i finally got the trick, here is how it worked for me:
- ignore the forum post about rails installation
- ignore support staff that only points you to the forum post
- use cpanel/rails to create rails app and webforwarder
- delete rails app template and unpack tracks here
- do some environment magick*
- in cpanel/rails start webapp

*what environment magick is needed?
in config/environment.rb add this line:

[it might make sense to include this to tracks as i dont think it makes harm to others…]

thanks. I’ve added this howto to the wiki

I tried this an was unsuccessful with the last step. I clicked “Run” under Actions and received the following:

The following Ruby on Rails application was started: tracks

Great right? Well when I return to the RoR cPanel screen it shows the app as “Not Running”

So I tried starting it manually in the installed directory:

~/etc/rails_apps/tracks]$ script/server -e production
=> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)
=> Rails 2.2.2 application starting on http://0.0.0.0:3000
=> Call with -d to detach
=> Ctrl-C to shutdown server
** Starting Mongrel listening at 0.0.0.0:3000
** Starting Rails with production environment…
** Rails loaded.
** Loading any Rails specific GemPlugins
** Signals ready.  TERM => stop.  USR2 => restart.  INT => stop (no restart).
** Rails signals registered.  HUP => reload (without restart).  It might not work well.
** Mongrel available at 0.0.0.0:3000
** Use CTRL-C to stop.

To me, this appears to have started correctly, but I am unable to access my site at “http://mysite:3000”. Any assistance is appreciated. Thanks.

perhaps there are error messages in your log?

typ - 14 April 2009 06:27 PM

I tried this an was unsuccessful with the last step. I clicked “Run” under Actions and received the following:

The following Ruby on Rails application was started: tracks

Great right? Well when I return to the RoR cPanel screen it shows the app as “Not Running”

well i had this too once and it went away after i created a new app, and threw the old away…
dunno why…

To me, this appears to have started correctly, but I am unable to access my site at “http://mysite:3000”. Any assistance is appreciated. Thanks.

i can confirm this, you CANNOT access your app over the web on port 3000 (although i suppose you can access it locally with wget og lynx over ssh, but thats not what you want)
you have to create a forwarder for your app on the rails cpanel page.

best aexl

That seems to get me further, but I am faced with a 404 page. The server session reports the following:

Processing ApplicationController#index (for 192.168.1.100 at 2009-04-14 16:11:03) [GET]
  Session ID: 1c31948c570d5a34b5468ab12016775ca

ActionController::RoutingError (No route matches “/tracks/” with {:method=>:get}):
  /vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/routing/recognition_optimisation.rb:66:in `recognize_path’
  /vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/routing/route_set.rb:386:in `recognize’
  /vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:182:in `handle_request’
  /vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:110:in `dispatch_unlocked’
  /vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:123:in `dispatch’
  /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/thread.rb:135:in `synchronize’
  /vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:122:in `dispatch’
  /vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:132:in `dispatch_cgi’
  /vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:39:in `dispatch’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel/rails.rb:84:in `process’
  /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/sync.rb:229:in `synchronize’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel/rails.rb:83:in `process’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:580:in `process_client’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:579:in `each’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:579:in `process_client’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:686:in `run’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:686:in `initialize’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:686:in `new’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:686:in `run’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:673:in `initialize’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:673:in `new’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel.rb:673:in `run’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:267:in `run’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:266:in `each’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:266:in `run’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/bin/mongrel_rails:127:in `run’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/lib/mongrel/command.rb:211:in `run’
  /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-0.3.13.4/bin/mongrel_rails:231
  /vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:142:in `load_without_new_constant_marking’
  /vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:142:in `load’
  /vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:521:in `new_constants_in’
  /vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:142:in `load’
  /vendor/rails/railties/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:64
  /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `gem_original_require’
  /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `require’
  /vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:153:in `require’
  /vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:521:in `new_constants_in’
  /vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:153:in `require’
  /vendor/rails/railties/lib/commands/server.rb:49
  /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `gem_original_require’
  /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `require’
  script/server:3

Rendering /home/user/public_html/mywebsite/tracks/public/404.html (404 Not Found)

did you set the subdir setting in site.yml of tracks?

No, I have not done so.

I changed it just for the sake of trying something different and was unable to start the server, so I undid the changes and the site.yml file remains at default settings.

the default settings do not work for tracks in a subdir. The defaults assume a subdomain.

So just set subdir to /tracks

After many trials I was able to get it working, much of it was related to ruby gems not up to date or never installed on the shared host.

I’ve posted everything in detail on my site for getting Tracks to run successfully on HostGator: http://bit.ly/XTaKv

I’m interested into what gems you needed to install/update. I’m trying to get the requirements for running tracks more clear. Did you write them down?