diff --git a/lib/sinatra/base.rb b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
index 150f60a4..764da10c 100644
--- a/lib/sinatra/base.rb
+++ b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 require 'thread'
 require 'time'
 require 'uri'
-require 'rack'
-require 'rack/builder'
+require 'sinatra/rack'
 require 'sinatra/showexceptions'
 require 'tilt'
 
@@ -17,17 +16,7 @@ module Sinatra
       @env['HTTP_ACCEPT'].to_s.split(',').map { |a| a.split(';')[0].strip }
     end
 
-    if Rack.release <= "1.2"
-      # Whether or not the web server (or a reverse proxy in front of it) is
-      # using SSL to communicate with the client.
-      def secure?
-        @env['HTTPS'] == 'on' or
-        @env['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] == 'https' or
-        @env['rack.url_scheme'] == 'https'
-      end
-    else
-      alias secure? ssl?
-    end
+    alias secure? ssl?
 
     def forwarded?
       @env.include? "HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST"
diff --git a/lib/sinatra/rack.rb b/lib/sinatra/rack.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..002e0885
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/sinatra/rack.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Rack is rather slow on releases at the moment. Moreover, we cannot upgrade to
+# a new Rack version right away, as this would make us incompatible with Rails.
+# We therefore apply fixes that have not yet made it into a Rack release here.
+#
+# The code in here is extracted from the Rack project.
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Christian Neukirchen <purl.org/net/chneukirchen>
+#
+# Rack is freely distributable under the terms of an MIT-style license.
+# See http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+require 'rack'
+
+if Rack.release <= "1.2"
+  require 'rack/request'
+  require 'rack/logger'
+  require 'rack/methodoverride'
+
+  module Rack
+    class Request
+      def ssl?
+        @env['HTTPS'] == 'on' or
+        @env['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] == 'https' or
+        @env['rack.url_scheme'] == 'https'
+      end
+    end
+
+    class Logger
+      # In Rack 1.2 and earlier, Rack::Logger called env['rack.errors'].close,
+      # which is forbidden in the SPEC and made it impossible to use Rack::Lint.
+      # Also, it might close your log file after the first request, potentially
+      # crashing your web server.
+      def call(env)
+        logger = ::Logger.new(env['rack.errors'])
+        logger.level = @level
+        env['rack.logger'] = logger
+        @app.call(env)
+      end
+    end
+
+    class MethodOverride
+      HTTP_METHODS << "PATCH"
+    end
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file