# Installing a ruby application and data into /opt/\<myapp\>

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-a-ruby-application-and-data-into-opt-myapp/68664>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [February 15, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-a-ruby-application-and-data-into-opt-myapp/68664 "2006-02-15T17:12:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gregm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@gregm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gregm)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-a-ruby-application-and-data-into-opt-myapp/68664/1 "2006-02-15T17:12:51Z")

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And lo, the client came from afar and said, “Thou shalt make me a web  
application,” and mod\_ruby and PageTemplate came to my rescue. And lo,  
he then said, “Thou shalt interface it with mysql,” and ruby-mysql did  
steppeth up mightily to the task.

But then, said he: "And now, thou shalt maketh an installer to checketh  
for required versions of installed packages, and thou shalt maketh it  
install into /opt/thineapp, with subdirectories of cgi-bin, sql,  
rbsource, data, templates, and all else as thine wish.

And, having said, he left, leaving me with a blank stare as I didst ply  
the ruby application archive and the mighty rubyforge, looking for a  
prior example, an application installer, anything to assuage the client.

I’m about to just give in and make a ./configure --prefix=/opt/myapp ;  
make ; make install script for this, but wanted to ask if there’s any  
ruby installers out there that could do this. setup.rb has served me so  
well in the past.

In particular, I need these features:

- Check for the needed versions of Ruby, ruby-mysql, etc.

- Do a straight cp into /opt, or a configurable directory, and edit some  
ruby files to replace a PREFIX with.

And optionally:

- Run some configuring scripts to set up the database, to edit the  
config.rb for the application (sql passwords, etc), and the like.

Has anyone written such an installer before?

As for what this is: It’s a kind of web-based forum intended for medical  
hospitals, complete with web pages, sample data, etc. It wouldn’t really  
fit anywhere else, and putting it into /usr/bin, /usr/share, etc would  
be a bit of a stretch.

Thanks!

- Greg

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gregm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@gregm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gregm)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-a-ruby-application-and-data-into-opt-myapp/68664/2 "2006-02-15T17:31:10Z")

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On Thu, 16 Feb 2006, Greg M. wrote:

> And, having said, he left, leaving me with a blank stare as I didst ply the
> 
> - Check for the needed versions of Ruby, ruby-mysql, etc.  
> if it were me, i’d simply install the right version of each into /opt.  
> that  
> was the client would break your app by doing something like

gem install mysql # oops, upgrade breaks everything

so

ruby :

```
   export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/lib
   export LD_RUN_PATH=/opt/lib
   export PATH=/opt/bin

   ./configure --prefix=/opt && make && make install

```

gem :

```
   /opt/bin/ruby setup.rb

```

mysql :

```
 /opt/bin/gem install mysql

```

> - Do a straight cp into /opt, or a configurable directory, and edit some ruby  
> files to replace a PREFIX with.

i’d consider using yaml here so you don’t have to ‘edit’ them but can  
easily  
generate them.

> And optionally:
> 
> - Run some configuring scripts to set up the database, to edit the config.rb  
> for the application (sql passwords, etc), and the like.

same here.

> Has anyone written such an installer before?

similar but simpler

[http://codeforpeople.com/lib/ruby/rq/rq-all-2.3.1/install.sh](http://codeforpeople.com/lib/ruby/rq/rq-all-2.3.1/install.sh)

if it did this again i’d just install ruby using /bin/sh and then do the  
rest  
in ruby - not sure why i did the whole thing this way.

cheers.

-a