Webby, ubuntu and gems

I’ve recently switched distributions to ubuntu, and I’m having
problems getting webby up and running. (I suspect this a general
problem with gems that need to install executables). I ran gem install
webby, and it installed happily enough into
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/webby-0.8.4/, but didn’t install the webby
executable anywhere in path. I checked for an ubuntu package, but
there wasn’t one. Of course, I could simply install it all by hand,
but that seems like the wrong thing to do - I’d rather figure out how
to get my gems playing nicely with ubuntu.

ruby -v: ruby 1.8.6 (2007-09-24 patchlevel 111) [i486-linux]
gem -v: 0.9.4
/etc/lsb-release:DISTRIB_CODENAME=hardy

martin

On Tuesday 10 June 2008 03:10:20 Martin DeMello wrote:

I’ve recently switched distributions to ubuntu, and I’m having
problems getting webby up and running. (I suspect this a general
problem with gems that need to install executables). I ran gem install
webby, and it installed happily enough into
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/webby-0.8.4/, but didn’t install the webby
executable anywhere in path.

Check /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin – and you may want to add that to your
path.

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 10:51 AM, David M. [email protected]
wrote:

On Tuesday 10 June 2008 03:10:20 Martin DeMello wrote:

I’ve recently switched distributions to ubuntu, and I’m having
problems getting webby up and running. (I suspect this a general
problem with gems that need to install executables). I ran gem install
webby, and it installed happily enough into
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/webby-0.8.4/, but didn’t install the webby
executable anywhere in path.

Check /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin – and you may want to add that to your path.

My webby executable ended up in /usr/bin/webby. I installed gems via the
deb package (wajig install rubygems).

I have Ubuntu 8.04

Les

On Jun 10, 4:10 am, Martin DeMello [email protected] wrote:

ruby -v: ruby 1.8.6 (2007-09-24 patchlevel 111) [i486-linux]
gem -v: 0.9.4
/etc/lsb-release:DISTRIB_CODENAME=hardy

martin

I am running Ubuntu 8.04. I installed RubyGems from source. I just
installed webby, and it placed an executable file in /usr/bin.

Incidentally, it is acceptable, if not recommended, to install
RubyGems from source. Because RubyGems can update itself, you can run
into issues with both apt/aptitude/Synaptic and RubyGems trying to
update RubyGems.

It may be advantageous for you to post the results of ‘echo $PATH’ and
‘sudo find / -name “webby”’.

Good luck.

MilesZS

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 1:51 AM, David M. [email protected]
wrote:

On Tuesday 10 June 2008 03:10:20 Martin DeMello wrote:

I’ve recently switched distributions to ubuntu, and I’m having
problems getting webby up and running. (I suspect this a general
problem with gems that need to install executables). I ran gem install
webby, and it installed happily enough into
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/webby-0.8.4/, but didn’t install the webby
executable anywhere in path.

Check /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin – and you may want to add that to your path.

Thanks, that was it :slight_smile:

martin

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 7:49 AM, [email protected]
[email protected] wrote:

I am running Ubuntu 8.04. I installed RubyGems from source. I just
installed webby, and it placed an executable file in /usr/bin.

The apt-got rubygems placed the executable in /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/,
which it does seem to have done for all my other gems as well.

Incidentally, it is acceptable, if not recommended, to install
RubyGems from source. Because RubyGems can update itself, you can run
into issues with both apt/aptitude/Synaptic and RubyGems trying to
update RubyGems.

Thanks, will try that.

martin

On Tuesday 10 June 2008 09:49:55 [email protected] wrote:

Incidentally, it is acceptable, if not recommended, to install
RubyGems from source. Because RubyGems can update itself, you can run
into issues with both apt/aptitude/Synaptic and RubyGems trying to
update RubyGems.

However, if I install RubyGems from apt, all gems are entirely contained
in /var/lib/gems. It provides a nice conceptual break between the
package
managers – gems go here, apt gets everything else.

The solution here is fairly simple: I don’t ever tell RubyGems to update
itself, or any part of Ruby which is installed via apt. However, I do
use
RubyGems to install everything else, rather than using the libfoo-ruby
packages.

It would be nice to have an Ubuntu repository autogenerated from gems,
though.
Even this cleanly separated, I don’t like having two package managers.

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 5:59 AM, Leslie V.
[email protected] wrote:

My webby executable ended up in /usr/bin/webby. I installed gems via the
deb package (wajig install rubygems).

Thanks for the pointer to wajig! I tried uninstalling and reinstalling
webby and gems, just in case it had done something wrong the first
time, but still no /usr/bin installs. But adding the gem bin directory
to path works for me.

martin

On Jun 10, 2008, at 07:49 AM, [email protected] wrote:

to get my gems playing nicely with ubuntu.
Incidentally, it is acceptable, if not recommended, to install
RubyGems from source. Because RubyGems can update itself, you can run
into issues with both apt/aptitude/Synaptic and RubyGems trying to
update RubyGems.

I don’t recommend installing RubyGems from source over a package.
Choose whichever makes you most comfortable.

I do recommend only continuing to upgrade RubyGems however you
initially installed it. Upgrading RubyGems via gem update --system
instead of through the packager you installed it with may lead to
undesired behavior.

On Jun 10, 2008, at 12:01 PM, Leslie V. wrote:

Choose
via Apt
and refuse to update then. Not realising the danger here, I have
updated gem
in exactly this way quite a few times.

This would have to work for every packaged RubyGems. I don’t know of
a way to do that so it wouldn’t break somewhere.

I haven’t noticed any problems but I suppose if I tried to cleanly
remove gem
with apt things would break? Actually I have been running and
updating apt in
this way since two Ubuntu releases ago, and have done two Ubuntu
upgrades
in between without noticing any problems!

Last I looked, apt RubyGems changes the default gem repository by hard-
coding a path. Updating would cause gems to “disappear” because
RubyGems would switch back to the default path.

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 8:10 PM, Eric H. [email protected]
wrote:

there wasn’t one. Of course, I could simply install it all by hand,
installed webby, and it placed an executable file in /usr/bin.
installed it. Upgrading RubyGems via gem update --system instead of
through the packager you installed it with may lead to undesired behavior.

Oh? Perhaps ‘gem update --system’ should check if it was installed via
Apt
and refuse to update then. Not realising the danger here, I have updated
gem
in exactly this way quite a few times.

I haven’t noticed any problems but I suppose if I tried to cleanly
remove gem
with apt things would break? Actually I have been running and updating
apt in
this way since two Ubuntu releases ago, and have done two Ubuntu
upgrades
in between without noticing any problems!

Les

On Jun 10, 2008, at 13:02 PM, Leslie V. wrote:

of a way
to do that so it wouldn’t break somewhere.

Surely update --system could at least say “warning, if you did not
install Rubygems from source, this is not a safe operation. Continue?”

Hrm, I will consider it.

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 9:49 PM, Eric H. [email protected]
wrote:

gem
in between without noticing any problems!

Last I looked, apt RubyGems changes the default gem repository by
hard-coding a path. Updating would cause gems to “disappear” because
RubyGems would switch back to the default path.

Ah, now that I think about it I have noticed that sort of thing
happening!
This explains so much!

Surely update --system could at least say “warning, if you did not
install Rubygems from
source, this is not a safe operation. Continue?”

Les

Eric H. wrote:

This would have to work for every packaged RubyGems. I don’t know
of a way
to do that so it wouldn’t break somewhere.

Surely update --system could at least say “warning, if you did not
install Rubygems from source, this is not a safe operation. Continue?”

Hrm, I will consider it.

Yeah, SOMETHING needs to be done about this mess. For the perpetual
amateurs among us, it is simply too much to ask to remember what to do
about this problem, in the long gaps between the times we have to think
about it at all.

I know that I have NOT updated rubygems precisely because I have yet to
find the time to backtrack to figure out exactly how I need to do it,
and I don’t want to screw up and break things and be unable to use
rubygems at all. I’m too busy actually getting needful work done. Sigh.

Tom

Tom C., MS MA, LMHC
Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< [email protected] >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website & psychotherapy weblog)
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health issues weblog)
<< directpathdesign.com >> (web site design & consultation)

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 3:31 PM, Tom C. [email protected] wrote:

I know that I have NOT updated rubygems precisely because I have yet to find
the time to backtrack to figure out exactly how I need to do it, and I don’t
want to screw up and break things and be unable to use rubygems at all. I’m
too busy actually getting needful work done. Sigh.

Ironically, I switched to Ubuntu because I needed to get useful work
done rather than endlessly fighting with my wireless card :slight_smile: You win
some, you lose some.

martin