# 1.8 and 1.9 on arch linux **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [April 20, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932 "2009-04-20T04:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Martin_DeMello)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932/1 "2009-04-20T04:39:52Z")
Anyone on arch linux? I’m trying to get ruby 1.8 and 1.9 playing nicely together so that I can easily switch the default “ruby” and have everything else (rake, irb, rdoc etc) adjust itself accordingly, ideally without subverting the package manager too much. martin ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Martin_DeMello)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932/2 "2009-04-20T04:41:02Z")
yes - me! saji - Martin DeMello [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [2009-04-20 11:39:05 +0900]: > Anyone on arch linux? I’m trying to get ruby 1.8 and 1.9 playing > nicely together so that I can easily switch the default “ruby” and > have everything else (rake, irb, rdoc etc) adjust itself accordingly, > ideally without subverting the package manager too much. > > martin – Saji N. Hameed APEC Climate Center 1463 U-dong, Haeundae-gu, +82 51 745 3951 BUSAN 612-020, KOREA removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Fax: +82-51-745-3999 ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Martin_DeMello)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932/3 "2009-04-20T04:48:38Z")
> yes - me! sorry, my reply was incomplete… in my case, i just compiled 1.9 separately in a separate directory without using the package manager, and aliased the 1.9 version using ruby19 and irb19. In case of 1.9, gems get installed under the 1.9 installation root without disturbing the main ruby installation. So I guess rake, rdoc etc should work fine if you use either one (1.8 or 1.9) i don’t know if my answer helps much… 🙂 saji > > martin – Saji N. Hameed APEC Climate Center 1463 U-dong, Haeundae-gu, +82 51 745 3951 BUSAN 612-020, KOREA removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Fax: +82-51-745-3999 ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Martin_DeMello)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932/4 "2009-04-20T05:03:15Z")
On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 8:17 AM, Saji N. Hameed [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > yes - me! > > sorry, my reply was incomplete… in my case, i just compiled 1.9 separately > in a separate directory without using the package manager, and aliased > the 1.9 version using ruby19 and irb19. In case of 1.9, gems get installed > under the 1.9 installation root without disturbing the main ruby installation. > So I guess rake, rdoc etc should work fine if you use either one (1.8 or 1.9) > > i don’t know if my answer helps much… 🙂 I have that much working already 🙂 What I want to do is have the default ruby switch between 1.8 and 1.9 when I run a command - right now I run 1.8 as ‘ruby’ and 1.9 as ruby-1.9. I hacked something up by manually renaming ruby to ruby-1.8 and adding symlinks, but I was hoping there was some sort of standard way to do it. martin ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Martin_DeMello)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932/5 "2009-04-20T17:51:26Z")
Saji N. Hameed escribió:\> > > > ideally without subverting the package manager too much. > > > BUSAN 612-020, KOREA removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > > > Fax: +82-51-745-3999 – Pablo R. Digonzelli Socio Gerente Software Solutions IP Soluciones 25 de Mayo 521 San Miguel de Tucuman 0381 4304441 ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Martin_DeMello)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932/6 "2009-04-20T19:34:13Z")
Implement something like the following: #!/bin/bash if [$# -eq 0]; then version=9 else case $1 in -h|-H) echo “usage: $(basename $0) -8|-9 | [-h]”; exit;; 8|-8) version=8;; 9|-9) version=9;; \*) echo Illegal argument; exit;; esac fi if [$version = 9] ;then echo Currently your ruby version is 1.9 rm /usr/bin/ruby ln -s /usr/bin/ruby1.9 /usr/bin/ruby rm /usr/bin/irb ln -s /usr/bin/irb1.9 /usr/bin/irb else echo Currently your ruby version is 1.8 rm /usr/bin/ruby ln -s /usr/bin/ruby1.8 /usr/bin/ruby rm /usr/bin/irb ln -s /usr/bin/irb1.8 /usr/bin/irb fi ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Martin_DeMello)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 10:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932/7 "2009-04-20T10:23:14Z")
> installation. > > martin If you are using a Debian based system, you may want to take a look at update-alternatives: it maintains symbolic links determining default commands (aka. Debian alternatives system) Cheers Alex ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Martin_DeMello)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932/8 "2009-04-20T20:06:54Z")
#!/bin/bash if [$# -eq 0]; then version=9 else case $1 in -h|-H) echo “usage: $(basename $0) -8|-9 | [-h]”; exit;; 8|-8) version=8;; 9|-9) version=9;; \*) echo Illegal argument; exit;; esac fi if [$version = 9] ;then echo Currently your ruby version is 1.9 rm /usr/bin/ruby ln -s $(which ruby1.9) /usr/bin/ruby rm /usr/bin/irb ln -s $(which irb1.9) /usr/bin/irb else echo Currently your ruby version is 1.8 rm /usr/bin/ruby ln -s $(which ruby1.8) /usr/bin/ruby rm /usr/bin/irb ln -s $(which irb1.8) /usr/bin/irb fi If you installed all versions of your ruby in standard places or if your path is pointing to them as it should, the above code is more appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Martin\_DeMello](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Martin_DeMello)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/1-8-and-1-9-on-arch-linux/165932/9 "2009-04-21T00:52:50Z")
Martin DeMello wrote: > I have that much working already 🙂 What I want to do is have the > default ruby switch between 1.8 and 1.9 when I run a command - right > now I run 1.8 as ‘ruby’ and 1.9 as ruby-1.9. I hacked something up by > manually renaming ruby to ruby-1.8 and adding symlinks, but I was > hoping there was some sort of standard way to do it. I’m not sure if it’s going to help, but what I did was compile ruby1.8 and 1.9 in separate directories (/opt/ruby/1.8 and /opt/ruby/1.9) and then prepend either /opt/ruby/1.8/bin or /opt/ruby/1.9/bin to the $PATH depending on which version I want to use. Daniel