# Status update **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [January 3, 2010, 11:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-update/180994 "2010-01-03T11:28:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Phillip_G)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 11:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-update/180994/1 "2010-01-03T11:28:32Z")
A (very slightly edited) post can be found on my blog, too. [0] ==============cut at line==================================== A few days before New Years, I posted how neat it’d be if we had a Ruby Appliance. This, and the mail to the ruby-talk mailing list has resulted in a couple of results already. For one, we found a name: Ruby Zen, which fits quite well, and is appropriately Web 2.0 without being unintelligible. 😉 For another: [rubyzen.org](http://rubyzen.org) has been registered, and we are feverishly working on getting the website up and some content, too. We are also working on evaluating Linux distros, with Gentoo, Turnkey Linux, and Ubuntu being hot candidates for the appliance’s operating system. We’ve also decided to focus on Ruby 1.9.1. The guys over at [gemcutter.org](http://gemcutter.org) were so kind to provide me with a quick dump of the top 100 hottest gems, so we can pick some great gems to start with. Unfortunately, this is happening behind closed doors of sorts, since, at the moment, we are using Google Wave which is still closed to the general public. However, if you leave me a comment here, we can organize a handful Wave invites for certain! (I still got 5 or 6 left from the first batch alone.) So, what else? Future plans! In the short term: ``` * Get a website up for easy contribution (and to move the ``` development process in the public, where it belongs, it’s done by the community for the community, after all) \* Have a prototype VM ready in a couple of days \* Get more contributors. You can help if: You can test a virtual machine, read proposals and comment on them (provide a reality check! Always good!), write a tutorial (maybe for your favorite gem, or Ruby feature) \* Got TikiWiki experience? I’d be glad to hear from you, if you could lend a hand in implementing features (like an issue tracker, or user wiki page). So, yeah, the Ruby Appliance isn’t forgotten. Considering that this was between the years we did get quite a bit done yet. Thanks to every one (on my blog or on Ruby T.) who contributed already. 🙂 [0] [http://blog.thimian.com/2010/01/03/status-update-on-ruby-zen-ruby-appliance-remember/](http://blog.thimian.com/2010/01/03/status-update-on-ruby-zen-ruby-appliance-remember/) ---
**Author:** ![Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Phillip_G)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-update/180994/2 "2010-01-03T19:31:55Z")
It would be interesting if you have a clean upgrade solution: that is, I would like to be able to upgrade the appliance to a completely fresh VM image without losing my local changes. (Perhaps using an overlay filesystem, e.g. unionfs) If the image has to be maintained using the normal OS mechanisms - apt-get update or whatever - then I don’t think I’d be interested. There are plenty of existing mechanisms for bootstrapping a VM image. Also, it would need to be ruby 1.8 for me. ---
**Author:** ![Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Phillip_G)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-update/180994/3 "2010-01-04T06:21:45Z")
On 03.01.2010 19:31, Brian C. wrote: > It would be interesting if you have a clean upgrade solution: that is, I > would like to be able to upgrade the appliance to a completely fresh VM > image without losing my local changes. (Perhaps using an overlay > filesystem, e.g. unionfs) I’ll include that in our not-quite-ready-for-the-public-yet wiki as development goal for the VM. > If the image has to be maintained using the normal OS mechanisms - > apt-get update or whatever - then I don’t think I’d be interested. There > are plenty of existing mechanisms for bootstrapping a VM image. Could you clarify this: do you mean the OS within the Virtual Machine, or updating the VM image? > Also, it would need to be ruby 1.8 for me. Then the VM is, out of the box, not for you, I’m afraid. Maybe [Ruby on Rails | TurnKey GNU/Linux](http://www.turnkeylinux.org/rails) this is more something for you, even though it is aimed at Rails development by default. ---
**Author:** ![Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Phillip_G)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-update/180994/4 "2010-01-04T15:55:54Z")
Brian C. wrote: > It would be interesting if you have a clean upgrade solution: that is, I > would like to be able to upgrade the appliance to a completely fresh VM > image without losing my local changes. (Perhaps using an overlay > filesystem, e.g. unionfs) > > If the image has to be maintained using the normal OS mechanisms - > apt-get update or whatever - then I don’t think I’d be interested. There > are plenty of existing mechanisms for bootstrapping a VM image. > > Also, it would need to be ruby 1.8 for me. I would note that Phillip’s original purpose for this VM is actually for Ruby beginners or people who wish to learn Ruby. Depending on Vision™, a VM for experienced Ruby Devs would probably be an altogether different beast: one for which your requirements are quite reasonable 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Phillip_G)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-update/180994/5 "2010-01-04T17:29:02Z")
Phillip G. wrote: > > If the image has to be maintained using the normal OS mechanisms - > > apt-get update or whatever - then I don’t think I’d be interested. There > > are plenty of existing mechanisms for bootstrapping a VM image. > > Could you clarify this: do you mean the OS within the Virtual Machine, > or updating the VM image? Everything within the VM image: the O/S, the ruby version, the gems, everything it provides which is not stuff I added myself. If this is going to be a pre-built Ubuntu image with ruby and a bunch of gems installed, then I could just use debootstrap or ubuntu-vm-builder to prepare it, and apt-get update (or unattended-upgrades) would keep it up to date. OTOH, if this is a teaching tool, then upgrading is not really a big deal. When it becomes stale, the user can throw it away and get a fresh one. Perhaps your focus is on people who don’t already have a Linux distro on their desktop, but who are able to install something like vmware-player to run the image? If so, then I misunderstood the aim. When I read ruby VM, I was thinking of people running datacentres who want an easy way to install and maintain many Ruby application servers. ---
**Author:** ![Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Phillip_G)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-update/180994/6 "2010-01-05T17:40:33Z")
> A few days before New Years, I posted how neat it’d be if we had a Ruby > Appliance. This, and the mail to the ruby-talk mailing list has resulted > in a couple of results already. A few additional suggestions: ubuntu mysql client/server + gem redcar editor (once it’s ever released) or some editor or other that works well with ruby–besides our beloved vi, of course. GL! -r ---
**Author:** ![Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Phillip_G)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-update/180994/7 "2010-01-04T19:19:40Z")
On 1/4/2010 9:29 AM, Brian C. wrote: > one. > > Perhaps your focus is on people who don’t already have a Linux distro on > their desktop, but who are able to install something like vmware-player > to run the image? If so, then I misunderstood the aim. When I read ruby > VM, I was thinking of people running datacentres who want an easy way to > install and maintain many Ruby application servers. A teaching tool is exactly what this is aimed at. While we have talked about developer-centric VMs also, it’s not the primary focus atm. ---
**Author:** ![Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Phillip\_G](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Phillip_G)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/status-update/180994/8 "2010-01-05T17:49:24Z")
Roger P. wrote: > > A few days before New Years, I posted how neat it’d be if we had a Ruby > > Appliance. This, and the mail to the ruby-talk mailing list has resulted > > in a couple of results already. > > A few additional suggestions: > ubuntu > mysql client/server + gem > redcar editor (once it’s ever released) or some editor or other that > works well with ruby–besides our beloved vi, of course. > GL! > -r For any and all kinds of suggestions on what to include, please head to Google Wave and do a search for the tag “ruby appliance” - you’ll see that we’ve made waves. Pun intended.