:
1. Write tests and make sure they pass.
2. Move to the latest patch version after your current version.
3. Fix tests and deprecated features.
4. Move to the latest patch version of the next minor version.
Repeat this process until you reach your target Rails version. Each time you move versions, you will need to change the Rails version number in the `Gemfile` (and possibly other gem versions) and run `bundle update`. Then run the Update task mentioned below to update configuration files, then run your tests.
You can find a list of all released Rails versions [here](https://rubygems.org/gems/rails/versions).
### Ruby Versions
Rails generally stays close to the latest released Ruby version when it's released:
* Rails 6 requires Ruby 2.5.0 or newer.
* Rails 5 requires Ruby 2.2.2 or newer.
* Rails 4 prefers Ruby 2.0 and requires 1.9.3 or newer.
* Rails 3.2.x is the last branch to support Ruby 1.8.7.
* Rails 3 and above require Ruby 1.8.7 or higher. Support for all of the previous Ruby versions has been dropped officially. You should upgrade as early as possible.
TIP: Ruby 1.8.7 p248 and p249 have marshalling bugs that crash Rails. Ruby Enterprise Edition has these fixed since the release of 1.8.7-2010.02. On the 1.9 front, Ruby 1.9.1 is not usable because it outright segfaults, so if you want to use 1.9.x, jump straight to 1.9.3 for smooth sailing.
### The Update Task
Rails provides the `app:update` command (`rake rails:update` on 4.2 and earlier). After updating the Rails version
in the `Gemfile`, run this command.
This will help you with the creation of new files and changes of old files in an
interactive session.
```bash
$ rails app:update
identical config/boot.rb
exist config
conflict config/routes.rb
Overwrite /myapp/config/routes.rb? (enter "h" for help) [Ynaqdh]
force config/routes.rb
conflict config/application.rb
Overwrite /myapp/config/application.rb? (enter "h" for help) [Ynaqdh]
force config/application.rb
conflict config/environment.rb
...
```
Don't forget to review the difference, to see if there were any unexpected changes.
### Configure Framework Defaults
The new Rails version might have different configuration defaults than the previous version. However, after following the steps described above, your application would still run with configuration defaults from the *previous* Rails version. That's because the value for `config.load_defaults` in `config/application.rb` has not been changed yet.
To allow you to upgrade to new defaults one by one, the update task has created a file `config/initializers/new_framework_defaults.rb`. Once your application is ready to run with new defaults, you can remove this file and flip the `config.load_defaults` value.
Upgrading from Rails 5.2 to Rails 6.0
-------------------------------------
For more information on changes made to Rails 6.0 please see the [release notes](6_0_release_notes.html).
### Force SSL
The `force_ssl` method on controllers has been deprecated and will be removed in
Rails 6.1. You are encouraged to enable `config.force_ssl` to enforce HTTPS
connections throughout your application. If you need to exempt certain endpoints
from redirection, you can use `config.ssl_options` to configure that behavior.
### Purpose in signed or encrypted cookie is now embedded in the cookies values
To improve security, Rails now embeds the purpose information in encrypted or signed cookies value.
Rails can now thwart attacks that attempt to copy signed/encrypted value
of a cookie and use it as the value of another cookie.
This new embed information make those cookies incompatible with versions of Rails older than 6.0.
If you require your cookies to be read by 5.2 and older, or you are still validating your 6.0 deploy and want
to allow you to rollback set
`Rails.application.config.action_dispatch.use_cookies_with_metadata` to `false`.
### ActionCable javascript API Changes
The ActionCable javascript package has been converted from CoffeeScript
to ES2015, and we now publish the source code in the npm distribution.
This change includes some breaking changes to optional parts of the
ActionCable javascript API:
- Configuration of the WebSocket adapter and logger adapter have been moved
from properties of `ActionCable` to properties of `ActionCable.adapters`.
If you are currently configuring these adapters you will need to make
these changes when upgrading:
```diff
- ActionCable.WebSocket = MyWebSocket
+ ActionCable.adapters.WebSocket = MyWebSocket
```
```diff
- ActionCable.logger = myLogger
+ ActionCable.adapters.logger = myLogger
```
- The `ActionCable.startDebugging()` and `ActionCable.stopDebugging()`
methods have been removed and replaced with the property
`ActionCable.logger.enabled`. If you are currently using these methods you
will need to make these changes when upgrading:
```diff
- ActionCable.startDebugging()
+ ActionCable.logger.enabled = true
```
```diff
- ActionCable.stopDebugging()
+ ActionCable.logger.enabled = false
```
Upgrading from Rails 5.1 to Rails 5.2
-------------------------------------
For more information on changes made to Rails 5.2 please see the [release notes](5_2_release_notes.html).
### Bootsnap
Rails 5.2 adds bootsnap gem in the [newly generated app's Gemfile](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/29313).
The `app:update` command sets it up in `boot.rb`. If you want to use it, then add it in the Gemfile,
otherwise change the `boot.rb` to not use bootsnap.
### Expiry in signed or encrypted cookie is now embedded in the cookies values
To improve security, Rails now embeds the expiry information also in encrypted or signed cookies value.
This new embed information make those cookies incompatible with versions of Rails older than 5.2.
If you require your cookies to be read by 5.1 and older, or you are still validating your 5.2 deploy and want
to allow you to rollback set
`Rails.application.config.action_dispatch.use_authenticated_cookie_encryption` to `false`.
Upgrading from Rails 5.0 to Rails 5.1
-------------------------------------
For more information on changes made to Rails 5.1 please see the [release notes](5_1_release_notes.html).
### Top-level `HashWithIndifferentAccess` is soft-deprecated
If your application uses the top-level `HashWithIndifferentAccess` class, you
should slowly move your code to instead use `ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess`.
It is only soft-deprecated, which means that your code will not break at the
moment and no deprecation warning will be displayed, but this constant will be
removed in the future.
Also, if you have pretty old YAML documents containing dumps of such objects,
you may need to load and dump them again to make sure that they reference
the right constant, and that loading them won't break in the future.
### `application.secrets` now loaded with all keys as symbols
If your application stores nested configuration in `config/secrets.yml`, all keys
are now loaded as symbols, so access using strings should be changed.
From:
```ruby
Rails.application.secrets[:smtp_settings]["address"]
```
To:
```ruby
Rails.application.secrets[:smtp_settings][:address]
```
Upgrading from Rails 4.2 to Rails 5.0
-------------------------------------
For more information on changes made to Rails 5.0 please see the [release notes](5_0_release_notes.html).
### Ruby 2.2.2+ required
From Ruby on Rails 5.0 onwards, Ruby 2.2.2+ is the only supported Ruby version.
Make sure you are on Ruby 2.2.2 version or greater, before you proceed.
### Active Record Models Now Inherit from ApplicationRecord by Default
In Rails 4.2, an Active Record model inherits from `ActiveRecord::Base`. In Rails 5.0,
all models inherit from `ApplicationRecord`.
`ApplicationRecord` is a new superclass for all app models, analogous to app
controllers subclassing `ApplicationController` instead of
`ActionController::Base`. This gives apps a single spot to configure app-wide
model behavior.
When upgrading from Rails 4.2 to Rails 5.0, you need to create an
`application_record.rb` file in `app/models/` and add the following content:
```
class ApplicationRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
self.abstract_class = true
end
```
Then make sure that all your models inherit from it.
### Halting Callback Chains via `throw(:abort)`
In Rails 4.2, when a 'before' callback returns `false` in Active Record
and Active Model, then the entire callback chain is halted. In other words,
successive 'before' callbacks are not executed, and neither is the action wrapped
in callbacks.
In Rails 5.0, returning `false` in an Active Record or Active Model callback
will not have this side effect of halting the callback chain. Instead, callback
chains must be explicitly halted by calling `throw(:abort)`.
When you upgrade from Rails 4.2 to Rails 5.0, returning `false` in those kind of
callbacks will still halt the callback chain, but you will receive a deprecation
warning about this upcoming change.
When you are ready, you can opt into the new behavior and remove the deprecation
warning by adding the following configuration to your `config/application.rb`:
ActiveSupport.halt_callback_chains_on_return_false = false
Note that this option will not affect Active Support callbacks since they never
halted the chain when any value was returned.
See [#17227](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/17227) for more details.
### ActiveJob Now Inherits from ApplicationJob by Default
In Rails 4.2, an Active Job inherits from `ActiveJob::Base`. In Rails 5.0, this
behavior has changed to now inherit from `ApplicationJob`.
When upgrading from Rails 4.2 to Rails 5.0, you need to create an
`application_job.rb` file in `app/jobs/` and add the following content:
```
class ApplicationJob < ActiveJob::Base
end
```
Then make sure that all your job classes inherit from it.
See [#19034](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/19034) for more details.
### Rails Controller Testing
#### Extraction of some helper methods to `rails-controller-testing`
`assigns` and `assert_template` have been extracted to the `rails-controller-testing` gem. To
continue using these methods in your controller tests, add `gem 'rails-controller-testing'` to
your `Gemfile`.
If you are using Rspec for testing, please see the extra configuration required in the gem's
documentation.
#### New behavior when uploading files
If you are using `ActionDispatch::Http::UploadedFile` in your tests to
upload files, you will need to change to use the similar `Rack::Test::UploadedFile`
class instead.
See [#26404](https://github.com/rails/rails/issues/26404) for more details.
### Autoloading is Disabled After Booting in the Production Environment
Autoloading is now disabled after booting in the production environment by
default.
Eager loading the application is part of the boot process, so top-level
constants are fine and are still autoloaded, no need to require their files.
Constants in deeper places only executed at runtime, like regular method bodies,
are also fine because the file defining them will have been eager loaded while booting.
For the vast majority of applications this change needs no action. But in the
very rare event that your application needs autoloading while running in
production mode, set `Rails.application.config.enable_dependency_loading` to
true.
### XML Serialization
`ActiveModel::Serializers::Xml` has been extracted from Rails to the `activemodel-serializers-xml`
gem. To continue using XML serialization in your application, add `gem 'activemodel-serializers-xml'`
to your `Gemfile`.
### Removed Support for Legacy `mysql` Database Adapter
Rails 5 removes support for the legacy `mysql` database adapter. Most users should be able to
use `mysql2` instead. It will be converted to a separate gem when we find someone to maintain
it.
### Removed Support for Debugger
`debugger` is not supported by Ruby 2.2 which is required by Rails 5. Use `byebug` instead.
### Use `rails` for running tasks and tests
Rails 5 adds the ability to run tasks and tests through `bin/rails` instead of rake. Generally
these changes are in parallel with rake, but some were ported over altogether. As the `rails`
command already looks for and runs `bin/rails`, we recommend you to use the shorter `rails`
over `bin/rails.
To use the new test runner simply type `rails test`.
`rake dev:cache` is now `rails dev:cache`.
Run `rails` inside your application's directory to see the list of commands available.
### `ActionController::Parameters` No Longer Inherits from `HashWithIndifferentAccess`
Calling `params` in your application will now return an object instead of a hash. If your
parameters are already permitted, then you will not need to make any changes. If you are using `map`
and other methods that depend on being able to read the hash regardless of `permitted?` you will
need to upgrade your application to first permit and then convert to a hash.
params.permit([:proceed_to, :return_to]).to_h
### `protect_from_forgery` Now Defaults to `prepend: false`
`protect_from_forgery` defaults to `prepend: false` which means that it will be inserted into
the callback chain at the point in which you call it in your application. If you want
`protect_from_forgery` to always run first, then you should change your application to use
`protect_from_forgery prepend: true`.
### Default Template Handler is Now RAW
Files without a template handler in their extension will be rendered using the raw handler.
Previously Rails would render files using the ERB template handler.
If you do not want your file to be handled via the raw handler, you should add an extension
to your file that can be parsed by the appropriate template handler.
### Added Wildcard Matching for Template Dependencies
You can now use wildcard matching for your template dependencies. For example, if you were
defining your templates as such:
```erb
<% # Template Dependency: recordings/threads/events/subscribers_changed %>
<% # Template Dependency: recordings/threads/events/completed %>
<% # Template Dependency: recordings/threads/events/uncompleted %>
```
You can now just call the dependency once with a wildcard.
```erb
<% # Template Dependency: recordings/threads/events/* %>
```
### `ActionView::Helpers::RecordTagHelper` moved to external gem (record_tag_helper)
`content_tag_for` and `div_for` have been removed in favor of just using `content_tag`. To continue using the older methods, add the `record_tag_helper` gem to your `Gemfile`:
```ruby
gem 'record_tag_helper', '~> 1.0'
```
See [#18411](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/18411) for more details.
### Removed Support for `protected_attributes` Gem
The `protected_attributes` gem is no longer supported in Rails 5.
### Removed support for `activerecord-deprecated_finders` gem
The `activerecord-deprecated_finders` gem is no longer supported in Rails 5.
### `ActiveSupport::TestCase` Default Test Order is Now Random
When tests are run in your application, the default order is now `:random`
instead of `:sorted`. Use the following config option to set it back to `:sorted`.
```ruby
# config/environments/test.rb
Rails.application.configure do
config.active_support.test_order = :sorted
end
```
### `ActionController::Live` became a `Concern`
If you include `ActionController::Live` in another module that is included in your controller, then you
should also extend the module with `ActiveSupport::Concern`. Alternatively, you can use the `self.included` hook
to include `ActionController::Live` directly to the controller once the `StreamingSupport` is included.
This means that if your application used to have its own streaming module, the following code
would break in production mode:
```ruby
# This is a work-around for streamed controllers performing authentication with Warden/Devise.
# See https://github.com/plataformatec/devise/issues/2332
# Authenticating in the router is another solution as suggested in that issue
class StreamingSupport
include ActionController::Live # this won't work in production for Rails 5
# extend ActiveSupport::Concern # unless you uncomment this line.
def process(name)
super(name)
rescue ArgumentError => e
if e.message == 'uncaught throw :warden'
throw :warden
else
raise e
end
end
end
```
### New Framework Defaults
#### Active Record `belongs_to` Required by Default Option
`belongs_to` will now trigger a validation error by default if the association is not present.
This can be turned off per-association with `optional: true`.
This default will be automatically configured in new applications. If existing application
want to add this feature it will need to be turned on in an initializer.
config.active_record.belongs_to_required_by_default = true
#### Per-form CSRF Tokens
Rails 5 now supports per-form CSRF tokens to mitigate against code-injection attacks with forms
created by JavaScript. With this option turned on, forms in your application will each have their
own CSRF token that is specific to the action and method for that form.
config.action_controller.per_form_csrf_tokens = true
#### Forgery Protection with Origin Check
You can now configure your application to check if the HTTP `Origin` header should be checked
against the site's origin as an additional CSRF defense. Set the following in your config to
true:
config.action_controller.forgery_protection_origin_check = true
#### Allow Configuration of Action Mailer Queue Name
The default mailer queue name is `mailers`. This configuration option allows you to globally change
the queue name. Set the following in your config:
config.action_mailer.deliver_later_queue_name = :new_queue_name
#### Support Fragment Caching in Action Mailer Views
Set `config.action_mailer.perform_caching` in your config to determine whether your Action Mailer views
should support caching.
config.action_mailer.perform_caching = true
#### Configure the Output of `db:structure:dump`
If you're using `schema_search_path` or other PostgreSQL extensions, you can control how the schema is
dumped. Set to `:all` to generate all dumps, or to `:schema_search_path` to generate from schema search path.
config.active_record.dump_schemas = :all
#### Configure SSL Options to Enable HSTS with Subdomains
Set the following in your config to enable HSTS when using subdomains:
config.ssl_options = { hsts: { subdomains: true } }
#### Preserve Timezone of the Receiver
When using Ruby 2.4, you can preserve the timezone of the receiver when calling `to_time`.
ActiveSupport.to_time_preserves_timezone = false
### Changes with JSON/JSONB serialization
In Rails 5.0, how JSON/JSONB attributes are serialized and deserialized changed. Now, if
you set a column equal to a `String`, Active Record will no longer turn that string
into a `Hash`, and will instead only return the string. This is not limited to code
interacting with models, but also affects `:default` column settings in `db/schema.rb`.
It is recommended that you do not set columns equal to a `String`, but pass a `Hash`
instead, which will be converted to and from a JSON string automatically.
Upgrading from Rails 4.1 to Rails 4.2
-------------------------------------
### Web Console
First, add `gem 'web-console', '~> 2.0'` to the `:development` group in your `Gemfile` and run `bundle install` (it won't have been included when you upgraded Rails). Once it's been installed, you can simply drop a reference to the console helper (i.e., `<%= console %>`) into any view you want to enable it for. A console will also be provided on any error page you view in your development environment.
### Responders
`respond_with` and the class-level `respond_to` methods have been extracted to the `responders` gem. To use them, simply add `gem 'responders', '~> 2.0'` to your `Gemfile`. Calls to `respond_with` and `respond_to` (again, at the class level) will no longer work without having included the `responders` gem in your dependencies:
```ruby
# app/controllers/users_controller.rb
class UsersController < ApplicationController
respond_to :html, :json
def show
@user = User.find(params[:id])
respond_with @user
end
end
```
Instance-level `respond_to` is unaffected and does not require the additional gem:
```ruby
# app/controllers/users_controller.rb
class UsersController < ApplicationController
def show
@user = User.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.html
format.json { render json: @user }
end
end
end
```
See [#16526](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/16526) for more details.
### Error handling in transaction callbacks
Currently, Active Record suppresses errors raised
within `after_rollback` or `after_commit` callbacks and only prints them to
the logs. In the next version, these errors will no longer be suppressed.
Instead, the errors will propagate normally just like in other Active
Record callbacks.
When you define an `after_rollback` or `after_commit` callback, you
will receive a deprecation warning about this upcoming change. When
you are ready, you can opt into the new behavior and remove the
deprecation warning by adding following configuration to your
`config/application.rb`:
config.active_record.raise_in_transactional_callbacks = true
See [#14488](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/14488) and
[#16537](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/16537) for more details.
### Ordering of test cases
In Rails 5.0, test cases will be executed in random order by default. In
anticipation of this change, Rails 4.2 introduced a new configuration option
`active_support.test_order` for explicitly specifying the test ordering. This
allows you to either lock down the current behavior by setting the option to
`:sorted`, or opt into the future behavior by setting the option to `:random`.
If you do not specify a value for this option, a deprecation warning will be
emitted. To avoid this, add the following line to your test environment:
```ruby
# config/environments/test.rb
Rails.application.configure do
config.active_support.test_order = :sorted # or `:random` if you prefer
end
```
### Serialized attributes
When using a custom coder (e.g. `serialize :metadata, JSON`),
assigning `nil` to a serialized attribute will save it to the database
as `NULL` instead of passing the `nil` value through the coder (e.g. `"null"`
when using the `JSON` coder).
### Production log level
In Rails 5, the default log level for the production environment will be changed
to `:debug` (from `:info`). To preserve the current default, add the following
line to your `production.rb`:
```ruby
# Set to `:info` to match the current default, or set to `:debug` to opt-into
# the future default.
config.log_level = :info
```
### `after_bundle` in Rails templates
If you have a Rails template that adds all the files in version control, it
fails to add the generated binstubs because it gets executed before Bundler:
```ruby
# template.rb
generate(:scaffold, "person name:string")
route "root to: 'people#index'"
rake("db:migrate")
git :init
git add: "."
git commit: %Q{ -m 'Initial commit' }
```
You can now wrap the `git` calls in an `after_bundle` block. It will be run
after the binstubs have been generated.
```ruby
# template.rb
generate(:scaffold, "person name:string")
route "root to: 'people#index'"
rake("db:migrate")
after_bundle do
git :init
git add: "."
git commit: %Q{ -m 'Initial commit' }
end
```
### Rails HTML Sanitizer
There's a new choice for sanitizing HTML fragments in your applications. The
venerable html-scanner approach is now officially being deprecated in favor of
[`Rails HTML Sanitizer`](https://github.com/rails/rails-html-sanitizer).
This means the methods `sanitize`, `sanitize_css`, `strip_tags` and
`strip_links` are backed by a new implementation.
This new sanitizer uses [Loofah](https://github.com/flavorjones/loofah) internally. Loofah in turn uses Nokogiri, which
wraps XML parsers written in both C and Java, so sanitization should be faster
no matter which Ruby version you run.
The new version updates `sanitize`, so it can take a `Loofah::Scrubber` for
powerful scrubbing.
[See some examples of scrubbers here](https://github.com/flavorjones/loofah#loofahscrubber).
Two new scrubbers have also been added: `PermitScrubber` and `TargetScrubber`.
Read the [gem's readme](https://github.com/rails/rails-html-sanitizer) for more information.
The documentation for `PermitScrubber` and `TargetScrubber` explains how you
can gain complete control over when and how elements should be stripped.
If your application needs to use the old sanitizer implementation, include `rails-deprecated_sanitizer` in your `Gemfile`:
```ruby
gem 'rails-deprecated_sanitizer'
```
### Rails DOM Testing
The [`TagAssertions` module](http://api.rubyonrails.org/v4.1/classes/ActionDispatch/Assertions/TagAssertions.html) (containing methods such as `assert_tag`), [has been deprecated](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/6061472b8c310158a2a2e8e9a6b81a1aef6b60fe/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/testing/assertions/dom.rb) in favor of the `assert_select` methods from the `SelectorAssertions` module, which has been extracted into the [rails-dom-testing gem](https://github.com/rails/rails-dom-testing).
### Masked Authenticity Tokens
In order to mitigate SSL attacks, `form_authenticity_token` is now masked so that it varies with each request. Thus, tokens are validated by unmasking and then decrypting. As a result, any strategies for verifying requests from non-rails forms that relied on a static session CSRF token have to take this into account.
### Action Mailer
Previously, calling a mailer method on a mailer class will result in the
corresponding instance method being executed directly. With the introduction of
Active Job and `#deliver_later`, this is no longer true. In Rails 4.2, the
invocation of the instance methods are deferred until either `deliver_now` or
`deliver_later` is called. For example:
```ruby
class Notifier < ActionMailer::Base
def notify(user, ...)
puts "Called"
mail(to: user.email, ...)
end
end
mail = Notifier.notify(user, ...) # Notifier#notify is not yet called at this point
mail = mail.deliver_now # Prints "Called"
```
This should not result in any noticeable differences for most applications.
However, if you need some non-mailer methods to be executed synchronously, and
you were previously relying on the synchronous proxying behavior, you should
define them as class methods on the mailer class directly:
```ruby
class Notifier < ActionMailer::Base
def self.broadcast_notifications(users, ...)
users.each { |user| Notifier.notify(user, ...) }
end
end
```
### Foreign Key Support
The migration DSL has been expanded to support foreign key definitions. If
you've been using the Foreigner gem, you might want to consider removing it.
Note that the foreign key support of Rails is a subset of Foreigner. This means
that not every Foreigner definition can be fully replaced by its Rails
migration DSL counterpart.
The migration procedure is as follows:
1. remove `gem "foreigner"` from the `Gemfile`.
2. run `bundle install`.
3. run `bin/rake db:schema:dump`.
4. make sure that `db/schema.rb` contains every foreign key definition with
the necessary options.
Upgrading from Rails 4.0 to Rails 4.1
-------------------------------------
### CSRF protection from remote `<script>` tags
Or, "whaaat my tests are failing!!!?" or "my `<script>` widget is busted!!"
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection now covers GET requests with
JavaScript responses, too. This prevents a third-party site from remotely
referencing your JavaScript with a `<script>` tag to extract sensitive data.
This means that your functional and integration tests that use
```ruby
get :index, format: :js
```
will now trigger CSRF protection. Switch to
```ruby
xhr :get, :index, format: :js
```
to explicitly test an `XmlHttpRequest`.
NOTE: Your own `<script>` tags are treated as cross-origin and blocked by
default, too. If you really mean to load JavaScript from `<script>` tags,
you must now explicitly skip CSRF protection on those actions.
### Spring
If you want to use Spring as your application preloader you need to:
1. Add `gem 'spring', group: :development` to your `Gemfile`.
2. Install spring using `bundle install`.
3. Springify your binstubs with `bundle exec spring binstub --all`.
NOTE: User defined rake tasks will run in the `development` environment by
default. If you want them to run in other environments consult the
[Spring README](https://github.com/rails/spring#rake).
### `config/secrets.yml`
If you want to use the new `secrets.yml` convention to store your application's
secrets, you need to:
1. Create a `secrets.yml` file in your `config` folder with the following content:
```yaml
development:
secret_key_base:
test:
secret_key_base:
production:
secret_key_base: <%= ENV["SECRET_KEY_BASE"] %>
```
2. Use your existing `secret_key_base` from the `secret_token.rb` initializer to
set the SECRET_KEY_BASE environment variable for whichever users running the
Rails application in production mode. Alternatively, you can simply copy the existing
`secret_key_base` from the `secret_token.rb` initializer to `secrets.yml`
under the `production` section, replacing '<%= ENV["SECRET_KEY_BASE"] %>'.
3. Remove the `secret_token.rb` initializer.
4. Use `rake secret` to generate new keys for the `development` and `test` sections.
5. Restart your server.
### Changes to test helper
If your test helper contains a call to
`ActiveRecord::Migration.check_pending!` this can be removed. The check
is now done automatically when you `require 'rails/test_help'`, although
leaving this line in your helper is not harmful in any way.
### Cookies serializer
Applications created before Rails 4.1 uses `Marshal` to serialize cookie values into
the signed and encrypted cookie jars. If you want to use the new `JSON`-based format
in your application, you can add an initializer file with the following content:
```ruby
Rails.application.config.action_dispatch.cookies_serializer = :hybrid
```
This would transparently migrate your existing `Marshal`-serialized cookies into the
new `JSON`-based format.
When using the `:json` or `:hybrid` serializer, you should beware that not all
Ruby objects can be serialized as JSON. For example, `Date` and `Time` objects
will be serialized as strings, and `Hash`es will have their keys stringified.
```ruby
class CookiesController < ApplicationController
def set_cookie
cookies.encrypted[:expiration_date] = Date.tomorrow # => Thu, 20 Mar 2014
redirect_to action: 'read_cookie'
end
def read_cookie
cookies.encrypted[:expiration_date] # => "2014-03-20"
end
end
```
It's advisable that you only store simple data (strings and numbers) in cookies.
If you have to store complex objects, you would need to handle the conversion
manually when reading the values on subsequent requests.
If you use the cookie session store, this would apply to the `session` and
`flash` hash as well.
### Flash structure changes
Flash message keys are
[normalized to strings](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/a668beffd64106a1e1fedb71cc25eaaa11baf0c1). They
can still be accessed using either symbols or strings. Looping through the flash
will always yield string keys:
```ruby
flash["string"] = "a string"
flash[:symbol] = "a symbol"
# Rails < 4.1
flash.keys # => ["string", :symbol]
# Rails >= 4.1
flash.keys # => ["string", "symbol"]
```
Make sure you are comparing Flash message keys against strings.
### Changes in JSON handling
There are a few major changes related to JSON handling in Rails 4.1.
#### MultiJSON removal
MultiJSON has reached its [end-of-life](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/10576)
and has been removed from Rails.
If your application currently depends on MultiJSON directly, you have a few options:
1. Add 'multi_json' to your `Gemfile`. Note that this might cease to work in the future
2. Migrate away from MultiJSON by using `obj.to_json`, and `JSON.parse(str)` instead.
WARNING: Do not simply replace `MultiJson.dump` and `MultiJson.load` with
`JSON.dump` and `JSON.load`. These JSON gem APIs are meant for serializing and
deserializing arbitrary Ruby objects and are generally [unsafe](http://www.ruby-doc.org/stdlib-2.2.2/libdoc/json/rdoc/JSON.html#method-i-load).
#### JSON gem compatibility
Historically, Rails had some compatibility issues with the JSON gem. Using
`JSON.generate` and `JSON.dump` inside a Rails application could produce
unexpected errors.
Rails 4.1 fixed these issues by isolating its own encoder from the JSON gem. The
JSON gem APIs will function as normal, but they will not have access to any
Rails-specific features. For example:
```ruby
class FooBar
def as_json(options = nil)
{ foo: 'bar' }
end
end
>> FooBar.new.to_json # => "{\"foo\":\"bar\"}"
>> JSON.generate(FooBar.new, quirks_mode: true) # => "\"#<FooBar:0x007fa80a481610>\""
```
#### New JSON encoder
The JSON encoder in Rails 4.1 has been rewritten to take advantage of the JSON
gem. For most applications, this should be a transparent change. However, as
part of the rewrite, the following features have been removed from the encoder:
1. Circular data structure detection
2. Support for the `encode_json` hook
3. Option to encode `BigDecimal` objects as numbers instead of strings
If your application depends on one of these features, you can get them back by
adding the [`activesupport-json_encoder`](https://github.com/rails/activesupport-json_encoder)
gem to your `Gemfile`.
#### JSON representation of Time objects
`#as_json` for objects with time component (`Time`, `DateTime`, `ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone`)
now returns millisecond precision by default. If you need to keep old behavior with no millisecond
precision, set the following in an initializer:
```
ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding.time_precision = 0
```
### Usage of `return` within inline callback blocks
Previously, Rails allowed inline callback blocks to use `return` this way:
```ruby
class ReadOnlyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
before_save { return false } # BAD
end
```
This behavior was never intentionally supported. Due to a change in the internals
of `ActiveSupport::Callbacks`, this is no longer allowed in Rails 4.1. Using a
`return` statement in an inline callback block causes a `LocalJumpError` to
be raised when the callback is executed.
Inline callback blocks using `return` can be refactored to evaluate to the
returned value:
```ruby
class ReadOnlyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
before_save { false } # GOOD
end
```
Alternatively, if `return` is preferred it is recommended to explicitly define
a method:
```ruby
class ReadOnlyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
before_save :before_save_callback # GOOD
private
def before_save_callback
return false
end
end
```
This change applies to most places in Rails where callbacks are used, including
Active Record and Active Model callbacks, as well as filters in Action
Controller (e.g. `before_action`).
See [this pull request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/13271) for more
details.
### Methods defined in Active Record fixtures
Rails 4.1 evaluates each fixture's ERB in a separate context, so helper methods
defined in a fixture will not be available in other fixtures.
Helper methods that are used in multiple fixtures should be defined on modules
included in the newly introduced `ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.context_class`, in
`test_helper.rb`.
```ruby
module FixtureFileHelpers
def file_sha(path)
Digest::SHA2.hexdigest(File.read(Rails.root.join('test/fixtures', path)))
end
end
ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.context_class.include FixtureFileHelpers
```
### I18n enforcing available locales
Rails 4.1 now defaults the I18n option `enforce_available_locales` to `true`. This
means that it will make sure that all locales passed to it must be declared in
the `available_locales` list.
To disable it (and allow I18n to accept *any* locale option) add the following
configuration to your application:
```ruby
config.i18n.enforce_available_locales = false
```
Note that this option was added as a security measure, to ensure user input
cannot be used as locale information unless it is previously known. Therefore,
it's recommended not to disable this option unless you have a strong reason for
doing so.
### Mutator methods called on Relation
`Relation` no longer has mutator methods like `#map!` and `#delete_if`. Convert
to an `Array` by calling `#to_a` before using these methods.
It intends to prevent odd bugs and confusion in code that call mutator
methods directly on the `Relation`.
```ruby
# Instead of this
Author.where(name: 'Hank Moody').compact!
# Now you have to do this
authors = Author.where(name: 'Hank Moody').to_a
authors.compact!
```
### Changes on Default Scopes
Default scopes are no longer overridden by chained conditions.
In previous versions when you defined a `default_scope` in a model
it was overridden by chained conditions in the same field. Now it
is merged like any other scope.
Before:
```ruby
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_scope { where state: 'pending' }
scope :active, -> { where state: 'active' }
scope :inactive, -> { where state: 'inactive' }
end
User.all
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."state" = 'pending'
User.active
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."state" = 'active'
User.where(state: 'inactive')
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."state" = 'inactive'
```
After:
```ruby
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_scope { where state: 'pending' }
scope :active, -> { where state: 'active' }
scope :inactive, -> { where state: 'inactive' }
end
User.all
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."state" = 'pending'
User.active
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."state" = 'pending' AND "users"."state" = 'active'
User.where(state: 'inactive')
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."state" = 'pending' AND "users"."state" = 'inactive'
```
To get the previous behavior it is needed to explicitly remove the
`default_scope` condition using `unscoped`, `unscope`, `rewhere` or
`except`.
```ruby
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
default_scope { where state: 'pending' }
scope :active, -> { unscope(where: :state).where(state: 'active') }
scope :inactive, -> { rewhere state: 'inactive' }
end
User.all
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."state" = 'pending'
User.active
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."state" = 'active'
User.inactive
# SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."state" = 'inactive'
```
### Rendering content from string
Rails 4.1 introduces `:plain`, `:html`, and `:body` options to `render`. Those
options are now the preferred way to render string-based content, as it allows
you to specify which content type you want the response sent as.
* `render :plain` will set the content type to `text/plain`
* `render :html` will set the content type to `text/html`
* `render :body` will *not* set the content type header.
From the security standpoint, if you don't expect to have any markup in your
response body, you should be using `render :plain` as most browsers will escape
unsafe content in the response for you.
We will be deprecating the use of `render :text` in a future version. So please
start using the more precise `:plain`, `:html`, and `:body` options instead.
Using `render :text` may pose a security risk, as the content is sent as
`text/html`.
### PostgreSQL json and hstore datatypes
Rails 4.1 will map `json` and `hstore` columns to a string-keyed Ruby `Hash`.
In earlier versions, a `HashWithIndifferentAccess` was used. This means that
symbol access is no longer supported. This is also the case for
`store_accessors` based on top of `json` or `hstore` columns. Make sure to use
string keys consistently.
### Explicit block use for `ActiveSupport::Callbacks`
Rails 4.1 now expects an explicit block to be passed when calling
`ActiveSupport::Callbacks.set_callback`. This change stems from
`ActiveSupport::Callbacks` being largely rewritten for the 4.1 release.
```ruby
# Previously in Rails 4.0
set_callback :save, :around, ->(r, &block) { stuff; result = block.call; stuff }
# Now in Rails 4.1
set_callback :save, :around, ->(r, block) { stuff; result = block.call; stuff }
```
Upgrading from Rails 3.2 to Rails 4.0
-------------------------------------
If your application is currently on any version of Rails older than 3.2.x, you should upgrade to Rails 3.2 before attempting one to Rails 4.0.
The following changes are meant for upgrading your application to Rails 4.0.
### HTTP PATCH
Rails 4 now uses `PATCH` as the primary HTTP verb for updates when a RESTful
resource is declared in `config/routes.rb`. The `update` action is still used,
and `PUT` requests will continue to be routed to the `update` action as well.
So, if you're using only the standard RESTful routes, no changes need to be made:
```ruby
resources :users
```
```erb
<%= form_for @user do |f| %>
```
```ruby
class UsersController < ApplicationController
def update
# No change needed; PATCH will be preferred, and PUT will still work.
end
end
```
However, you will need to make a change if you are using `form_for` to update
a resource in conjunction with a custom route using the `PUT` HTTP method:
```ruby
resources :users, do
put :update_name, on: :member
end
```
```erb
<%= form_for [ :update_name, @user ] do |f| %>
```
```ruby
class UsersController < ApplicationController
def update_name
# Change needed; form_for will try to use a non-existent PATCH route.
end
end
```
If the action is not being used in a public API and you are free to change the
HTTP method, you can update your route to use `patch` instead of `put`:
`PUT` requests to `/users/:id` in Rails 4 get routed to `update` as they are
today. So, if you have an API that gets real PUT requests it is going to work.
The router also routes `PATCH` requests to `/users/:id` to the `update` action.
```ruby
resources :users do
patch :update_name, on: :member
end
```
If the action is being used in a public API and you can't change to HTTP method
being used, you can update your form to use the `PUT` method instead:
```erb
<%= form_for [ :update_name, @user ], method: :put do |f| %>
```
For more on PATCH and why this change was made, see [this post](https://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2012/2/26/edge-rails-patch-is-the-new-primary-http-method-for-updates/)
on the Rails blog.
#### A note about media types
The errata for the `PATCH` verb [specifies that a 'diff' media type should be
used with `PATCH`](http://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=5789). One
such format is [JSON Patch](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6902). While Rails
does not support JSON Patch natively, it's easy enough to add support:
```
# in your controller
def update
respond_to do |format|
format.json do
# perform a partial update
@article.update params[:article]
end
format.json_patch do
# perform sophisticated change
end
end
end
# In config/initializers/json_patch.rb:
Mime::Type.register 'application/json-patch+json', :json_patch
```
As JSON Patch was only recently made into an RFC, there aren't a lot of great
Ruby libraries yet. Aaron Patterson's
[hana](https://github.com/tenderlove/hana) is one such gem, but doesn't have
full support for the last few changes in the specification.
### Gemfile
Rails 4.0 removed the `assets` group from `Gemfile`. You'd need to remove that
line from your `Gemfile` when upgrading. You should also update your application
file (in `config/application.rb`):
```ruby
# Require the gems listed in Gemfile, including any gems
# you've limited to :test, :development, or :production.
Bundler.require(*Rails.groups)
```
### vendor/plugins
Rails 4.0 no longer supports loading plugins from `vendor/plugins`. You must replace any plugins by extracting them to gems and adding them to your `Gemfile`. If you choose not to make them gems, you can move them into, say, `lib/my_plugin/*` and add an appropriate initializer in `config/initializers/my_plugin.rb`.
### Active Record
* Rails 4.0 has removed the identity map from Active Record, due to [some inconsistencies with associations](https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/302c912bf6bcd0fa200d964ec2dc4a44abe328a6). If you have manually enabled it in your application, you will have to remove the following config that has no effect anymore: `config.active_record.identity_map`.
* The `delete` method in collection associations can now receive `Integer` or `String` arguments as record ids, besides records, pretty much like the `destroy` method does. Previously it raised `ActiveRecord::AssociationTypeMismatch` for such arguments. From Rails 4.0 on `delete` automatically tries to find the records matching the given ids before deleting them.
* In Rails 4.0 when a column or a table is renamed the related indexes are also renamed. If you have migrations which rename the indexes, they are no longer needed.
* Rails 4.0 has changed `serialized_attributes` and `attr_readonly` to class methods only. You shouldn't use instance methods since it's now deprecated. You should change them to use class methods, e.g. `self.serialized_attributes` to `self.class.serialized_attributes`.
* When using the default coder, assigning `nil` to a serialized attribute will save it
to the database as `NULL` instead of passing the `nil` value through YAML (`"--- \n...\n"`).
* Rails 4.0 has removed `attr_accessible` and `attr_protected` feature in favor of Strong Parameters. You can use the [Protected Attributes gem](https://github.com/rails/protected_attributes) for a smooth upgrade path.
* If you are not using Protected Attributes, you can remove any options related to
this gem such as `whitelist_attributes` or `mass_assignment_sanitizer` options.
* Rails 4.0 requires that scopes use a callable object such as a Proc or lambda:
```ruby
scope :active, where(active: true)
# becomes
scope :active, -> { where active: true }
```
* Rails 4.0 has deprecated `ActiveRecord::Fixtures` in favor of `ActiveRecord::FixtureSet`.
* Rails 4.0 has deprecated `ActiveRecord::TestCase` in favor of `ActiveSupport::TestCase`.
* Rails 4.0 has deprecated the old-style hash based finder API. This means that
methods which previously accepted "finder options" no longer do. For example, `Book.find(:all, conditions: { name: '1984' })` has been deprecated in favor of `Book.where(name: '1984')`
* All dynamic methods except for `find_by_...` and `find_by_...!` are deprecated.
Here's how you can handle the changes:
* `find_all_by_...` becomes `where(...)`.
* `find_last_by_...` becomes `where(...).last`.
* `scoped_by_...` becomes `where(...)`.
* `find_or_initialize_by_...` becomes `find_or_initialize_by(...)`.
* `find_or_create_by_...` becomes `find_or_create_by(...)`.
* Note that `where(...)` returns a relation, not an array like the old finders. If you require an `Array`, use `where(...).to_a`.
* These equivalent methods may not execute the same SQL as the previous implementation.
* To re-enable the old finders, you can use the [activerecord-deprecated_finders gem](https://github.com/rails/activerecord-deprecated_finders).
* Rails 4.0 has changed to default join table for `has_and_belongs_to_many` relations to strip the common prefix off the second table name. Any existing `has_and_belongs_to_many` relationship between models with a common prefix must be specified with the `join_table` option. For example:
```ruby
CatalogCategory < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :catalog_products, join_table: 'catalog_categories_catalog_products'
end
CatalogProduct < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :catalog_categories, join_table: 'catalog_categories_catalog_products'
end
```
* Note that the prefix takes scopes into account as well, so relations between `Catalog::Category` and `Catalog::Product` or `Catalog::Category` and `CatalogProduct` need to be updated similarly.
### Active Resource
Rails 4.0 extracted Active Resource to its own gem. If you still need the feature you can add the [Active Resource gem](https://github.com/rails/activeresource) in your `Gemfile`.
### Active Model
* Rails 4.0 has changed how errors attach with the `ActiveModel::Validations::ConfirmationValidator`. Now when confirmation validations fail, the error will be attached to `:#{attribute}_confirmation` instead of `attribute`.
* Rails 4.0 has changed `ActiveModel::Serializers::JSON.include_root_in_json` default value to `false`. Now, Active Model Serializers and Active Record objects have the same default behavior. This means that you can comment or remove the following option in the `config/initializers/wrap_parameters.rb` file:
```ruby
# Disable root element in JSON by default.
# ActiveSupport.on_load(:active_record) do
# self.include_root_in_json = false
# end
```
### Action Pack
* Rails 4.0 introduces `ActiveSupport::KeyGenerator` and uses this as a base from which to generate and verify signed cookies (among other things). Existing signed cookies generated with Rails 3.x will be transparently upgraded if you leave your existing `secret_token` in place and add the new `secret_key_base`.
```ruby
# config/initializers/secret_token.rb
Myapp::Application.config.secret_token = 'existing secret token'
Myapp::Application.config.secret_key_base = 'new secret key base'
```
Please note that you should wait to set `secret_key_base` until you have 100% of your userbase on Rails 4.x and are reasonably sure you will not need to rollback to Rails 3.x. This is because cookies signed based on the new `secret_key_base` in Rails 4.x are not backwards compatible with Rails 3.x. You are free to leave your existing `secret_token` in place, not set the new `secret_key_base`, and ignore the deprecation warnings until you are reasonably sure that your upgrade is otherwise complete.
If you are relying on the ability for external applications or JavaScript to be able to read your Rails app's signed session cookies (or signed cookies in general) you should not set `secret_key_base` until you have decoupled these concerns.
* Rails 4.0 encrypts the contents of cookie-based sessions if `secret_key_base` has been set. Rails 3.x signed, but did not encrypt, the contents of cookie-based session. Signed cookies are "secure" in that they are verified to have been generated by your app and are tamper-proof. However, the contents can be viewed by end users, and encrypting the contents eliminates this caveat/concern without a significant performance penalty.
Please read [Pull Request #9978](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/9978) for details on the move to encrypted session cookies.
* Rails 4.0 removed the `ActionController::Base.asset_path` option. Use the assets pipeline feature.
* Rails 4.0 has deprecated `ActionController::Base.page_cache_extension` option. Use `ActionController::Base.default_static_extension` instead.
* Rails 4.0 has removed Action and Page caching from Action Pack. You will need to add the `actionpack-action_caching` gem in order to use `caches_action` and the `actionpack-page_caching` to use `caches_page` in your controllers.
* Rails 4.0 has removed the XML parameters parser. You will need to add the `actionpack-xml_parser` gem if you require this feature.
* Rails 4.0 changes the default `layout` lookup set using symbols or procs that return nil. To get the "no layout" behavior, return false instead of nil.
* Rails 4.0 changes the default memcached client from `memcache-client` to `dalli`. To upgrade, simply add `gem 'dalli'` to your `Gemfile`.
* Rails 4.0 deprecates the `dom_id` and `dom_class` methods in controllers (they are fine in views). You will need to include the `ActionView::RecordIdentifier` module in controllers requiring this feature.
* Rails 4.0 deprecates the `:confirm` option for the `link_to` helper. You should
instead rely on a data attribute (e.g. `data: { confirm: 'Are you sure?' }`).
This deprecation also concerns the helpers based on this one (such as `link_to_if`
or `link_to_unless`).
* Rails 4.0 changed how `assert_generates`, `assert_recognizes`, and `assert_routing` work. Now all these assertions raise `Assertion` instead of `ActionController::RoutingError`.
* Rails 4.0 raises an `ArgumentError` if clashing named routes are defined. This can be triggered by explicitly defined named routes or by the `resources` method. Here are two examples that clash with routes named `example_path`:
```ruby
get 'one' => 'test#example', as: :example
get 'two' => 'test#example', as: :example
```
```ruby
resources :examples
get 'clashing/:id' => 'test#example', as: :example
```
In the first case, you can simply avoid using the same name for multiple
routes. In the second, you can use the `only` or `except` options provided by
the `resources` method to restrict the routes created as detailed in the
[Routing Guide](routing.html#restricting-the-routes-created).
* Rails 4.0 also changed the way unicode character routes are drawn. Now you can draw unicode character routes directly. If you already draw such routes, you must change them, for example:
```ruby
get Rack::Utils.escape('こんにちは'), controller: 'welcome', action: 'index'
```
becomes
```ruby
get 'こんにちは', controller: 'welcome', action: 'index'
```
* Rails 4.0 requires that routes using `match` must specify the request method. For example:
```ruby
# Rails 3.x
match '/' => 'root#index'
# becomes
match '/' => 'root#index', via: :get
# or
get '/' => 'root#index'
```
* Rails 4.0 has removed `ActionDispatch::BestStandardsSupport` middleware, `<!DOCTYPE html>` already triggers standards mode per https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj676915(v=vs.85).aspx and ChromeFrame header has been moved to `config.action_dispatch.default_headers`.
Remember you must also remove any references to the middleware from your application code, for example:
```ruby
# Raise exception
config.middleware.insert_before(Rack::Lock, ActionDispatch::BestStandardsSupport)
```
Also check your environment settings for `config.action_dispatch.best_standards_support` and remove it if present.
* Rails 4.0 allows configuration of HTTP headers by setting `config.action_dispatch.default_headers`. The defaults are as follows:
```ruby
config.action_dispatch.default_headers = {
'X-Frame-Options' => 'SAMEORIGIN',
'X-XSS-Protection' => '1; mode=block'
}
```
Please note that if your application is dependent on loading certain pages in a `<frame>` or `<iframe>`, then you may need to explicitly set `X-Frame-Options` to `ALLOW-FROM ...` or `ALLOWALL`.
* In Rails 4.0, precompiling assets no longer automatically copies non-JS/CSS assets from `vendor/assets` and `lib/assets`. Rails application and engine developers should put these assets in `app/assets` or configure `config.assets.precompile`.
* In Rails 4.0, `ActionController::UnknownFormat` is raised when the action doesn't handle the request format. By default, the exception is handled by responding with 406 Not Acceptable, but you can override that now. In Rails 3, 406 Not Acceptable was always returned. No overrides.
* In Rails 4.0, a generic `ActionDispatch::ParamsParser::ParseError` exception is raised when `ParamsParser` fails to parse request params. You will want to rescue this exception instead of the low-level `MultiJson::DecodeError`, for example.
* In Rails 4.0, `SCRIPT_NAME` is properly nested when engines are mounted on an app that's served from a URL prefix. You no longer have to set `default_url_options[:script_name]` to work around overwritten URL prefixes.
* Rails 4.0 deprecated `ActionController::Integration` in favor of `ActionDispatch::Integration`.
* Rails 4.0 deprecated `ActionController::IntegrationTest` in favor of `ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest`.
* Rails 4.0 deprecated `ActionController::PerformanceTest` in favor of `ActionDispatch::PerformanceTest`.
* Rails 4.0 deprecated `ActionController::AbstractRequest` in favor of `ActionDispatch::Request`.
* Rails 4.0 deprecated `ActionController::Request` in favor of `ActionDispatch::Request`.
* Rails 4.0 deprecated `ActionController::AbstractResponse` in favor of `ActionDispatch::Response`.
* Rails 4.0 deprecated `ActionController::Response` in favor of `ActionDispatch::Response`.
* Rails 4.0 deprecated `ActionController::Routing` in favor of `ActionDispatch::Routing`.
### Active Support
Rails 4.0 removes the `j` alias for `ERB::Util#json_escape` since `j` is already used for `ActionView::Helpers::JavaScriptHelper#escape_javascript`.
#### Cache
The caching method changed between Rails 3.x and 4.0. You should [change the cache namespace](https://guides.rubyonrails.org/caching_with_rails.html#activesupport-cache-store) and roll out with a cold cache.
### Helpers Loading Order
The order in which helpers from more than one directory are loaded has changed in Rails 4.0. Previously, they were gathered and then sorted alphabetically. After upgrading to Rails 4.0, helpers will preserve the order of loaded directories and will be sorted alphabetically only within each directory. Unless you explicitly use the `helpers_path` parameter, this change will only impact the way of loading helpers from engines. If you rely on the ordering, you should check if correct methods are available after upgrade. If you would like to change the order in which engines are loaded, you can use `config.railties_order=` method.
### Active Record Observer and Action Controller Sweeper
`ActiveRecord::Observer` and `ActionController::Caching::Sweeper` have been extracted to the `rails-observers` gem. You will need to add the `rails-observers` gem if you require these features.
### sprockets-rails
* `assets:precompile:primary` and `assets:precompile:all` have been removed. Use `assets:precompile` instead.
* The `config.assets.compress` option should be changed to `config.assets.js_compressor` like so for instance:
```ruby
config.assets.js_compressor = :uglifier
```
### sass-rails
* `asset-url` with two arguments is deprecated. For example: `asset-url("rails.png", image)` becomes `asset-url("rails.png")`.
Upgrading from Rails 3.1 to Rails 3.2
-------------------------------------
If your application is currently on any version of Rails older than 3.1.x, you
should upgrade to Rails 3.1 before attempting an update to Rails 3.2.
The following changes are meant for upgrading your application to the latest
3.2.x version of Rails.
### Gemfile
Make the following changes to your `Gemfile`.
```ruby
gem 'rails', '3.2.21'
group :assets do
gem 'sass-rails', '~> 3.2.6'
gem 'coffee-rails', '~> 3.2.2'
gem 'uglifier', '>= 1.0.3'
end
```
### config/environments/development.rb
There are a couple of new configuration settings that you should add to your development environment:
```ruby
# Raise exception on mass assignment protection for Active Record models
config.active_record.mass_assignment_sanitizer = :strict
# Log the query plan for queries taking more than this (works
# with SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL)
config.active_record.auto_explain_threshold_in_seconds = 0.5
```
### config/environments/test.rb
The `mass_assignment_sanitizer` configuration setting should also be added to `config/environments/test.rb`:
```ruby
# Raise exception on mass assignment protection for Active Record models
config.active_record.mass_assignment_sanitizer = :strict
```
### vendor/plugins
Rails 3.2 deprecates `vendor/plugins` and Rails 4.0 will remove them completely. While it's not strictly necessary as part of a Rails 3.2 upgrade, you can start replacing any plugins by extracting them to gems and adding them to your `Gemfile`. If you choose not to make them gems, you can move them into, say, `lib/my_plugin/*` and add an appropriate initializer in `config/initializers/my_plugin.rb`.
### Active Record
Option `:dependent => :restrict` has been removed from `belongs_to`. If you want to prevent deleting the object if there are any associated objects, you can set `:dependent => :destroy` and return `false` after checking for existence of association from any of the associated object's destroy callbacks.
Upgrading from Rails 3.0 to Rails 3.1
-------------------------------------
If your application is currently on any version of Rails older than 3.0.x, you should upgrade to Rails 3.0 before attempting an update to Rails 3.1.
The following changes are meant for upgrading your application to Rails 3.1.12, the last 3.1.x version of Rails.
### Gemfile
Make the following changes to your `Gemfile`.
```ruby
gem 'rails', '3.1.12'
gem 'mysql2'
# Needed for the new asset pipeline
group :assets do
gem 'sass-rails', '~> 3.1.7'
gem 'coffee-rails', '~> 3.1.1'
gem 'uglifier', '>= 1.0.3'
end
# jQuery is the default JavaScript library in Rails 3.1
gem 'jquery-rails'
```
### config/application.rb
The asset pipeline requires the following additions:
```ruby
config.assets.enabled = true
config.assets.version = '1.0'
```
If your application is using an "/assets" route for a resource you may want change the prefix used for assets to avoid conflicts:
```ruby
# Defaults to '/assets'
config.assets.prefix = '/asset-files'
```
### config/environments/development.rb
Remove the RJS setting `config.action_view.debug_rjs = true`.
Add these settings if you enable the asset pipeline:
```ruby
# Do not compress assets
config.assets.compress = false
# Expands the lines which load the assets
config.assets.debug = true
```
### config/environments/production.rb
Again, most of the changes below are for the asset pipeline. You can read more about these in the [Asset Pipeline](asset_pipeline.html) guide.
```ruby
# Compress JavaScripts and CSS
config.assets.compress = true
# Don't fallback to assets pipeline if a precompiled asset is missed
config.assets.compile = false
# Generate digests for assets URLs
config.assets.digest = true
# Defaults to Rails.root.join("public/assets")
# config.assets.manifest = YOUR_PATH
# Precompile additional assets (application.js, application.css, and all non-JS/CSS are already added)
# config.assets.precompile += %w( admin.js admin.css )
# Force all access to the app over SSL, use Strict-Transport-Security, and use secure cookies.
# config.force_ssl = true
```
### config/environments/test.rb
You can help test performance with these additions to your test environment:
```ruby
# Configure static asset server for tests with Cache-Control for performance
config.public_file_server.enabled = true
config.public_file_server.headers = {
'Cache-Control' => 'public, max-age=3600'
}
```
### config/initializers/wrap_parameters.rb
Add this file with the following contents, if you wish to wrap parameters into a nested hash. This is on by default in new applications.
```ruby
# Be sure to restart your server when you modify this file.
# This file contains settings for ActionController::ParamsWrapper which
# is enabled by default.
# Enable parameter wrapping for JSON. You can disable this by setting :format to an empty array.
ActiveSupport.on_load(:action_controller) do
wrap_parameters format: [:json]
end
# Disable root element in JSON by default.
ActiveSupport.on_load(:active_record) do
self.include_root_in_json = false
end
```
### config/initializers/session_store.rb
You need to change your session key to something new, or remove all sessions:
```ruby
# in config/initializers/session_store.rb
AppName::Application.config.session_store :cookie_store, key: 'SOMETHINGNEW'
```
or
```bash
$ bin/rake db:sessions:clear
```
### Remove :cache and :concat options in asset helpers references in views
* With the Asset Pipeline the :cache and :concat options aren't used anymore, delete these options from your views.
|