# OS X reads builtin version of ruby **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [June 25, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/os-x-reads-builtin-version-of-ruby/107715 "2007-06-25T17:13:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Herb_F)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/os-x-reads-builtin-version-of-ruby/107715/1 "2007-06-25T17:13:49Z")
Ok, so i’ve tried to install 1.8.6 in a few ways, the first was building it from source and most recently using macports. I’ve added the correct lines to both my /etc/profile and ~/.bash\_login. Whenever I reload these files manually I get the correct version of ruby by issuing the version command. Can anyone help? I searched the forum for my question but had difficulty finding an answer. Sorry if this has been asked a million times. ---
**Author:** ![Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Herb_F)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/os-x-reads-builtin-version-of-ruby/107715/2 "2007-06-25T17:21:44Z")
On 6/25/07, Herb F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Ok, so i’ve tried to install 1.8.6 in a few ways, the first was building > it from source and most recently using macports. I’ve added the correct > lines to both my /etc/profile and ~/.bash\_login. Whenever I reload these > files manually I get the correct version of ruby by issuing the version > command. Can anyone help? I searched the forum for my question but had > difficulty finding an answer. Sorry if this has been asked a million > times. You need to update your PATH in ~/.bashrc. profile/bash\_profile are run for login shells. Starting a terminal isn’t neessarily going to run a login shell. ---
**Author:** ![Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Herb_F)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/os-x-reads-builtin-version-of-ruby/107715/3 "2007-06-25T17:31:31Z")
> You need to update your PATH in ~/.bashrc. profile/bash\_profile are run > for > login shells. Starting a terminal isn’t neessarily going to run a login > shell. Hi, thanks for the quick reply. It still seems to be reading the old version of ruby over the new one. I updated .bashrc like you said. Is there any way to disable the older version? It seems like its just having a conflict choosing between the two. ---
**Author:** ![Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Herb_F)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/os-x-reads-builtin-version-of-ruby/107715/4 "2007-06-25T18:32:09Z")
Do you have a non-native Python installed? When I followed the HiveLogic directions for installing Ruby (found here: [Dan Benjamin](http://hivelogic.com/narrative/articles/ruby-rails-mongrel-mysql-osx)), I found that OS X would find the correct version of Ruby until I quit Terminal and re-opened it. The problem, it turned out, was Python: the line Python installs in ~/.bash\_profile seemed to be overriding the PATH setting in ~/.bash\_login that the HiveLogic article advised. My solution was to move the Python line from .bash\_profile, and include it in .bash\_login. I then deleted .bash\_profile (or rather, moved it to .bash\_profile.bad.) My .bash\_login now looks like this: * * * ## export PATH=“/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:${PATH}” export RUBYOPT=“-rubygems” which seems to work like a charm. I’m not all that knowledgeable about this stuff, though, so you may better off editing .bashrc, as Herbie advised. ---
**Author:** ![Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Herb_F)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/os-x-reads-builtin-version-of-ruby/107715/5 "2007-06-25T20:14:19Z")
On 25 Jun 2007, at 16:14, Herb F. wrote: > times. > > – > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). The overkill way would be something like sudo mv /usr/bin/ruby /usr/bin/ruby-old-1.8.2 sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/ruby /usr/bin/ruby # or ln -s /opt/ local/bin/ruby … if you want to use the one macports installed BUT you will have to remember to update the link if you want to update ruby – and this is a less good solution than getting the path right in the first place because you have two things to update instead of just one. Getting the path right would involve something like export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/ local/sbin:$PATH in your .profile Then again, expediency is the mother of invention. ---
**Author:** ![Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Herb_F)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/os-x-reads-builtin-version-of-ruby/107715/6 "2007-06-25T23:17:47Z")
Herb F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Ok, so i’ve tried to install 1.8.6 in a few ways, the first was building > it from source and most recently using macports. I’ve added the correct > lines to both my /etc/profile and ~/.bash\_login. Whenever I reload these > files manually I get the correct version of ruby by issuing the version > command. Can anyone help? I searched the forum for my question but had > difficulty finding an answer. Sorry if this has been asked a million > times. What are you actually saying in order to invoke ruby, and where are you invoking it from? The Terminal, for example, is not the same BBEdit. I can only tell you what I did after installing ruby 1.8.5 in /usr/local/bin, which was to edit my .bash\_profile (not my .bash\_login) to include this line: PATH=“/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:$PATH” Here is some output in my terminal: $ echo $PATH /usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin: /usr/sbin $ which ruby /usr/local/bin/ruby $ ruby --version ruby 1.8.5 (2006-08-25) [powerpc-darwin8.7.0] $ ruby -e ‘puts ENV[“PATH”]’ /usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin: /usr/sbin TextMate uses the same shell, so things work there too. But in BBEdit if I just want to use the Run command, I must start the script with an explicit shebang line: #! /usr/local/bin/ruby And even then it does not pick up the new PATH. The solution to _that_ is to edit .MacOSX/environment.plist. You must provide a full, explicit PATH value (there is no variable expansion here). m. ---
**Author:** ![Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Herb\_F](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Herb_F)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 4:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/os-x-reads-builtin-version-of-ruby/107715/7 "2007-06-27T04:56:09Z")
> > > > > “Richard” == Richard L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) writes: ``` Richard> The line Python installs in ~/.bash_profile seemed to be ``` overriding Richard\> the PATH setting in ~/.bash\_login that the HiveLogic article Richard\> advised. ``` Richard> My solution was to move the Python line from .bash_profile, ``` and Richard\> include it in .bash\_login. I then deleted .bash\_profile (or Richard\> rather, moved it to .bash\_profile.bad.) My .bash\_login now looks Richard\> like this: You should move the contents of ‘.bash\_login’ to ‘.bashrc’ For an interactive login shell (like the one you see in OS X Terminal), when bash starts up, it looks for the following files (in the order listed) and reads only the FIRST file it finds (in your case, .bash\_login, since you deleted .bash\_profile): ``` 1. ~/.bash_profile 2. ~/.bash_login 3. ~/.profile (this is mostly for Bourne Shell compatibility) ``` However, a non-login shell will ONLY read ~/.bashrc You can check this behavior by trying out the experiment listed at the bottom of this post. In order to ensure a consistent behavior (e.g. for the shells that you open via Terminal.app and also for the ones that other applications such as BBEdit or TextMate open for you), try the following: 1. Move the content of .bash\_login to .bashrc 2. Delete .bash\_login (after moving its contents) 3. Edit a new .bash\_profile to have the following content: 4. Quit Terminal.app and relaunch. Your PATH related changes should be effective. The bash manual page at: > **[Bash Reference Manual](http://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/bash/manual/bash.html)** > > Bash Reference Manual has all the gory details which will help you here. Another good and succinct article explaining the concept is: [http://jmatrix.net/dao/case/case.jsp?case=7F000001-1C208B0-10C91F4FD67-107](http://jmatrix.net/dao/case/case.jsp?case=7F000001-1C208B0-10C91F4FD67-107) Hope this helps. # =================================== EXPERIMENT As an experiment, try this (first backup your existing files by renaming them to something like .bash\_login.bkp, .bash\_profile.bkp and .bashrc.bkp): Step 1: Create a single line .bash\_profile with the content: ``` echo "bash_profile was read" ``` Step 2: Create a single line .bashrc with the content: ``` echo "bashrc was read" ``` Step 3: Ensure that you have renamed .bash\_login and no such file exists in your home directory. Step 4: Quit the Terminal.app and restart it again (or open a new Terminal Window). You should see this in the Terminal window: ``` bash_profile was read This indicates that only bash_profile is read on an interactive ``` login terminal. Step 5: Now enter the following command to start another interactive (BUT non-login bash shell: ``` $ bash You should see the following: bashrc was read ``` This indicates that this time around, only .bashrc was read by the shell, since it determined that it is _not_ a login shell. Step 6: Revert back all files from the .bkp versions you had created earlier. ===============================================================================