# Upgrading Ruby **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [June 24, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upgrading-ruby/141255 "2008-06-24T03:08:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![caliwildman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@caliwildman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/caliwildman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upgrading-ruby/141255/1 "2008-06-24T03:08:46Z")
I currently have Ruby 1.8.5 and Rails 1.2.3. I want to upgrade Ruby to 1.8.6 and Rails to 2.1. I have a Windows XP development machine and FC6 production box. I can’t find a clean up to upgrade Ruby without blowing away the installed gems. Someone suggested this workaround: There’s no ruby update AFAIK. You can work around this by renaming c:\ruby to something else, installing ruby, then overwrite C:\ruby\lib\ruby\gems with the old version and call ‘gem update’ to fetch the new versions. I am in the middle of trying that now but I stopped with the following concerns: 1. current gems include Rails like actionmailer, actionpack, actionrecord, etc. plus a number of other gems I installed. If I run gem update, won’t this update Rails to 2.1 automatically? 2. I also have mongrel gems installed and remembered something having to install Windows specific packages (can’t recall off the top of my now the details), so I am worried that this wouldn’t be handled properly. 3. I also installed htree but I can’t tell if it is a gem, so I can’t be sure that it will be handled properly. I am sure I am not the only guy that is trying to upgrade Ruby, can anyone help me? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![caliwildman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@caliwildman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/caliwildman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upgrading-ruby/141255/2 "2008-06-25T00:48:44Z")
On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 03:06, Cali W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I currently have Ruby 1.8.5 and Rails 1.2.3. I want to upgrade Ruby to > 1.8.6 and Rails to 2.1. I have a Windows XP development machine and FC6 > production box. I can’t find a clean up to upgrade Ruby without blowing > away the installed gems. Someone suggested this workaround: I’m that someone 😉 > There’s no ruby update AFAIK. You can work around this by renaming > c:\ruby to something else, installing ruby, then overwrite > C:\ruby\lib\ruby\gems with the old version and call ‘gem update’ to > fetch the new versions. > > I am in the middle of trying that now but I stopped with the following > concerns: > > 1. current gems include Rails like actionmailer, actionpack, > actionrecord, etc. plus a number of other gems I installed. If I run gem > update, won’t this update Rails to 2.1 automatically? you can freeze your rails prior to ruby reinstall > **[Freezing Rails | Tiger Technologies Support](https://support.tigertech.net/freeze-rails)** > > If you are using Ruby on Rails and want to ensure maximum stability, you should "freeze" the version of Rails you use. > 1. I also have mongrel gems installed and remembered something having to > install Windows specific packages (can’t recall off the top of my now > the details), so I am worried that this wouldn’t be handled properly. I’m not sure but I assume gem will ask everytime which version to install. > 1. I also installed htree but I can’t tell if it is a gem, so I can’t be > sure that it will be handled properly. Check either by running gem list or look at c:\ruby\lib\1.8\gems\ > I am sure I am not the only guy that is trying to upgrade Ruby, can > anyone help me? Thanks in advance. What you can do to be safe is to backup/rename your c:\ruby (e.g. to c:\ruby-1.8.5). Then install new version, copy gems, update them and test your rails app. In case of problems, you can put c:\ruby-1.8.5 back to c:\ruby Problem with this approach is that it messes list of installed applications (Control Panel, Add/remove apps). Maybe better would be backup, uninstall 1.8.5, install 1.8.6, replace gems, update, check Rollback: uninstall 1.8.6, install 1.8.5, replace the whole dir. Still, this all is hackish. I guess one of the features the new MSI installer could bring is ability to properly update. J. ---
**Author:** ![caliwildman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@caliwildman](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/caliwildman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upgrading-ruby/141255/3 "2008-06-25T07:03:56Z")
Jano S. wrote: > What you can do to be safe is to backup/rename your c:\ruby (e.g. to > c:\ruby-1.8.5). > Then install new version, copy gems, update them and test your rails > app. > In case of problems, you can put c:\ruby-1.8.5 back to c:\ruby > > Problem with this approach is that it messes list of installed > applications (Control Panel, Add/remove apps). > Maybe better would be backup, uninstall 1.8.5, install 1.8.6, replace > gems, update, check > Rollback: uninstall 1.8.6, install 1.8.5, replace the whole dir. > > Still, this all is hackish. I guess one of the features the new MSI > installer could bring is ability to properly update. > > J. Unfortunately due to the fact that htree uses site\_ruby instead of gems, it isn’t as simple as I hope per your workaround. Plus there may be new gems added in 2.1 that aren’t in 1.2.3, so that’s another concern. Likewise, 2.1 site\_ruby has some new files and folders that aren’t there in 1.2.3 site\_ruby. So it seems pretty messy.