Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Ruby

Aimee Knight
Aimee Knight
9,701 Points

Creating a new rails app - warning?

I was previously using cloud9 and now installed the railsinstaller kit for OS X. I also created an ssh and installed Heroku via their website. To my knowledge, everything installed as it should, however when I try entering rails new test-app I receive a warning saying "Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss or the deletion of important system files. Please double check your typing when using sudo. Type man sudo for more information. To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort. Enter your password to install the bundled Ruby Gems to your system:"

I wasn't sure if this was a permissions issue so I did go ahead and run repairs but I'm still getting the same output. Do I need to just proceed, or did something not install properly?

3 Answers

Jason Seifer
STAFF
Jason Seifer
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Hey Aimee,

How did you install rails? DId you use the RailsInstaller project? Using sudo is basically giving a process admin privileges on your computer. For RubyGems this is generally safe.

Aimee Knight
Aimee Knight
9,701 Points

@Jason, yes I used RailsInstaller. From what I can tell Googling, it's a default message in OS X any time sudo is used (even explicitly through Rails). Based on what you're saying I'll go with that. Thanks you.

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss or the deletion of important system files.

Well that is a true statement.

The reason sudo exists is to protect the user from themselves.