# Re: Why Does Ruby on Debian Blow? (Was: Mongrel 3.15, **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-why-does-ruby-on-debian-blow-was-mongrel-3-15/59357 "2006-05-03T18:58:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean-lerner)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-why-does-ruby-on-debian-blow-was-mongrel-3-15/59357/1 "2006-05-03T18:58:18Z")
I had no problems. It pretty much boils down to three steps: 1. Install Ruby via deb. 2. Install ruby gems using the instructions for installing ruby gems. 3. Install rails and everything else via gems. browse the following write-up: [http://brainspl.at/rails\_stack.html](http://brainspl.at/rails_stack.html) Follow the instructions for installing the Ruby deb, and a few others. (You can do it all in one line) Then follow the instructions to install rubygems. (this is the same for Mac and Windows as in any Linux distro) Then use gems to install rails. (This is the same in Windows and Mac and any Linux distro) (BTW: Instructions for Windows follow these three steps as well, but the first is install Ruby with a Windows installer, install gems, install rails via gems: [http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/RailsOnWindows](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/RailsOnWindows)) * * * Or go here: [http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/RailsOnDebian](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/RailsOnDebian) There are several sets of instructions, depending of stable, testing, whatever. If you want a nice quick ref for debian: debian reference card: [http://people.debian.org/~debacle/refcard/refcard-en-a4.pdf](http://people.debian.org/~debacle/refcard/refcard-en-a4.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean-lerner)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-why-does-ruby-on-debian-blow-was-mongrel-3-15/59357/2 "2006-05-03T18:58:20Z")
On 5/1/06, Sean L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Follow the instructions for installing the Ruby deb, and a few others. > install rails via gems: > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) That won’t help you if you want Ruby 1.8.4, though. I ended up using the “apt-get source ruby1.8” method from the testing repository, and that worked well… but still, “apt-get install ruby” should install the latest stable release of Ruby, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean-lerner)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-why-does-ruby-on-debian-blow-was-mongrel-3-15/59357/3 "2006-05-03T18:58:27Z")
Wilson B. wrote: > That won’t help you if you want Ruby 1.8.4, though. > I ended up using the “apt-get source ruby1.8” method from the testing > repository, and that worked well… but still, “apt-get install ruby” > should install the latest stable release of Ruby, in my opinion. > That would be convenient… except for when the latest ‘stable release’ > has a bunch of problems with other packages and doesn’t play nice. To > take a concrete example, 1.8.3 was the stable release for a while. That > turned out to be a stunningly bad plan. Filtering out that sort of > problem is in the purview of the distro maintainers - that’s precisely > why Debian (at least in theory) has Stable, Testing and Unstable. The one and only problem I personally have with Debian is the dog-slow release schedule, but that’s balanced by a completely predictable package system - which in itself is worth its weight in gold. The Rails community has been bitten by the release schedule particularly badly, because Rails has exploded while Debian is in a pretty major lull between releases. For what it’s worth, I think Ubuntu’s got it right with its 6 month cycle. We often forget that Rails is, compared to most of the contents of a distro, absolutely cutting edge stuff, and I’ve got no problems making allowances for the fact that the feature set for my chosen distro was frozen well before Rails 1.0 hit. The fact that the Ruby universe doesn’t map well to the Debian package set is unfortunate. Unfortunate, but hardly insurmountable - it’s just not the sweet spot, just like legacy integration databases aren’t in Rails’ sweet spot. I do have a question, though: what makes RubyGems less suitable for Debian than CPAN or PEAR? Are they equally damned? ---
**Author:** ![sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean-lerner)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-why-does-ruby-on-debian-blow-was-mongrel-3-15/59357/4 "2006-05-03T18:58:48Z")
On Mon, May 01, 2006 at 03:38:55PM -0400, Wilson B. wrote: > I ended up using the “apt-get source ruby1.8” method from the testing > repository, and that worked well… but still, “apt-get install ruby” > should install the latest stable release of Ruby, in my opinion. ## The problem you’re having, from the look of it, is that you’re installing from Debian’s stable release. Just like Ruby’s stable release isn’t going to include new and untested stuff all the time, Debian’s stable release isn’t going to include new and untested stuff all the time. Hence you don’t get new upstream versions into Debian stable releases, because (more than anything else) people need to rely on the stable version to be just that stable. Not necessarily bug-free (any more than Ruby’s stable release is bug-free) but relatively _unchanging_. ## For a good example of why stability is a good thing, look at Rails itself. The 1.0 stable release was good. The 1.1 stable release was also good but it broke a lot of existing software, which relied on features only present in 1.0. Both of these releases are stable, in and of themselves (both are excellent software development platforms) but they’re _different_. If I’m targeting a particular stable release (Debian 3.1, in this instance) I _really_, _really_ don’t want a new, different version of _anything_ ending up in there and possibly making my life unpleasant. I know it’s not a solution to your problem, but hopefully it’s at least an explanation as to why the problem exists. A solution is to run backports (assuming they exist; I’m not sure whether or where there is pre-built Ruby 1.8.4 packages for Sarge). - Matt – You have a 16-bit quantity, but 5 bits of it are here and 2 bits of it are there… and 2 bits of it are back here and 3 bits of it are up there. The C code to extract useful data had so many \>\> and \<\< operators in it that it looked like the C++ version of “hello world”. – Matt Roberds, ASR ---
**Author:** ![sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean-lerner)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-why-does-ruby-on-debian-blow-was-mongrel-3-15/59357/5 "2006-05-03T18:59:16Z")
On May 1, 2006, at 2:16 PM, Matthew P. wrote: > release > isn’t going to include new and untested stuff all the time. I’m hesitant to get involved, but I must admit I was appalled when I did apt-get install subversion and it installed 1.1.4. Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s free, and I’m not complaining for something that good and FREE. However, I was surprised. – – Tom M. ---
**Author:** ![sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@sean-lerner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean-lerner)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-why-does-ruby-on-debian-blow-was-mongrel-3-15/59357/6 "2006-05-03T18:58:51Z")
I didn’t realize I opened up a Pandora’s box with my initial post about Ubuntu and mongrel … 🙂 At the end I managed to install what I needed under Ubuntu, but also decided to attempt the same thing on another platform. I installed everything under Fedora Core 5, and found things more straightforward (using yum and a few online rpm repositories). I found the user interface of Ubuntu very pleasant and coherent, but all in all Fedora performed better from the point of view of a relative newbie who wants to use rails.