Problem with Ruby on Rails on Windows[msvcrt-ruby18.dll error] - newbie questions

Question

Hi everyone, I have installed Ruby 1.9.1 recently. Everything went fine, I installed the devkit, gems, rails and decided to use RadRails IDE. But, when I typed "ruby script/server" command, I got the error message telling me that msvcrt-ruby18.dll was not found. Still, I was able to run the WEBrick server. I also tried to open "http://localhost:3000" in my web browser - everything was fine, except this: when I clicked "About your application's environment", I got the error message that "something is not working" (or something similar). My OS is Vista Ultimate 64-bit. I have several questions: 1. I did some research and it seems that the problem is with the gem binaries - they are built on another version. If this is the case, how can I fix this? Should I use previous version of Ruby? Which version should I use? And, how serious is this problem? Am I missing something? 2. It seems that Aptana RadRails IDE installs all the needed gems when it is started for the first time. I guess that you do not need to install those gems manually after Ruby installation? 3. Should I run Ruby on Ubuntu instead? I can install Virtual Box and run the Ubuntu.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I fought with windows ruby development for over a year. I gave up and switched to Ubuntu and am quite happy with it.

When I switched i got the following benefit: -about a 30% ruby speed increase -gems just install properly and work - native libraries build. -my development machine now matches my deployment environment -none of the windows ssh key hassles. -about a quarter of my debugging mental space was freed up by not wondering "Is this a windows problem or my code?" -far less yak shaving

Now to address your specific problem try the steps outlined in this message and the one that follows it.

Good luck

Answer 2

The current release version 1.1.5 of Mongrel is incompatible with Ruby 1.9 and throws this error when it is run. It's easy to solve - just make sure Rubygems is up-to-date:

gem update --system

Then install the new pre-release version of Mongrel:

gem install mongrel --pre

Answer 3

I tried switching from Windows to Ubuntu and had the same, if not more trouble getting Ruby + Rails to work properly. In my opinion Rails especially is still in a state where if you aren't personally involved in the project, it is very hard to start using. I hear a lot of people talk about how easy it is to use Ruby on Rails, when in reality if you want to create anything more than a blog application (which is what 99% of it's tutorials are about) you end up spending just as much time as with any other framework.