I have a rake task that gets called from a controller - actually the controller calls a bash script, which calls a rake task. We do this so staff can request a database import, which reimports the data and restarts the app.
At command line, it works. ENV['HOME'] is set.
However, when we call it via the controller -> bash script, the rake task claims it is nil.
So, what could be causing this? Shouldn't $HOME always be visible?
UPDATE:
the controller (via unicorn web server) calls a bash script like so: system("#{Rails.root}/lib/cron/manual_digest.bash") in the bash script that gets called, i ran export -p and got:
declare -x BUNDLE_BIN_PATH="/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/bundler-1.5.3/bin/bundle"
declare -x BUNDLE_GEMFILE="/var/www/ma_staging/releases/20150319193546/Gemfile"
declare -x BUNDLE_ORIG_MANPATH="/var/www/ma_staging/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/gems/unicorn-4.8.3/man"
declare -x GEM_HOME="/var/www/ma_staging/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0"
declare -x GEM_PATH=""
declare -x LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
declare -x MANPATH="/var/www/ma_staging/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/gems/unicorn-4.8.3/man"
declare -x OLDPWD="/var/www/ma_staging/current"
declare -x OLD_PID="/var/www/ma_staging/shared/pids/unicorn.pid.oldbin"
declare -x PATH="/var/www/ma_staging/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games"
declare -x PID="/var/www/ma_staging/shared/pids/unicorn.pid"
declare -x PWD="/home/deploy/ma_staging/current"
declare -x RACK_ENV="staging"
declare -x RAILS_ENV="staging"
declare -x RUBYLIB="/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/bundler-1.5.3/lib"
declare -x RUBYOPT="-rbundler/setup"
declare -x SHLVL="2"
declare -x TERM="xterm-256color"
declare -x UNICORN_FD="12,13"
declare -x _ORIGINAL_GEM_PATH=""
running this same command via a rails console:
export BUNDLE_BIN_PATH='/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/bundler-1.5.3/bin/bundle'
export BUNDLE_GEMFILE='/var/www/ma_staging/releases/20150319193546/Gemfile'
export BUNDLE_ORIG_MANPATH='/var/www/ma_staging/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/gems/unicorn-4.8.3/man'
export COLUMNS='213'
export GEM_HOME='/var/www/ma_staging/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0'
export GEM_PATH=''
export HOME='/home/deploy'
export LANG='en_US.UTF-8'
export LESSCLOSE='/usr/bin/lesspipe %s %s'
export LESSOPEN='| /usr/bin/lesspipe %s'
export LINES='50'
export LOGNAME='deploy'
export MAIL='/var/mail/deploy'
export MANPATH='/var/www/ma_staging/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/gems/unicorn-4.8.3/man'
export OLDPWD='/home/deploy/ma_staging/current/lib'
export PATH='/var/www/ma_staging/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games'
export PS1='\u:\W\$ '
export PWD='/home/deploy/ma_staging/current'
export RAILS_ENV='staging'
export RUBYLIB='/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/bundler-1.5.3/lib'
export RUBYOPT='-rbundler/setup'
export SHELL='/bin/bash'
export SHLVL='1'
export SSH_AUTH_SOCK='/tmp/ssh-jkdbX19657/agent.19627'
export SSH_CLIENT='68.82.90.217 38992 22'
export SSH_CONNECTION='55.55.55.55 3322 55.55.55.55 22'
export SSH_TTY='/dev/pts/0'
export TERM='xterm'
export USER='deploy'
export _='/usr/local/bin/bundle'
export _ORIGINAL_GEM_PATH=''
I looked into "restricted shells" but that doesn't quite explain what I'm seeing, with variables missing. I also looked into "subshells" (since the first output is SHLVL=2) but that also does not specifically explain this behavior.
I'm looking for some documentation or something somewhere that says "when you do X, the variables for $HOME and $USER are not set because Z"
I am suspecting something with unicorn, but have not found anything to explain why these variables would be empty.
ok, turns out the issue was with the way unicorn was being started up and our suoders config file, which was misconfigured. I was worried it was some bug - nope, just misconfiguration on our end.