# Features diff between 1.8.5 and 1.8.6

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/features-diff-between-1-8-5-and-1-8-6/160491>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [February 16, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/features-diff-between-1-8-5-and-1-8-6/160491 "2009-02-16T23:47:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jersingh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@jersingh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jersingh)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/features-diff-between-1-8-5-and-1-8-6/160491/1 "2009-02-16T23:47:25Z")

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We’ve got a redhat 5.3 64bit server under support. Out of curiosity, I  
posted a question to redhat as to why they support 1.8.5 and not 1.8.6.  
(It seems I was having trouble installing the mysql gem after I  
installed 1.8.6 from an unsupported repo).

They came back with “what specific features are you looking for in 1.8.6  
that aren’t in 1.8.5.”

Fair enough. So can anyone give a quick rundown on what’s in 8.6 as  
opposed to 8.5? New features, bug fixes, that kind of thing.

Thanks

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**Author:** ![jersingh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@jersingh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jersingh)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/features-diff-between-1-8-5-and-1-8-6/160491/2 "2009-02-17T01:51:11Z")

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Hi,

At Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:47:24 +0900,  
Joe Ersinghaus wrote in [ruby-talk:328467]:

> They came back with “what specific features are you looking for in 1.8.6  
> that aren’t in 1.8.5.”
> 
> Fair enough. So can anyone give a quick rundown on what’s in 8.6 as  
> opposed to 8.5? New features, bug fixes, that kind of thing.

- 1.8.5 maintenance has finished already, so any security fixes  
won’t be provided anymore.
- Rails 1.2 doesn’t work with 1.8.5.
- many many bug fixes.

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**Author:** ![jersingh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@jersingh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jersingh)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/features-diff-between-1-8-5-and-1-8-6/160491/3 "2009-02-17T02:26:17Z")

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On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 4:48 PM, Nobuyoshi N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> - 1.8.5 maintenance has finished already, so any security fixes  
> won’t be provided anymore.
> - Rails 1.2 doesn’t work with 1.8.5.
> - many many bug fixes.

I pointed that out to the Red Hat people when the Ruby core team  
announced that 1.8.5 maintenance had ended. Their response was, “We  
know what we are doing, we are in this business to make a profit, go  
away”, although not in those words. 🙂 Yet another communication  
disconnect between an open source community and a Linux distributor,  
in this case a commercial one. If Rails is as important as I hope it  
is, I sense a business opportunity. And I’m guessing there are people  
who have already acted upon it. 🙂

–  
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky

I’ve never met a happy clam. In fact, most of them were pretty steamed.