# Installing Ruby on Unix

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-on-unix/94479>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [May 4, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-on-unix/94479 "2006-05-04T15:37:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crenner)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-on-unix/94479/1 "2006-05-04T15:37:58Z")

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I am making the leap to learn Ruby and I have tried to follow some  
install instructions for installing Ruby on Unix. I am logged in as root  
and have done the following:

1. autoconf
2. ./configure

The configure command returns the following message:  
“configure: error: cannot run /bin/bash ./config.sub”

Is this a fatal error or is it just stating that the bash shell is not  
used?

Can I continue with the “make” commands or should I resolve this  
problem?

Need assistance: THanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crenner)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-on-unix/94479/2 "2006-05-04T15:45:55Z")

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On May 4, 2006, at 9:38 AM, Chris R. wrote:

> 

I get the feeling that you munged something when you ran ‘autoconf’.  
You shouldn’t need to run autoconf (unless maybe you grabbed ruby  
from CVS). Try re-unpacking the tarball and then:

1. ./configure
2. make
3. make install  
as root

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crenner)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-on-unix/94479/3 "2006-05-04T16:04:14Z")

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On 5/4/06, Chris R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> OK, I’ll try as you suggest.
> 
> Is there any particular place that the tar should be placed for  
> unpacking or does it not matter?
> 
> –  
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).

It does not matter where the tar is expanded; however, for a complete  
build there are some development libraries you will want to have  
installed (off the top of my head, please chime in on the ones I  
missed):

iconv  
readline  
openssl  
zlib

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crenner)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-on-unix/94479/4 "2006-05-04T15:49:33Z")

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OK, I’ll try as you suggest.

Is there any particular place that the tar should be placed for  
unpacking or does it not matter?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crenner)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-on-unix/94479/5 "2006-05-04T16:04:23Z")

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Chris R. wrote:

> OK, I’ll try as you suggest.
> 
> Is there any particular place that the tar should be placed for  
> unpacking or does it not matter?  
> Chris,  
> No it doesn’t matter.

Bill

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@crenner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crenner)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-on-unix/94479/6 "2006-05-04T16:26:04Z")

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GREAT!

I unpacked the archive and ran the ./configure command again. All  
appears to be going well now.

Thanks Patrick and Bill for your help!