Describe how mongrel works (esoteric flashcard)

• A request hits mongrel.
• Mongrel makes a thread and parses the HTTP request headers.
• If the body is small, then it puts the body into a StringIO.
• If the body is large then it streams the body to a temp file.
• When the request is "cooked" it call the RailsHandler.
• The RailsHandler sees if the file is possibly page cached, if so then it sends the cached page.
• Now you're finally ready to process the Rails request. LOCK!
• Still locked, Mongrel calls the Rails Dispatcher to handle the request, passing in the headers, and StringIO or Tempfile for body.
• When Rails is done, UNLOCK! . Rails has (hopefully) put all of its output into a StringIO.
• Mongrel then takes this StringIO output, any output headers, and streams them back to the client super fast.

minor processing related