Migrating from Paperclip to ActiveStorage

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Paperclip and ActiveStorage solve similar problems with similar solutions, so transitioning from one to the other is straightforward data re-writing.

The process of going from Paperclip to ActiveStorage is as follows:

Apply the ActiveStorage database migrations.
Configure storage.
Copy the database data over.
Copy the files over.
Update your tests.
Update your views.
Update your controllers.
Update your models.

Apply the ActiveStorage database migrations

You'll very likely want to add the mini_magick gem to your Gemfile.

Make sure your config/application.rb requires the ActiveStorage engine:

# config/application.rb
require "active_storage/engine"

Then, follow the instructions for installing ActiveStorage.

rails active_storage:install

Configure storage

Again, follow the instructions for configuring ActiveStorage.

It's worth highlighting that, by default, ActiveStorage's DiskService will store files locally in Rails.root.join("storage"). When storing files locally, Paperclip, by default, writes to Rails.root.join("public", "system").

Make sure to exclude your locally stored files from version control.

For instance, if you're using Git, add storage/ to your .gitignore.

  !.keep
  /.bundle
  /.byebug_history
  /.tmp/*
  /log/*
  /public/system/
+ storage/

Copy the database data over

The active_storage_blobs and active_storage_attachments tables are where ActiveStorage expects to find file metadata. Paperclip stores the file metadata directly on the associated object's table.

You'll need to write a migration for this conversion. Because the models for your domain are involved, it's tricky to supply a simple script. But we'll try!

Here's how it would go for a User with an avatar, that is this in Paperclip:

class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_attached_file :avatar
end

Your Paperclip migrations will produce a table like so:

create_table "users", force: :cascade do |t|
  t.string "avatar_file_name"
  t.string "avatar_content_type"
  t.integer "avatar_file_size"
  t.datetime "avatar_updated_at"
end

And you'll be converting into these tables:

create_table "active_storage_attachments", force: :cascade do |t|
  t.string "name", null: false
  t.string "record_type", null: false
  t.integer "record_id", null: false
  t.integer "blob_id", null: false
  t.datetime "created_at", null: false
  t.index ["blob_id"], name: "index_active_storage_attachments_on_blob_id"
  t.index ["record_type", "record_id", "name", "blob_id"], name: "index_active_storage_attachments_uniqueness", unique: true
end

create_table "active_storage_blobs", force: :cascade do |t|
  t.string "key", null: false
  t.string "filename", null: false
  t.string "content_type"
  t.text "metadata"
  t.bigint "byte_size", null: false
  t.string "checksum", null: false
  t.datetime "created_at", null: false
  t.index ["key"], name: "index_active_storage_blobs_on_key", unique: true
end

So, assuming you want to leave the files in the exact same place, this is your migration. Otherwise, see the next section first and modify the migration to taste.

class ConvertToActiveStorage < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.2]
  require 'open-uri'

  def up
    # postgres
    get_blob_id = 'LASTVAL()'
    # mariadb
    # get_blob_id = 'LAST_INSERT_ID()'
    # sqlite
    # get_blob_id = 'LAST_INSERT_ROWID()'

    active_storage_blob_statement = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.raw_connection.prepare('active_storage_blob_statement', <<-SQL)
      INSERT INTO active_storage_blobs (
        `key`, filename, content_type, metadata, byte_size, checksum, created_at
      ) VALUES ($1, $2, $3, '{}', $4, $5, $6)
    SQL

    active_storage_attachment_statement = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.raw_connection.prepare('active_storage_attachment_statement', <<-SQL)
      INSERT INTO active_storage_attachments (
        name, record_type, record_id, blob_id, created_at
      ) VALUES ($1, $2, $3, #{get_blob_id}, $4)
    SQL

    Rails.application.eager_load!
    models = ActiveRecord::Base.descendants.reject(&:abstract_class?)

    transaction do
      models.each do |model|
        attachments = model.column_names.map do |c|
          if c =~ /(.+)_file_name$/
            $1
          end
        end.compact

        if attachments.blank?
          next
        end

        model.find_each.each do |instance|
          attachments.each do |attachment|
            if instance.send(attachment).path.blank?
              next
            end

            ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute_prepared(
              'active_storage_blob_statement', [
                key(instance, attachment),
                instance.send("#{attachment}_file_name"),
                instance.send("#{attachment}_content_type"),
                instance.send("#{attachment}_file_size"),
                checksum(instance.send(attachment)),
                instance.updated_at.iso8601
              ])

            ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute_prepared(
              'active_storage_attachment_statement', [
                attachment,
                model.name,
                instance.id,
                instance.updated_at.iso8601,
              ])
          end
        end
      end
    end
  end

  def down
    raise ActiveRecord::IrreversibleMigration
  end

  private

  def key(instance, attachment)
    SecureRandom.uuid
    # Alternatively:
    # instance.send("#{attachment}_file_name")
  end

  def checksum(attachment)
    # local files stored on disk:
    url = attachment.path
    Digest::MD5.base64digest(File.read(url))

    # remote files stored on another person's computer:
    # url = attachment.url
    # Digest::MD5.base64digest(Net::HTTP.get(URI(url)))
  end
end

Rails 6.1+

ActiveSotrage added @service_name@ field to @active_storage_blobs@.

    active_storage_blob_statement = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.raw_connection.prepare('active_storage_blob_statement', <<-SQL)
      INSERT INTO active_storage_blobs (
        `key`, filename, content_type, metadata, byte_size, checksum, created_at, service_name
      ) VALUES ($1, $2, $3, '{}', $4, $5, $6, $7)
    SQL

...

            ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute_prepared(
              'active_storage_blob_statement', [
                key(instance, attachment),
                instance.send("#{attachment}_file_name"),
                instance.send("#{attachment}_content_type"),
                instance.send("#{attachment}_file_size"),
                checksum(instance.send(attachment)),
                instance.updated_at.iso8601, 
                'local' # your ActiveStorage service name
              ])

Note: if runnings against @undefined method `execute_prepared' Rails Paperclip to ActiveStorage migration@, see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54333936/undefined-method-execute-prepared-rails-paperclip-to-activestorage-migration

Copy the files over

The above migration leaves the files as they are. However, the default Paperclip and ActiveStorage storage services use different locations.

By default, Paperclip looks like this:

public/system/users/avatars/000/000/004/original/the-mystery-of-life.png

And ActiveStorage looks like this:

storage/xM/RX/xMRXuT6nqpoiConJFQJFt6c9

That xMRXuT6nqpoiConJFQJFt6c9 is the active_storage_blobs.key value. In the migration above we simply used the filename but you may wish to use a UUID instead.

Moving local storage files

#!bin/rails runner

ActiveStorage::Attachment.find_each do |attachment|
  name = attachment.name

  source = attachment.record.send(name).path
  dest_dir = File.join(
    "storage",
    attachment.blob.key.first(2),
    attachment.blob.key.first(4).last(2))
  dest = File.join(dest_dir, attachment.blob.key)

  FileUtils.mkdir_p(dest_dir)
  puts "Moving #{source} to #{dest}"
  FileUtils.cp(source, dest)
end

Moving files on a remote host (S3, Azure Storage, GCS, etc.)

One of the most straightforward ways to move assets stored on a remote host is to use a rake task that regenerates the file names and places them in the proper file structure/hierarchy.

Assuming you have a model configured similarly to the example below:

class Organization < ApplicationRecord
  # New ActiveStorage declaration
  has_one_attached :logo

  # Old Paperclip config
  # must be removed BEFORE to running the rake task so that
  # all of the new ActiveStorage goodness can be used when
  # calling organization.logo
  has_attached_file :logo,
                    path: "/organizations/:id/:basename_:style.:extension",
                    default_url: "https://s3.amazonaws.com/xxxxx/organizations/missing_:style.jpg",
                    default_style: :normal,
                    styles: { thumb: "64x64#", normal: "400x400>" },
                    convert_options: { thumb: "-quality 100 -strip", normal: "-quality 75 -strip" }
end

The following rake task would migrate all of your assets:

namespace :organizations do
  task migrate_to_active_storage: :environment do
    Organization.where.not(logo_file_name: nil).find_each do |organization|
      # This step helps us catch any attachments we might have uploaded that
      # don't have an explicit file extension in the filename
      image = organization.logo_file_name
      ext = File.extname(image)
      image_original = CGI.unescape(image.gsub(ext, "_original#{ext}"))

      # this url pattern can be changed to reflect whatever service you use
      logo_url = "https://s3.amazonaws.com/xxxxx/organizations/#{organization.id}/#{image_original}"
      organization.logo.attach(io: open(logo_url),
                                   filename: organization.logo_file_name,
                                   content_type: organization.logo_content_type)
    end
  end
end

An added advantage of this method is that you're creating a copy of all assets, which is handy in the event you need to rollback your deploy.

This also means that you can run the rake task from your development machine and completely migrate the assets before your deploy, minimizing the chances that you'll have a timed-out deployment.

The main drawback of this method is the same as its benefit - you are essentially duplicating all of your assets. These days storage and bandwidth are relatively cheap, but in some instances where you have a huge volume of files, or very large file sizes, this might get a little less feasible.

In my experience I was able to move tens of thousands of images in a matter of a couple of hours, just by running the migration overnight on my MacBook Pro.

Once you've confirmed that the migration and deploy have gone successfully you can safely delete the old assets from your remote host.

Update your tests

Instead of the have_attached_file matcher, you'll need to write your own. Here's one that is similar in spirit to the Paperclip-supplied matcher:

RSpec::Matchers.define :have_attached_file do |name|
  match do |record|
    file = record.send(name)
    file.respond_to?(:variant) && file.respond_to?(:attach)
  end
end

If you were using a Factory or a Fixture that set the Paperclip-generated columns' values directly, you'll likely need to attach the Files instead.

For example, you could replace a FactoryBot factory definition's Paperclip attributes with File I/O using ActiveSupport::Testing::FixtureFiles#file_fixture:

factory :user do
  trait :with_avatar do
-    avatar_file_name { "avatar.jpg" }
-    avatar_file_type { "image/jpg" }
-    avatar_file_size { 1024 }
+   transient do
+     avatar_file { file_fixture("avatar.jpg") }
+
+     after :build do |user, evaluator|
+       user.avatar.attach(
+         io: evaluator.avatar_file.open,
+         filename: evaluator.avatar_file.basename.to_s,
+       )
+     end
+   end
  end
end

Update your views

In Paperclip it looks like this:

image_tag @user.avatar.url(:medium)

In ActiveStorage it looks like this:

image_tag @user.avatar.variant(resize: "250x250")

Update your controllers

This should require no update. However, if you glance back at the database schema above, you may notice a join.

For example, if your controller has

def index
  @users = User.all.order(:name)
end

And your view has

<ul>
  <% @users.each do |user| %>
    <li><%= image_tag user.avatar.variant(resize: "10x10"), alt: user.name %></li>
  <% end %>
</ul>

Then you'll end up with an n+1 as you load each attachment in the loop.

So while the controller and model will work without change, you will want to double-check your loops and add includes as needed.

ActiveStorage automatically declares ActiveStorage::Attachment and ActiveStorage::Blob relationships to your models, along with eager-loading scopes.

For example, a has_one_attached :avatar declaration will generate a has_one :avatar_attachment relationship along with a .with_attached_avatar scope for eager loading attachments and blobs.

A has_many_attached :avatars declaration will generate a has_many :avatar_attachments relationship along with a .with_attached_avatars scope for eager loading attachments and blobs.

When eager-loading transitive relationships, you'll need to specify the relationship names directly, like includes(avatar_attachment: :blob) or includes(avatar_attachments: :blob):

def index
  @users = User.all.order(:name).includes(avatar_attachment: :blob)
end

Update your models

Follow the guide on attaching files to records. For example, a User with an avatar is represented as:

class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_one_attached :avatar
end

Any resizing is done in the view as a variant.

Validations

Unlike Paperclip, which shipped with built-in attachment validations, ActiveStorage does not have built-in support for validating an attachment's content type or file size (which can be useful for preventing content type spoofing).

There are alternatives that support some of Paperclip's file validations.

For instance, here are some changes you could make to migrate a Paperclip-enabled model to use validations provided by the file_validators gem:

class User < ApplicationRecord
  # ...

-  validates_attachment_content_type :avatar, content_type: /\Aimage/
-  validates_attachment_file_name :avatar, matches: /jpe?g\z/
+  validates :avatar, file_content_type: {
+    allow: ["image/jpeg", "image/png"],
+    if: -> { avatar.attached? },
+  }

Remove Paperclip

Make sure to delete any files Paperclip was storing locally. You can also update your version control to no longer ignore the directory.

For instance, if you're using Git, remove public/system/ from your .gitignore.

  !.keep
  /.bundle
  /.byebug_history
  /.tmp/*
  /log/*
- /public/system/
  storage/

Remove the Gem from your Gemfile and run bundle. Run your tests because you're done!

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MIGRATING.md

MIGRATING.md

Migrating from Paperclip to ActiveStorage

Apply the ActiveStorage database migrations

Configure storage

Copy the database data over

Rails 6.1+

Copy the files over

Moving local storage files

Moving files on a remote host (S3, Azure Storage, GCS, etc.)

Update your tests

Update your views

Update your controllers

Update your models

Validations

Remove Paperclip

Files

MIGRATING.md

Latest commit

History

MIGRATING.md

File metadata and controls

Migrating from Paperclip to ActiveStorage

Apply the ActiveStorage database migrations

Configure storage

Copy the database data over

Rails 6.1+

Copy the files over

Moving local storage files

Moving files on a remote host (S3, Azure Storage, GCS, etc.)

Update your tests

Update your views

Update your controllers

Update your models

Validations

Remove Paperclip