Why are RackMultipart* files persisting in my Rails /tmp directory?

Question

I\'m using Paperclip (2.3) to handle image uploads on a Rails 3.0.3 app running on Ubuntu. Paperclip is handling the uploads as advertised BUT the RackMultipart* files that are

Answer 1

I don't know if this is anymore elegant but this is what I am doing after the file is saved"

tempfile = params[:file].tempfile.path
if File::exists?(tempfile)
  File::delete(tempfile)
end

Answer 2

The TempFileReaper is the Rack middleware thought to handle this issue.

http://www.rubydoc.info/github/rack/rack/Rack/TempfileReaper

Including this line in the application.rb solves the problem:

config.middleware.use Rack::TempfileReaper

Answer 3

UPDATE: Problem should be resolved in rack-1.6.0.beta2. I see it's already being used in Rails 4.2.0.rc2.

Below workaround served me well for almost a year:

I've added this at the end of controller action that accepts file uploads:

Thread.new { GC.start }

This triggers Garbage Collection of unused Rack::Request objects which also deletes associated temp files. Note it doesn't sweep temp file of current request, but it does remove previous files, and prevents them from accumulating.