Dev server -- which Ruby?

Rails
1

I have a development server running Mac OS X Server 10.5, using Ruby
1.8.6. It’s been quite a while since I set this up, but I think I
built it with Dan Benjamin’s recipe, so it might be a compiled from
scratch Ruby, rather than the one that shipped with Server 10.5.

I have some sites in progress using Rails 2.3.8 and 2.3.5, but I would
like to try Rails 3. Is there a version of Ruby I can install on the
server which will straddle both of those rowboats without pitching me
into the river? I don’t want to upgrade the other sites, and I don’t
want to have a bad experience with Rails 3.

Any suggestions?

Walter

2

I would suggest using RVM: http://rvm.beginrescueend.com/ so that you
can
use 1.8.7 / REE for your 2.3.X sites and 1.9.2 for Rails 3.X sites. No
need to pick one specific ruby.

Patrick R.

3

How would that work in a server environment, where I’m running behind
Apache 2.2 and Passenger? How would I pick a Ruby in that case?

Walter

4

You’re right. But if you look at the very first item on the page, they
say that you have to pick one Ruby for all instances running inside of
Passenger. I am running Passenger 2.2.15.

I appreciate the suggestion, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to
help in terms of being able to run multiple projects with separate
Rubies for each.

Is Ruby 1.8.7 compatible both with Rails 2.3.5-8 and 3? Or do you need
to be in 1.9.x for Rails 3?

Walter

5

On Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 11:05 AM, Patrick R.
[email protected] wrote:

I would suggest using RVM

Alternatively, use a VM like VirtualBox and have a complete isolated
instance to play with, which you can also snapshot/revert easily.

–
Hassan S. ------------------------ [email protected]
twitter: @hassan

6

RVM has passenger integration documentation on their site that is pretty
darn good:
http://rvm.beginrescueend.com/integration/passenger/

Patrick R.

7

On Sep 21, 8:13 pm, Walter Lee D. [email protected] wrote:

How would that work in a server environment, where I’m running behind
Apache 2.2 and Passenger? How would I pick a Ruby in that case?

http://blog.phusion.nl/2010/09/21/phusion-passenger-running-multiple-ruby-versions/

8

On Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 1:32 PM, Walter Lee D.
[email protected]wrote:

Walter

Yes, Ruby 1.8.7 is compatible with Rails 2.3.x and 3.0. See:
Getting Started with Rails — Ruby on Rails Guides, in the first section
it
recommends Ruby 1.8.7 or greater, with a warning about specific versions
that are incompatible.

Adam S.

9

Walter D. wrote:

Thanks, that sounds like the middle path for me to take with this
server. The Passenger stuff sounds like a better project for when I
have more time to fiddle, or I get another Xserve.

When I update Ruby from 1.8.6 to 1.8.7, do I need to update gems
(speaking in general, I realize the specifics might make a
difference).

I don’t see why you would. Since the gems are interpreted, I would
expect then to have all the code they need to run on both versions. (If
they were compiled, I could imagine one version or the other getting
optimized away depending on compilation target.)

Do gems need to be “compiled” differently for different
versions of the language?

Gems aren’t compiled at all! Ruby is interpreted.

Some gems have compiled native extensions that are called by Ruby, but I
assume those would be the same between 1.8.6 and 1.8.7.

Walter

Best,
–Â
Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

10

On Sep 22, 8:22 am, Marnen Laibow-Koser [email protected] wrote:

Gems aren’t compiled at all! Ruby is interpreted.

Some gems have compiled native extensions that are called by Ruby, but I
assume those would be the same between 1.8.6 and 1.8.7.

No, native extensions should be recompiled when you upgrade from 1.8.6
to 1.8.7 because the API and ABI has changed slightly.

11

Thanks, that sounds like the middle path for me to take with this
server. The Passenger stuff sounds like a better project for when I
have more time to fiddle, or I get another Xserve.

When I update Ruby from 1.8.6 to 1.8.7, do I need to update gems
(speaking in general, I realize the specifics might make a
difference). Do gems need to be “compiled” differently for different
versions of the language?

Walter

12

Thanks all, I think I have my weekend cut out for me! I just
encountered a gem update that I thought was minor (friendly_id 1.0.12
to 1.0.13) but which enforced a Ruby 1.8.7 minimum. So I suppose I’m
prepared to need to do gem updates to keep everything working. Marnen,
how would you identify a “native” extension? Is it a short list?

Thanks,

Walter