Issues with using ruby (on rails) in 64-bit multiple platforms

Question

Has anyone used ruby in 64-bit environments in various platforms (HP=UX, Solaris, AIX etc.) in a commercial production environment that heavily relies on database.

Have you faced any issues / bugs during these times?

I know that overall things look ok. Compilation, deployment etc. I would like to know if you encountered any 'gotcha's

Thanks.

Answer 1

I have no issues with Debian on a 64 bit platform. The only issues I've had with 64 bit linux environments is related to things like the flash plugin for Firefox.

Edit: I used Debian on a server and a laptop. The firefox problem was only on the laptop. (For obvious reasons)

Answer 2

We use it on 64-bit freebsd (mysql database server). Ruby itself has been fine.

There was an issue with phusion passenger a while ago, but it's since been fixed, and we've had some issues with C extensions (notably RMagick), but we've been able to overcome them all.
RMagick didn't crash, but had a bug where it wouldn't produce valid output when compositing TIFF files with clipping paths.

If you don't rely on any obscure C extensions I'd say you'll be fine.

Answer 3

I run both 32 bit and 64 bit ruby on Solaris 10. Compiling extensions for 64-bit AMD64 can be a little tricky. There exists a Sybase driver, which works but has a couple of bugs. The Oracle driver is a little better. It's not the most common setup, so finding help can be a bit difficult.

I'm running Ruby 1.8.6-p287. Later versions have caused issues. I usually compile 32 bit ruby with gcc and 64 bit with Sun C 5.8.

Answer 4

I had to use 32-bit MySQL on my 64-bit MacBookPro with rails b/c mysql.gem couldn't handle 64-bit MySQL.

Answer 5

I'm sorry I've not experiences with Ruby on anything else but Linux. As epochwolf has written I have also not troubles with Debian, Postgres, Rails, (neither with Apache and passenger nor with Mongrel cluster. So I'm using probably the most widely used platform for Ruby, so I'd expect that there are less problems. I've done my share of AIX administration but to that time ruby was not even known. So I can't tell if Ruby is that stabel on other Unices. However it seems one can get around this in two ways 1) just try it on others systems but Linux (or some BSD (be it Free, Open, or Net) 2) if you encounter problems use a server under Linux and/or some BSD whic is known to work.

Regards Friedrich