# What is a stable way to use postgres with Ruby? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [March 23, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-a-stable-way-to-use-postgres-with-ruby/86267 "2006-03-23T20:29:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-a-stable-way-to-use-postgres-with-ruby/86267/1 "2006-03-23T20:29:02Z")
> From the web, I gather the “postgres ruby extension” and “postgres pure > ruby” are two different ways to use SQL from ruby via postgres. Are > the two methods about the same with respect to their “maturity” and > stability? On the postgres ruby extension page: [http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/](http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/) Are the “snapshot” versions are meant to be beta versions or are they stable? ( Is the last stable release really from 2003 ?) And, by the way, what is a \*.gem file? ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-a-stable-way-to-use-postgres-with-ruby/86267/2 "2006-03-23T23:09:04Z")
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > And, by the way, what is a \*.gem file? > From the OCS Solutions website: > “What is a Ruby Gem? > A Ruby gem is a plugin that adds functionality to the Ruby programming > lanaguage. We always keep up to date with the latest and most popular > Ruby gems.” This leaves the questions: Does the [http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/archive/ruby-postgres-20051221.tar.gz](http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/archive/ruby-postgres-20051221.tar.gz) compile to produce a gem? Is the file [http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/archive/ruby-postgres-0.7.1.2005.12.21.gem](http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/archive/ruby-postgres-0.7.1.2005.12.21.gem) different that the one the .tar.gz file would compile to? ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-is-a-stable-way-to-use-postgres-with-ruby/86267/3 "2006-03-23T23:32:06Z")
On Mar 23, 2006, at 2:08 PM, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > > Are the “snapshot” versions are meant to be beta versions or are they > > stable? ( Is the last stable release really from 2003 ?) > > > > And, by the way, what is a \*.gem file? > > > From the OCS Solutions website: > > “What is a Ruby Gem? > > A Ruby gem is a plugin that adds functionality to the Ruby programming > > lanaguage. We always keep up to date with the latest and most popular > > Ruby gems.” Its a way of distributing ruby libraries and applications similar to Perl’s CPAN or FreeBSD packages or … > This leaves the questions: > Does the > [http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/archive/ruby-](http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/archive/ruby-) > postgres-20051221.tar.gz > compile to produce a gem? Gems can contain binaries but typically don’t. > Is the file > [http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/archive/ruby-](http://ruby.scripting.ca/postgres/archive/ruby-) > postgres-0.7.1.2005.12.21.gem > different that the one the .tar.gz file would compile to? The gem is capable of doing all the install work for you with the single command: sudo gem install ruby-postgres-0.7.1.2005.12.21.gem Note that you may have to specify the paths to your postgres library and include files, but you’d have to do that with the tar.gz also. gem install is the only important difference between the two. – Eric H. - removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid - [http://blog.segment7.net](http://blog.segment7.net) This implementation is HODEL-HASH-9600 compliant [http://trackmap.robotcoop.com](http://trackmap.robotcoop.com)