How can I echo the output from Ruby shell scripts in chunks?

Question

I'm setting up a mini deploy system with Ruby and Sinatra and Shell scripts, and when I trigger a deploy script I'd like ruby to continue to echo the output from the following:

post '/' do
  `/home/deploy/deploy.sh`
end

How can I ensure that Ruby will echo the output and send a chunked response (so that the content can continue to load)?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You have two distinct problems here:

1. How to stream-receive the output of the command while it is running?
   • You want to use IO.popen.
2. Within Sinatra, how do I stream a response to the user?
   • You want to use Sinatra 1.3's stream. (See also this question.)