I'm just starting to deploy my Rails application which generates .png images at runtime (generated by graphviz) and there is no way I can precompile them. Now, I'm trying to figure out this whole assets pipeline issue.
I read on the config.assets.compile=true in Rails production, why not? that live compilation is terrible. Is there any smart way I can handle these assets or will I have to bite the bullet and use live compilation? I can have live compilation turned on only for these runtime generated images and use precompilation for all other assets?
I would put runtime generated images somewhere else, don't try to get them in the asset pipeline. For example I put uploaded images in a shared folder that's outside of the main rails app folder, and symlink it when I deploy (I use capistrano for deployment, and this is a pretty standard setup).
The asset pipeline is great for ensuring people get the right images / stylesheets / js when you deploy new files, but it doesn't seem appropriate for stuff that will be created at runtime.