# Anyone shipping an installed rails application?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/anyone-shipping-an-installed-rails-application/89877>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 23, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/anyone-shipping-an-installed-rails-application/89877 "2007-03-23T14:07:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![devdiscuss](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@devdiscuss](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/devdiscuss)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/anyone-shipping-an-installed-rails-application/89877/1 "2007-03-23T14:07:44Z")

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I am planning to build a browser based web application for business  
users. I need the application to be downloadable and installable on  
their own local server. I love rails and the productivity it  
provided, however; I’m not wild about leaving the source code wide  
open with doing so. Are there any solutions that are proven currently  
in the rails camp for this usage scenario?

Thanks for any advice and insights!

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**Author:** ![devdiscuss](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@devdiscuss](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/devdiscuss)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/anyone-shipping-an-installed-rails-application/89877/2 "2007-03-23T19:39:03Z")

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Why would you want a downloaded browser based application? The  
primary benefit of web apps is that you can update them at any time  
without a rollout of the app to users. Desktop based apps will  
always have interface/speed benefits over web based apps. If  
anything, a hybrid, like iTunes would make more sense if you need the  
download, while still having some data pulled in from a remote source.

That being said, there are some options with jRuby to “compile” your  
ruby code into Java which may improve performance while also hiding  
your source from those you distribute the source to. As with  
anything that is a hack, this may not work well in all cases, so I’d  
suggest really evaluating if you need a web app local to begin with.

Niels

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**Author:** ![devdiscuss](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@devdiscuss](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/devdiscuss)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 12:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/anyone-shipping-an-installed-rails-application/89877/3 "2007-03-26T12:59:22Z")

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On 3/23/07, devdiscuss [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I am planning to build a browser based web application for business  
> users. I need the application to be downloadable and installable on  
> their own local server. I love rails and the productivity it  
> provided, however; I’m not wild about leaving the source code wide  
> open with doing so. Are there any solutions that are proven currently  
> in the rails camp for this usage scenario?

Don’t know about proven, but you could try RubyScript2exe. Or any of the  
methods that physically compile your source.

on JRuby you do get to distribute your ruby code in a Jar.

You might also want to look at Slingshot by Joylent - which is a way  
to desktop-ize your Rails apps. Perhaps they have considered the  
angle to obfuscate or hide source form end users.