Upgrading to Ruby 1.9 on Mac OSX 10.4

Question

I have an older powerbook running 10.4. It has Ruby 1.8.2 on it but I want to upgrade to 1.9. Other people suggested using macports and I tried it but am getting some weird errors. Can anyone assist?

sudo port install ruby19 +nosuffix

---> Computing dependencies for ruby19 ---> Configuring gperf Error: Target org.macports.configure returned: configure failure: shell command " cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_devel_gperf/work/gperf-3.0.4" && ./configure --prefix=/opt/local --infodir=/opt/local/share/info " returned error 1 Command output: checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes configure: creating ./config.status config.status: creating Makefile === configuring in lib (/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_devel_gperf/work/gperf-3.0.4/lib) configure: running /bin/sh ./configure '--prefix=/opt/local' '--infodir=/opt/local/share/info' --cache-file=/dev/null --srcdir=. checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes checking for gcc... /usr/bin/gcc-4.0 checking for C compiler default output file name... configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables See `config.log' for more details. configure: error: ./configure failed for lib

Error: The following dependencies failed to build: libiconv gperf ncurses ncursesw openssl zlib readline Error: Status 1 encountered during processing. Before reporting a bug, first run the command again with the -d flag to get complete output.

Answer 1

You need to install Xcode. I think the latest for 10.4 is Xcode 2.5. From http://www.macports.org/install.php :

Please note that in order to install and run MacPorts on Mac OS X, your system must have installations of the following components:

1. Apple's Xcode Developer Tools (version 3.2.1 or later for Snow Leopard, 3.1.4 or later for Leopard, or 2.5 for Tiger), found at the Apple Developer Connection site or on your Mac OS X installation CDs/DVD. Ensure that the optional components for command line development are installed ("Unix Development" in the Xcode 3.x installer).

2. The X11 windowing environment (A.K.A. “X11 User”) for ports that depend on the functionality it provides to run.

*The “X11 User” package is an optional installation on your system CDs/DVD for Tiger, enabled through the “Customize” button of the installer, whereas it is included by default on Leopard and Snow Leopard.

*You can use the xorg-server port instead of Apple's X11.app if you wish.

Check your mac installation disc or download it from apple here (you'll need ADC membership which is free):

http://developer.apple.com/technology/xcode.html