# Installing 1.8.4

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-1-8-4/113412>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [August 30, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-1-8-4/113412 "2007-08-30T21:16:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![andreim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@andreim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/andreim)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-1-8-4/113412/1 "2007-08-30T21:16:28Z")

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Hi,

I’m using some libraries which only work properly in ruby 1.8.4. I  
currently have 1.8.5. What’s the fastest/least painful way to install  
1.8.5?  
I tried  
sudo apt-get install ruby=1.8.5  
but this doesn’t work.  
As you can tell i’m new to ruby/linux/everything.  
Help would be greatly appreciated!!!

–Andrei

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**Author:** ![andreim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@andreim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/andreim)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 9:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-1-8-4/113412/2 "2007-08-30T21:18:33Z")

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Oops! I meant "what’s the fastest way to install 1.8._4_.  
I tried  
sudo apt-get install ruby=1.8.4  
but this doesn’t work.  
Again, I’d like to install 1.8.4 and NOT 1.8.5.

Andrei M. wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I’m using some libraries which only work properly in ruby 1.8.4. I  
> currently have 1.8.5. What’s the fastest/least painful way to install  
> 1.8.5?  
> I tried  
> sudo apt-get install ruby=1.8.5  
> but this doesn’t work.  
> As you can tell i’m new to ruby/linux/everything.  
> Help would be greatly appreciated!!!
> 
> –Andrei

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![andreim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@andreim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/andreim)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-1-8-4/113412/3 "2007-08-30T22:43:52Z")

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Andrei M. wrote:

> Oops! I meant "what’s the fastest way to install 1.8._4_.  
> I tried  
> sudo apt-get install ruby=1.8.4  
> but this doesn’t work.  
> Again, I’d like to install 1.8.4 and NOT 1.8.5.

Check out apt-get’s documentation and the repository you set up in  
sources.lst  
or what ever it is?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![andreim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@andreim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/andreim)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-1-8-4/113412/4 "2007-08-31T17:25:05Z")

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On 8/30/07, Andrei M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> > I’m using some libraries which only work properly in ruby 1.8.4. I  
> > currently have 1.8.5. What’s the fastest/least painful way to install  
> > 1.8.5?  
> > I tried  
> > sudo apt-get install ruby=1.8.5  
> > but this doesn’t work.  
> > As you can tell i’m new to ruby/linux/everything.  
> > Help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hi,

as Terry said before, check if the version is still in the repos you  
use. If so, the command you posted should work.

If not, you can either (1) recompile a version from an older  
repository/release, or (2) compile vanilla sources from [ruby-lang.org](http://ruby-lang.org).

For (1) prevu is easy to use, for (2) just lookup some generic  
install-ruby-on-debian-howto. (basically on ubuntu you’ll need  
build-essential package and then follow the standard unpack, make,  
make test, make install)

Please check details with docs on the web, as I’m not sure here.

J.