# Ruby-debug will not install, wants ver 12 of Microsoft compiler

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-debug-will-not-install-wants-ver-12-of-microsoft-compiler/124725>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [January 1, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-debug-will-not-install-wants-ver-12-of-microsoft-compiler/124725 "2008-01-01T20:31:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fredistic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@fredistic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fredistic)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-debug-will-not-install-wants-ver-12-of-microsoft-compiler/124725/1 "2008-01-01T20:31:30Z")

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If the debugger is part of Rails now, shouldn’t I expect it to  
install? When I run ‘gem install ruby-debug’ it runs the Microsoft  
make, ‘nmake’ and it compiles C source that demands version ‘1200’ of  
the C compiler, which is old version 6.0, I think. I have a later  
version on my machine I could try but I really don’t want to debug the  
debugger if I don’t have to. I presume it insists on that specific  
version for a reason.

Is there a Windows (32-bit) binary available for ruby-debug ??

And shouldn’t ruby-debug be using a non-antique version of the  
compiler? I’ve found the MS site where we can all download a free  
command line version of the MS C compiler but it’s a newer version  
than the one used by ruby-debug.

I can’t be the only one with this problem. We all debug. And lots of  
us use Windows.

Thanks for any help,

fredistic

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fredistic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@fredistic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fredistic)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-debug-will-not-install-wants-ver-12-of-microsoft-compiler/124725/2 "2008-01-02T21:03:48Z")

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Going back one version seems to work:  
gem install ruby-debug -v 0.9.3

It installs, stops at the breakpoints, I can examine variables, and  
continue. Maybe more.

fredistic

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fredistic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@fredistic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fredistic)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-debug-will-not-install-wants-ver-12-of-microsoft-compiler/124725/3 "2008-01-02T23:18:15Z")

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On 1/1/08, fredistic [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> If the debugger is part of Rails now, shouldn’t I expect it to  
> install?

On a similar note… Why isn’t `script/server --debugger` the default?  
I would assume at this point in time no one running Rails 2.x runs  
script/server in production anyway.

–  
Greg D.  
[http://destiney.com/](http://destiney.com/)