Can't install Ruby on OS X

Question

I'm trying to follow the installation instructions for Ruby on Rails from Hivelogic.com. I've done this before on previous installs of OSX without trouble. I'm having trouble this time installing on Snow Leopard.

At the end of the "make" step installing Ruby, I get a number of errors related to readline. Not sure if this matters, but here they are:

readline.c: In function ‘username_completion_proc_call’:
readline.c:730: error: ‘username_completion_function’ undeclared (first use in this function)
readline.c:730: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
readline.c:730: error: for each function it appears in.)
make[1]: *** [readline.o] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 1

When I try to sudo make install, I get more errors. When I "which ruby", I get /usr/local/bin/ruby which is correct. But as soon as I try to use ruby, I get this message: "You need the Rosetta software to run ruby. The Rosetta installer is in Optional Installs on your Mac OS X installation disc." That's weird, but I installed Rosetta, and was able to proceed.

Except: I still have Ruby1.8.6 installed (not 1.8.7). "ruby -v" reports 1.8.6. 1.8.6 was the version that was migrated (I assume) from the Leopard install on this machine. In other words: where's my new Ruby? How do I get 1.8.7 (required by the current version of Rails) installed correctly?

Answer 1

If you have snow leopard than 1.8.7 is pre-installed in /usr/bin

Answer 2

I've always found macports the best way to install/manage my ruby versions. I have 1.8.6, 1.8.7 and 1.9.1 all installed using macports.

First, grab macports and install it.

Then, update (or create) your ~/.bashrc file to include the following line:

export PATH=/opt/local/bin:$PATH

This places all macports executables in front of you path, so you system will find them first.

Finally, install any of the versions of ruby you want:

sudo port install ruby186
sudo port install ruby
sudo port install ruby19

I also recommend installing rubygems from scratch after ruby is installed. Grab the latest rubygems release here and then run the following from inside the downloaded rubygems directory:

sudo ruby setup.rb

Hope this works out for you.

Answer 3

Another option is to use VirtualBox and install Ubuntu on VirtualBox. Ruby installation and usage is much smoother this way I have found, as I wasted a lot of time trying to get Ruby working properly on the Mac.