Ruby and RoR Setup Frustrations

Rails
1

Okay, I’m starting to get a headache (mostly because I refuse to give
up) and continue to try to get ruby and ruby on rails configured.

Let me explain my issues…

I’m running Windows Vista with Ruby 1.9.1 and MySql 5.0.x

It took me awhile to get this setup to work but I managed to do it. In
order to get Ruby 1.9.1 to work I had to use a ming compiled version.
In order to get mysql to work, I had to build the binary locally.

The good news is I can create a new rails project, start it, and the
“about your rails environment” shows the following:

Ruby version 1.9.1 (i386-mingw32)
RubyGems version 1.3.3
Rack version 1.0 bundled
Rails version 2.3.2
Active Record version 2.3.2
Action Pack version 2.3.2
Active Resource version 2.3.2
Action Mailer version 2.3.2
Active Support version 2.3.2
Application root D:/ncaastatpages
Environment development
Database adapter mysql
Database schema version 0

So, it sees mysql, everything is golden and throws no errors. That’s
the good part.

Now the headache begins.

Issue 1: Because of the way I had to compile mysql to work and using
ruby -e to require it, there’s no gem listed. If I require ‘mysql’
everything works just like a gem is installed. However if I do gem list
it does not show up. While this is just a trivial issue (for me), it’s
a bigger issue with some IDEs like Aptana Studio which tried to install
a different mysql gem and screw up my entire setup.

Issue 2: Here are the gems I have currently (that work 100%):

All Rails Gems (2.3.2)
–action…etc…
capistrano (2.5.5)
cgi_multipart_eof_fix (2.5.0)
gem_plugin (0.2.3)
highline (1.5.1)
net-scp (1.0.2)
net-sftp (2.0.2)
net-ssh (2.0.11)
net-ssh-gateway (1.0.1)
rails (2.3.2)
rake (0.8.7)
rspec (1.2.6)
rubygems-update (1.3.3)
test-unit (2.0.2)

Notice that mysql does not show up under the list but it’s there because
I used:

ruby -e ‘require “mysql”’

With IDEs like Aptana Studio, they want to install mongrel, linefeed,
etc. but they keep installing the wrong versions that require
msvcrt-ruby18.dll instead of the msvcrt-ruby191.dll.

So, my questions are in order:

  1. What gems “must” I have working and operable to run a full rails
    development project?
  2. Is there a way to tell Aptana Studio to not mess up my current rails
    installation by attempting to install gems that are outdated or the
    wrong kind?
  3. Is there another IDE I should consider? (I tried Jedit but it felt
    clunky) - I previously used Scite which didn’t give me any issues but
    again, it lacked a lot of features that I might need.
  4. What am I missing here?

My frustrations with Ruby and RoR isn’t the programming! It’s the
installation! The programming, MVC concepts are wonderful! I’ve never
experienced (working with any programming language) where the
installation would be a 9 out of a 10 difficulty rating and the
programming would be a 2 out of 10 difficulty rating for ease of use.

I run a windows box and a virtual box with linux but I refuse to give up
on the windows end. I want to be able to program with both systems.
I’m not afraid to test the waters and go through hoops and hurdles to
get them both working 100%. My issues are that the hoops seem to be
surrounded by fire where windows is concerned.

Any help would be appreciated.

2

Have you tried to use JRuby?

I’m sure you’re not going to have any of these problems on Windows.

Maurício Linhares
http://alinhavado.wordpress.com/ (pt-br) | http://blog.codevader.com/
(en)

3

Maurício Linhares wrote:

Have you tried to use JRuby?

I’m sure you’re not going to have any of these problems on Windows.

Maur�cio Linhares
http://alinhavado.wordpress.com/ (pt-br) | http://blog.codevader.com/
(en)

I’ll look into jruby but I still need answers to the rest of my
questions, namely what gems I will need on windows with mysql for a full
rails environment to work.

Developing is one thing but I will eventually have to port the app to my
hosting domain and so I need to make sure I have everything I need setup
properly.

4

Jruby is not for me - it looks more like a pre-packaged version that is
not 1.9.1 and researching it (many say it’s slow). I need an IDE that
is going to work with 1.9.1.

5

You could start by avoiding Ruby 1.9 that is a development version and
not really that supported.

I also doubt that you’re going to deploy to a Ruby 1.9 environment.

Maurício Linhares
http://alinhavado.wordpress.com/ (pt-br) | http://blog.codevader.com/
(en)

6

Pre-packaged version?

JRuby is just a pure ruby interpreter writen in Java that is faster
than the current 1.8 branch and is almost as fast as 1.9. And IDEs
shoudn’t really care about which Ruby version you’re using, at least
NetBeans and RubyMine don’t, maybe it’s time for you to change your
tools.

JRuby also has a compatibility mode to run as if it was a Ruby 1.9
interpreter, you should research and use it before making your mind.

Maurício Linhares
http://alinhavado.wordpress.com/ (pt-br) | http://blog.codevader.com/
(en)

7

Maurício Linhares wrote:

Pre-packaged version?

JRuby is just a pure ruby interpreter writen in Java that is faster
than the current 1.8 branch and is almost as fast as 1.9. And IDEs
shoudn’t really care about which Ruby version you’re using, at least
NetBeans and RubyMine don’t, maybe it’s time for you to change your
tools.

JRuby also has a compatibility mode to run as if it was a Ruby 1.9
interpreter, you should research and use it before making your mind.

I will download and test Jruby to see how it functions firsthand.

I’m not overly worried about deploying to a 1.9 environment right this
minute. I just want to work with 1.9 locally, develop my apps locally,
view them and test them locally.

Once I feel comfortable with all of that (perhaps a few months down the
road) I’ll worry about the deployment phase then. Programming in the
latest environment is critical to my way of thinking. I learn the
latest and am not backtracking and having to adjust. Because I’m new to
rails, in my opinion it is better to start with the latest version.

When you say not supported you really mean not supported by some gem
developers. 1.9.1 works fine on both windows and linux. Some gems
though, do not. I’ve spoken with Luis about this and he’s given me a
lot of information as to why gems are not working properly, and I
understand the frustrations firsthand.

I’m really not here to argue or create issues at all. I’m generally a
very helpful person, love assisting others, and am the type that will
give to the community more than I take. However, I’m still learning the
ropes so if you see any teeth in my comments (they are not meant for
you). It is simply me dealing with the many frustrations of trying to
get up and running.

Again, I still need the other questions answered. If someone has
answers to those questions, I would greatly appreciate it.

8

Try this - http://www.netbeans.org/kb/trails/ruby.html

Maurício Linhares
http://alinhavado.wordpress.com/ (pt-br) | http://blog.codevader.com/
(en)

On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 12:26 PM, J. D.

9

Mauricio,

Thanks for the input with netbeans. I actually installed netbeans and
tried to configure with jruby but had a lot of issues with trying to get
jruby to work well with a test project.

However, when I used netbeans with my current 1.9.1 and created a test
project, rake created the DB, and then ran it through netbeans, it
worked 100%. I like the feel of netbeans so I must thank you for giving
me that heads up.

I’ll try to go back to jruby at a later date when I can understand it a
bit more but netbeans is working well with my current source and because
I installed it, I realized I needed warbler (so downloaded that gem).

I’d like to know what gems I’m missing now that I should try to install.

I have all of the ones listed above and including warbler now…

Any other gems I’m missing?

And, is there a good netbeans tutorial that anyone can point me to?

10

Everything is working well. I did the 10-minute weblog project for
rails and it worked nicely. I’m finally excited that everything appears
to be installed and working correctly.

Thanks again for the help!

11

Maurício Linhares wrote:

Try this - http://www.netbeans.org/kb/trails/ruby.html

Maur�cio Linhares
http://alinhavado.wordpress.com/ (pt-br) | http://blog.codevader.com/
(en)

On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 12:26 PM, J. D.

Thanks! Looks good - reading it now.

12

It’s not an IDE, but I really like the ‘e’ text editor for ruby/rails
development on windows. Google for ‘e text editor’ & you’ll find it.
It’s a textmate clone (or started out that way anyway).

HTH,

-Roy