With the release of Passenger 4, they included a app restart command that functions better the touch tmp/restart.txt method.

With the old method the app would restart on the next request, using the restart-app command that app will restart immediately.

Here is how to upgrade your deploy.rb file for Capistrano.

# config/deploy.rb

# Capistrano 2
run "sudo passenger-config restart-app --ignore-app-not-running #{deploy_to}"

# Capistrano 3
execute :sudo, "passenger-config restart-app --ignore-app-not-running #{deploy_to}"

• The --ignore-app-not-running is required otherwise your deploy might fail.
• If you recieve an error regarding no Phusion Passenger Served Apps, dont worry its not a bad error

Related External Links:

• Makandra Cards - better-rails-app-restart-with-the-passenger-restart-app-tool