This is Rails 3.0.3.

My deployment is Apache 2.0 with Phusion Passenger. My httpd.conf block looks like this:

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName www.mycarparts.co
   DocumentRoot /projects/mcp5/public
   <Directory /projects/mcp5/public>
      AllowOverride all
      Options -MultiViews
      Allow from all
   </Directory>
  RailsEnv staging
</VirtualHost>

"Production" is also not specified in my config directory. A grep -i -r yields this:

config/application.rb:# you've limited to :test, :development, or :production. config/database.yml:# Do not set this db to the same as development or production. config/database.yml:production: config/database.yml: database: mcp_production config/database.yml: database: mcp_production config/environments/production.rb: # The production environment is meant for finished, "live" apps. config/environments/production.rb: # Use a different cache store in production config/environments/production.rb: # In production, Apache or nginx will already do this config/newrelic.yml: # capitalized RAILS_ENV (i.e., Production, Staging, etc) config/newrelic.yml: # Do not use for production or load testing.
config/newrelic.yml:# Turn on the agent in production for 24x7 monitoring. NewRelic config/newrelic.yml:production: config/newrelic.yml:# identically to production. Support for that environment is provided

These little surprises with the Apache/Passenger/Rails stack are beginning to become irritating. Can anybody help me run my application in the correct mode?

EDIT: I can put:

RailsEnv peeweeeffingherman

in there and the app still comes up in production mode, which I know is the default. Obviously, the setting is not being read. Why would that be?

If you are on Phusion Passenger < 3.0.2 then RailsEnv only has effect on Rails 1 and Rails 2 apps; Rails 3 apps are considered Rack apps and need RackEnv.

This is a potential source of user confusion so since Phusion Passenger 3, RailsEnv and RackEnv have been made equivalent, and Phusion Passenger sets both RAILS_ENV and RACK_ENV. The Nginx version of Phusion Passenger has always worked like that.