Paperclip - duplicating images

To do this, you need to split your attachments into your own model.

So now you have

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   has_attached_file :avatar #plus a bunch of specifications here
end 

      

        
        
        
      

    

You would set up a new model and associations like

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   belongs_to :images
end 

class Image < ActiveRecord::Base
   has_many :users
   has_attached_file :avatar
end 

      

        
        
        
      

    

Then in your controller you would need to do

Image.find_or_create_by_avatar_file_name(#filename here)

      

        
        
        
      

    

So now you have a user.image_id attribute and can have one uploaded image associated with multiple users.

However, I have created a number of fairly large systems with user photo uploads (icon photos, avatar photos, funny photos, whatever) and the actual overlap between users tends to be pretty small. Plus, you only really save money on what is the cheapest of your resources: storage space. You save nothing on bandwidth cost, processing or program complexity by following this route.

If this is a truly unique set of circumstances (in which case it would be neat to hear what you are doing), then I would advise against taking this route.