# Can Ruby be compiled against uclibc?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-be-compiled-against-uclibc/105442>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [May 30, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-be-compiled-against-uclibc/105442 "2007-05-30T00:51:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vargadanis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/9e8a1a/32.png) [@vargadanis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vargadanis)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-be-compiled-against-uclibc/105442/1 "2007-05-30T00:51:26Z")

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Hi!

I am trying to target an ARM based system that will have limited  
resources. The primary reason why I want to use uclibc instead of gcc is  
because of the size reduction.  
Does anybody have any kind of idea how could I accomplish this task?  
Just for practice and to see what possible problems could arise I tried  
to compile Ruby against i386-uclibc-linux.  
The output became quite tragic.  
[http://www.hungarydan.com/output\_e.txt](http://www.hungarydan.com/output_e.txt)

Thx Dan

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**Author:** ![vargadanis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/9e8a1a/32.png) [@vargadanis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vargadanis)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-be-compiled-against-uclibc/105442/2 "2007-05-30T03:52:10Z")

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Dani Varga wrote:

> Thx Dan

Yes … the “buildroot” toolset used by Gumstix and others has Ruby in  
it. I think there are other ways to do it. There may be some code of  
mine for the Gumstix on Rubyforge in the “roast” project. I haven’t  
touched it in months, but I think what was there worked and built Ruby.

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**Author:** ![vargadanis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/9e8a1a/32.png) [@vargadanis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vargadanis)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-be-compiled-against-uclibc/105442/3 "2007-05-30T14:16:43Z")

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buildroot is the build system for building busybox/uclibc based linux  
systems. buildroot has ruby as a package, but I have never been able to  
get  
it to work correctly. Depending on the version. sometimes it builds fine  
but  
doesnt work when you run it. I have tried asking on the  
buildroot/busybox  
lists, but no one seems interested. BTW, there is also a python package  
in  
buildroot, which is the same way. It builds usually but run into some  
weird  
stuff when using it.

[http://buildroot.uclibc.org/](http://buildroot.uclibc.org/)

-prabhakar

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vargadanis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/9e8a1a/32.png) [@vargadanis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/vargadanis)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-ruby-be-compiled-against-uclibc/105442/4 "2007-05-30T03:59:42Z")

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M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:

> Dani Varga wrote:
> 
> > Thx Dan
> 
> Yes … the “buildroot” toolset used by Gumstix and others has Ruby in  
> it. I think there are other ways to do it. There may be some code of  
> mine for the Gumstix on Rubyforge in the “roast” project. I haven’t  
> touched it in months, but I think what was there worked and built Ruby.

Ahm… Maybe it is a little bit too late but I am afraid I didn’t get  
what you have just now said. What projects and what is that buildroot?  
pls give me some detailed hints. Thx…