Ruby-debug and Windows 7

Ruby
1

Hello -

I am new to Ruby. I have Ruby 1.93 on Windows 7 Home Premium.

To install a debugger I gather one has to install DevKit first. I have
done this,
from the self-installer DevKit-4.5.0-20100819-1536-sfx.exe, but when I
try to install
ruby-debug it makes no difference.

My next guess is to install a different version of DevKit but first I
will have to
uninstall the present version. Can this be done?

Alternatively, are there any debugging facilities that can be installed
on Windows
without hassle?

Up to now the conversation has been as follows: (I use “indexing” as
home directory):-

[C:\DevKit]ruby dk.rb init
[INFO] found RubyInstaller v1.9.3 at C:/Ruby193

Initialization complete! Please review and modify the auto-generated
‘config.yml’ file to ensure it contains the root directories to all
of the installed Rubies you want enhanced by the DevKit.

[C:\DevKit]b config.yml

[C:\DevKit]ruby dk.rb install
[INFO] RubyGems override already in place for C:/Ruby193, skipping.
[INFO] Installing C:/Ruby193/lib/ruby/site_ruby/devkit.rb

[C:\DevKit]cd -

[C:\Indexing]gem install ruby-debug
Fetching: rbx-require-relative-0.0.9.gem (100%)
Fetching: linecache-0.46.gem (100%)
ERROR: Error installing ruby-debug:
The ‘linecache’ native gem requires installed build tools.

Please update your PATH to include build tools or download the DevKit
from ‘Downloads’ and follow the instructions
at ‘Development Kit · oneclick/rubyinstaller Wiki · GitHub’

2

ruby-debug on Windows and 1.9.x is a problem many people have. If you
want strictly ruby-debug for Ruby 1.9.x the package you are looking for
is ruby-debug19, not ruby-debug.

I have rewritten ruby-debug for Ruby 1.9 and called it trepanning. See
http://github.com/rocky/trepanning. However it requires a patched
version of Ruby to run because the run-time support for good debugging
got removed between 1.8 and 1.9. ruby-debug19 tries to workaround the
lack of support whereas in trepanning, I try to address this head-on by
adding the support in the Ruby runtime.

I have been able to get all of this working on cygwin without too much
trouble, and would be amenable to trying to provide prebuild “oneclick”
executables for native Windows7 (see
GitHub - oneclick/rubyinstaller: RubyInstaller for Windows - Build recipes). So perhaps if someone is
willing to help, that my be a possibility in the future.

But currently I have not been able to build Ruby 1.9.3 with the oneclick
installer even without my patches.

3

Hi John,

Am very much new to Ruby too. I’m learning ruby through a
interpreter+debugger on www.codeacademy.com.

I prefer this because they take you through the basics, literally
holding your hands (I’m very new to programming as well).

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Ram

4

On 28/12/2012 10:10, Rocky B. wrote:

ruby-debug on Windows and 1.9.x is a problem many people have. If you
want strictly ruby-debug for Ruby 1.9.x the package you are looking for
is ruby-debug19, not ruby-debug.

[snip]

Thanks for the info.

Ruby-debug19 doesn’t install either.

I don’t necessarily want ruby-debug but it is the debugger covered in
the Pickaxe book
which describes Ruby 1.9.

Perhaps Windows programmers are seen as too intelligent to need
debuggers.

Meanwhile, is DevKit-4.5.0-20100819-1536-sfx.exe an appropriate version
for
the current version of Ruby? I downloaded it from a third-party website.

5

I’m stuck on the new version at trying to do something very simple.
When I try to click “new” context menu in windows to open a new ruby
program, there is no option to open a new ruby program. Has anybody
else had this problem and know how to fix it? This is my first outing
into programming of any kind so please explain it to me like I’m a
little kid.

6

On 12/28/12, Lee V. [email protected] wrote:

I’m stuck on the new version at trying to do something very simple.
When I try to click “new” context menu in windows to open a new ruby
program, there is no option to open a new ruby program. Has anybody
else had this problem and know how to fix it? This is my first outing
into programming of any kind so please explain it to me like I’m a
little kid.

are you referring to the windows explorer “right click in a folder →
new → XXX” ?

7

On 12/28/12, John S. [email protected] wrote:

Ruby-debug19 doesn’t install either.
failure message?

I don’t necessarily want ruby-debug but it is the debugger covered in
the Pickaxe book
which describes Ruby 1.9.

Perhaps Windows programmers are seen as too intelligent to need debuggers.

Meanwhile, is DevKit-4.5.0-20100819-1536-sfx.exe an appropriate version for
the current version of Ruby? I downloaded it from a third-party website.

That should work, you can get a slightly newer version at

8

On 10/01/2013 14:44, Roger P. wrote:

Meanwhile, is DevKit-4.5.0-20100819-1536-sfx.exe an appropriate version for
the current version of Ruby? I downloaded it from a third-party website.
That should work, you can get a slightly newer version at rubyinstaller.org

This was some time ago, so I have forgotten what the failure message
was.

Thanks for the info about Devkit.

I didn’t pursue the matter of the debugger - for me the complexities of
getting a Ruby debugger
working on Windows 7 would be more trouble than they were worth.

Not having invested heavily in Ruby, I aim to move to a programming
environment that has a working debugger. This of course reflects my
particular aims and
circumstances.

9

On 12/28/12, Rocky B. [email protected] wrote:

ruby-debug on Windows and 1.9.x is a problem many people have. If you
want strictly ruby-debug for Ruby 1.9.x the package you are looking for
is ruby-debug19, not ruby-debug.

I have rewritten ruby-debug for Ruby 1.9 and called it trepanning. See
http://github.com/rocky/trepanning. However it requires a patched
version of Ruby to run because the run-time support for good debugging
got removed between 1.8 and 1.9. ruby-debug19 tries to workaround the
lack of support whereas in trepanning, I try to address this head-on by
adding the support in the Ruby runtime.

Hope it gets accepted upstream some day :slight_smile:

10

On 1/10/13, John S. [email protected] wrote:

Thanks for the info.
debuggers.

Thanks for the info about Devkit.

I didn’t pursue the matter of the debugger - for me the complexities of
getting a Ruby debugger
working on Windows 7 would be more trouble than they were worth.

Not having invested heavily in Ruby, I aim to move to a programming
environment that has a working debugger. This of course reflects my
particular aims and
circumstances.

Yes, it “should” just work, sorry for the run around in this case.