CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubyruby-on-rails-3
Kevin
Kevin

Reputation: 23634

What is the use of secret_token in rails?

I today tried out the rail's tutorial and was confused over this part of generating secret-code.

http://ruby.railstutorial.org/chapters/static-pages#top

require 'securerandom'

def secure_token
  token_file = Rails.root.join('.secret')
  if File.exist?(token_file)
    # Use the existing token.
    File.read(token_file).chomp
  else
    # Generate a new token and store it in token_file.
    token = SecureRandom.hex(64)
    File.write(token_file, token)
    token
  end
end

SampleApp::Application.config.secret_token = secure_token

Can anyone explain me what is the need of this file. What is the purpose of this 64 bit generated secret string.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 244

Answers (1)

rudolph9
rudolph9

Reputation: 8129

As it says in the comments of that file:

Your secret key is used for verifying the integrity of signed cookies.

Signed cookies are used to store session info or what else you want to allocate to user and only that user.

See here for more info on sessions and cookies.

Upvotes: 2

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