Using the GridStore.open and GridStore.new methods, it's possible to specify a :root option, which allows one to change the default root collection where a file will be stored. I can't see a way through the GridStore.unlink class method to unlink a file in an alternate root collection.

It seems the only way to actually accomplish the deletion is to call GridStore.new(db, name, 'r', :root => 'root_name') and do what the 'unlink' method is doing "by hand."

I've included a little script that shows what i'm talking about.

Perhaps the following would be an improvement?

def self.unlink(db, *names)
opts = names.last.kind_of?(Hash) ? names.pop : {}

names.each do |name|
gs = GridStore.new(db, name, 'r', opts)
gs.send(:delete_chunks) # does this work in 1.9 ?
gs.collection.remove('_id' => gs.files_id)
end
end

Then you could do:

> GridStore.unlink(db, 'filename1', 'filename2', 'filename3', :root => 'alt_root')

Admittedly, the 'r' is kind of ugly, but this would have the desired effect and would also allow the method to keep its varargs signature.