# Installing on MaxOSX?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-on-maxosx/49983>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 11, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-on-maxosx/49983 "2005-12-11T17:27:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-on-maxosx/49983/1 "2005-12-11T17:27:08Z")

</div>

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Are there installation instructions for Mac OS X somewhere?

Log so far:

- Downloaded source files, unzipped, removed the black stuff.
- Read the README. Accordingly:
- Checked that configure was a recent copy.
- typed ./configure
- typed make
- typed make test (successful)
- typed sudo make install  
(didn’t know at this stage that mac already comes with ruby  
installed.  
The last step probably replaced the preinstalled version if any.  
I don’t really mind as the impression I get of Ruby is that it’s a  
fast  
developing language and so it’s worth having the most up to date  
copy.)

Now the exciting bit: typed ruby.  
Basically nothing happens. I can type commands but there is no prompt  
and  
the commands never return anything:

…/Languages/Ruby/ruby-1.8.3 max$ ruby  
1  
1\*2  
print “ElloElloEllo”  
[pressed control C to escape]

Is there any more information I need to provide when compiling?

On the ruby wiki the installation instructions mention how to inform the  
compiler of the location of X11, Tk, Tcl and a few other packages like  
that, however make test succeeded so I doubt this. What are all the  
dependencies? Why, for instance, might X11 be needed for a command line  
program?

Does any of you use Mac OS X? How do you compile? Did you have to  
install any other packages first?

Best Wishes, Max

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-on-maxosx/49983/2 "2005-12-11T17:27:25Z")

</div>

> Max-

```
You use the ruby command to run scripts that you type into a file.

```

Try to do thye same thing you did by typing ruby at the cli prompt  
and then after typing a few expressions, hit Cntrl-D. That will cause  
the code to execute. But You are better off using interactive ruby to  
play with ruby on the command line. Type irb at your command line and  
you will see what happens.

Cheers-

-Ezra Z.  
Yakima Herald-Republic  
WebMaster  
[http://yakimaherald.com](http://yakimaherald.com)  
509-577-7732  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-on-maxosx/49983/3 "2005-12-11T17:27:25Z")

</div>

On Dec 1, 2005, at 22:36, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote:

> …/Languages/Ruby/ruby-1.8.3 max$ ruby  
> 1  
> 1\*2  
> print “ElloElloEllo”  
> [pressed control C to escape]

By default, Ruby installs to /usr/local/bin/ruby, while the original  
one is at /usr/bin/ruby - so unless you changed it, the original’s  
still there. You can set your path variable to determine which one  
to use. Mac’s default Ruby is subtley broken, so you’re likely  
better off in the long run installing your own.

If you just type Ruby, then the interpreter is reading from the  
standard input as if it were a file (this is pretty standard  
behaviour, perl works the same way). If you hit ctrl-D (which  
indicates end-of-file) you should see something happen. If nothing  
happens when you do that, then something is very definitely UP.

Something better to try would be running ‘irb’ which is the  
interactive interpreter, which sounds like what you were expecting to  
get in the first place.

good luck,  
matthew smillie.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-on-maxosx/49983/4 "2005-12-11T17:27:26Z")

</div>

Thanks very much. That’s gut! Sehr gut.

Regards, Max