See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13340000/why-does-the-race-condition-ttl-option-for-rails-cache-fetch-still-block-the-fi

faster_fetch.rb

# Another attempt using the built in Rails.cache.fetch (better serialization/deserialization)

class ActiveSupport::Cache::DalliStore
  def fast_fetch(name, options=nil)
    options ||= {}
    name      = expanded_key name
    dupe_name = name+'_dupe'

    if block_given?
      unless options[:force]
        entry = instrument(:read, name, options) do |payload|
          payload[:super_operation] = :fetch if payload
          read_entry(name, options)
        end
      end

      if !entry.nil?
        instrument(:fetch_hit, name, options) { |payload| }
        entry
      else
        Thread.new do
          result = instrument(:generate, name, options) do |payload|
            yield
          end
          write(name, result, options)
          write(dupe_name, result)
        end
        puts 'using old value'
        read(dupe_name)
      end
    else
      read(name, options)
    end
  end
end

fetch_redis.rb

# This is an alternative using redis
require 'yaml'

class Redis
  def fetch key, options=nil
    expires_in = options[:expires_in] || 10.minutes
    race_condition_ttl = options[:race_condition_ttl] || 10.seconds
    key_expires = key + '_expires'

    entry = get(key)
    expires = Time.parse(get(key_expires)) rescue 1.second.ago

    if expires < Time.now
      if entry.nil?
        p 'update in real time'
        new_entry = yield
        set key, YAML::load(new_entry)
        set key_expires, expires_in.from_now
        new_entry
      else
        Thread.new do
          p 'update in background thread'
          new_entry = yield
          set key, YAML::load(new_entry)
          set key_expires, expires_in.from_now
        end
        set key_expires, race_condition_ttl
        YAML::dump(entry) if entry
      end
    else
      YAML::dump(entry) if entry
    end
  end

end

sample_output.rb

irb(main):612:0> REDIS.fetch('test', :expires_in => 6){ sleep 1; Time.now }
"update in real time"
=> "2012-11-12 14:03:26 -0800"
irb(main):612:0> REDIS.fetch('test', :expires_in => 6){ sleep 1; Time.now }
=> "2012-11-12 14:03:26 -0800"
irb(main):612:0> REDIS.fetch('test', :expires_in => 6){ sleep 1; Time.now }
=> "2012-11-12 14:03:26 -0800"
irb(main):613:0> REDIS.fetch('test', :expires_in => 6){ sleep 1; Time.now }
"update in background thread"
=> "2012-11-12 14:03:26 -0800"
irb(main):612:0> REDIS.fetch('test', :expires_in => 6){ sleep 1; Time.now }
=> "2012-11-12 14:03:26 -0800"
irb(main):614:0> REDIS.fetch('test', :expires_in => 6){ sleep 1; Time.now }
=> "2012-11-12 14:03:33 -0800"
irb(main):615:0> REDIS.fetch('test', :expires_in => 6){ sleep 1; Time.now }
=> "2012-11-12 14:03:33 -0800"
irb(main):620:0>

# the first line where it says "update in real time" is the only one that takes 1 second to return

This is a simple modification to https://gist.github.com/barmstrong/4062316 which adds serialization and race_condition_ttl support to the redis adapter.