# EasyRails and PortableRails : Ruby on Rails always on you :)

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/easyrails-and-portablerails-ruby-on-rails-always-on-you/88651>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 13, 2007, 11:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/easyrails-and-portablerails-ruby-on-rails-always-on-you/88651 "2007-03-13T11:18:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/budu)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 11:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/easyrails-and-portablerails-ruby-on-rails-always-on-you/88651/1 "2007-03-13T11:18:22Z")

</div>

This is just a small ad for two packages I’ve made : EasyRails and  
PortableRails.

EasyRails is an installation package that installs all the needed  
software to begin development with Ruby on Rails on a Windows system.  
You don’t need to download, configure or install anything else, just  
download EasyRails, install and let’s rails!

Although this package was created for beginners, it is suitable for  
expert users as well as it currently allows to setup a Windows Rails  
environment far more quickly than manually…

PortableRails is a package that always you to have a full Ruby on Rails  
environment on a USB key or any writable media (Flash, hard drive, etc).  
It always you to run and develop Ruby & Ruby on Rails applications on a  
Windows system, without installing or changing anything on the system.  
It works even if you don’t have admin rights (like on public computers).

All the magic is done thanks to a small Windows executable that  
initializes a Rails environment on the fly.

EasyRails is available on my blog on : [http://www.easyrails.org](http://www.easyrails.org), on  
BerliOS :  
[https://developer.berlios.de/projects/easyrails/](https://developer.berlios.de/projects/easyrails/)  
(soon I’ll put PortableRails on it too, if you want PortableRails now,  
just download it here :  
[http://www.easyrails.org/download/portablerails.zip](http://www.easyrails.org/download/portablerails.zip)).

Good development with Ruby and Ruby on Rails.  
Nicolas.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/budu)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 11:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/easyrails-and-portablerails-ruby-on-rails-always-on-you/88651/2 "2007-03-13T11:46:47Z")

</div>

Hi Nicolas,

Nicolas B. wrote:

Interesting stuff. A couple of questions below.

> EasyRails is an installation package that installs  
> all the needed software to begin development  
> with Ruby on Rails on a Windows system.

I checked out the sites. I only read English, so I was limited to the  
developer site. I was trying to find out what you mean, specifically, by  
‘all the software.’ I couldn’t find a list so I’ll ask. Exactly what  
software is included in the installation? I’ve been using Instant  
Rails.  
The package is getting kind of big with a lot of the stuff I don’t use  
for  
development so I’d consider an alternative.

> PortableRails is a package that always you to have a full Ruby on Rails  
> environment on a USB key or any writable media (Flash, hard drive, etc).  
> It always you to run and develop Ruby & Ruby on Rails applications on a  
> Windows system, without installing or changing anything on the system.  
> It works even if you don’t have admin rights (like on public computers).

This looks like it could be really interesting. Is it the same package  
as  
above?

> All the magic is done thanks to a small Windows executable that  
> initializes a Rails environment on the fly.

What do you mean by “initializes a Rails environment on the fly”? I’m  
assuming that, at least from a developer perspective, it works pretty  
much  
like the Instant Rails Manager. Is that right?

Thanks,  
Bill

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/budu)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 12:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/easyrails-and-portablerails-ruby-on-rails-always-on-you/88651/3 "2007-03-13T12:45:58Z")

</div>

Hi,

@Bill: Nicolas provides a english version of his blog post at [1]

@Nicolas: Nice work. Recently i had to work with rails on windows and  
the  
setup was terrible. I’ll try your stuff.

Bye,  
Tino

[1]  
[http://blog.slainer68.org/1/3/2007/easyrails-a-all-in-1-windows-package-installer-for-ruby-on-rails](http://blog.slainer68.org/1/3/2007/easyrails-a-all-in-1-windows-package-installer-for-ruby-on-rails)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/budu)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/easyrails-and-portablerails-ruby-on-rails-always-on-you/88651/4 "2007-03-13T16:26:57Z")

</div>

> > All the magic is done thanks to a small Windows executable that  
> > initializes a Rails environment on the fly.
> 
> What do you mean by “initializes a Rails environment on the fly”? I’m  
> assuming that, at least from a developer perspective, it works pretty  
> much  
> like the Instant Rails Manager. Is that right?

In order for ruby/rails/mongrel to work directly from the removable  
media (usb key, flash, external hard drive, etc), portablerails includes  
a small windows executable named portablerails.exe. You have to run it.

When it is started, it will modify some ruby files and some RadRails  
configuration files according to the windows environment and the drive  
letter of the media.

Then it will start a MS DOS command with some modified variables (like  
PATH, GEM\_PATH) so that you can use the main ruby commands from any  
directory you access from that command line.

These modified variables are temporary and only for that MS-DOS command.

Because portablerails does not modify the system, it should run even  
with standard user rights on public computers.

Nicolas.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/budu)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/easyrails-and-portablerails-ruby-on-rails-always-on-you/88651/5 "2007-03-13T15:15:10Z")

</div>

Hi Nicolas,

I have this new xp installation in Parallels.  
Now I use that for testing IE.  
So I will try your installer and let you know.  
Very curious doing Rails in windows.  
Never done that because I am a Mac guy.

So thanks.

Peter

Bonjour

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@budu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/budu)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/easyrails-and-portablerails-ruby-on-rails-always-on-you/88651/6 "2007-03-13T16:40:43Z")

</div>

Nicolas B. wrote:

> letter of the media.  
> Cool. So it basically does what IR does at installation, only it does  
> it  
> every time you fire it up. I asked this on your site, but will ask it  
> here  
> too. I didn’t see any mention of database in the list of contents. Is  
> one  
> included in the package?

Thanks,  
Bill