# Distributing rails apps for localhost usage **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 5, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/distributing-rails-apps-for-localhost-usage/56900 "2006-04-05T18:08:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stenzer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/distributing-rails-apps-for-localhost-usage/56900/1 "2006-04-05T18:08:58Z")
Has anyone come across any interesting ways to make rails apps easily distributable to run on a local machine. I’d love to be able to “bundle” my rails app into a single file that would contain a simple webserver, database and my rails app which a non-experienced user could then download install on their machine, go to a web browser and run the app locally. I envision it would be something like bundling your rails app with something like the all-in-one Locomotive. Has anybody tried anything like this? I’d love to hear your experience. ---
**Author:** ![stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stenzer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/distributing-rails-apps-for-localhost-usage/56900/2 "2006-04-05T19:32:12Z")
Hi ! 2006/4/5, Steve E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > Has anyone come across any interesting ways to make rails apps easily > distributable to run on a local machine. I’d love to be able to > “bundle” my rails app into a single file that would contain a simple > webserver, database and my rails app which a non-experienced user could > then download install on their machine, go to a web browser and run the > app locally. I envision it would be something like bundling your rails > app with something like the all-in-one Locomotive. Has anybody tried > anything like this? I’d love to hear your experience. Look at rubyscript2exe, a gem. Bye ! ---
**Author:** ![stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stenzer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/distributing-rails-apps-for-localhost-usage/56900/3 "2006-04-05T20:15:00Z")
Steve E. wrote: > Has anyone come across any interesting ways to make rails apps easily > distributable to run on a local machine. I’d love to be able to > “bundle” my rails app into a single file that would contain a simple > webserver, database and my rails app which a non-experienced user could > then download install on their machine, go to a web browser and run the > app locally. I envision it would be something like bundling your rails > app with something like the all-in-one Locomotive. Has anybody tried > anything like this? I’d love to hear your experience. I’ll put in a little plug for using Ackbar and KirbyBase for the database layer (both on RubyForge) and rubyscript2exe to bundle the whole thing into an exe. I’m a little biased on the database side, but the advantage of using Ackbar/KirbyBase for a bundled rails app is ease of deployment, since they are both pure-Ruby. The downside is that Ackbar/KirbyBase only supports a limited subset of SQL. If you need to do complex queries, you will have to use Ruby code blocks. I just completed my first Rails intranet app using Ackbar/KirbyBase for my company. It has been live for a few days and is used by about 20 people in my department. So far, no problems. I plan on posting this app on my website for download as a Ackbar proof-of-concept in a few days. As far as rubyscript2exe goes, I have used this a lot to create Windows gui app exes. It works great. I have yet to bundle a rails app using this tool, but I’m pretty sure Erik, the author, has done this and even written a how-to. HTH, Jamey Confidentiality Notice: This email message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient(s), you are hereby notified that any dissemination, unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution of this email and any materials contained in any attachments is prohibited. If you receive this message in error, or are not the intended recipient(s), please immediately notify the sender by email and destroy all copies of the original message, including attachments. ---
**Author:** ![stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stenzer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/distributing-rails-apps-for-localhost-usage/56900/4 "2006-04-05T20:26:25Z")
François Beausoleil wrote: > Look at rubyscript2exe, a gem. > > Bye ! Thanks so much! Based on your feedback I was able to find a tutorial on how to do this. [http://www.erikveen.dds.nl/distributingrubyapplications/rails.html](http://www.erikveen.dds.nl/distributingrubyapplications/rails.html) Steve ---
**Author:** ![stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@stenzer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stenzer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/distributing-rails-apps-for-localhost-usage/56900/5 "2006-04-05T20:42:22Z")
I would think that Mongrel would be an excellent choice for a web server to distribute with it as well. I tried this out last night and it blows the doors off of WEBrick. Apache might be another good choice, but it seems a bit of overkill for something that would essentially be a desktop app that just happens to run through a server. On Wednesday, April 05, 2006, at 2:12 PM, Jamey C. wrote: > > > > HTH, > and destroy all copies of the original message, including attachments. > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) \_Kevin