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Ruby

Aimee Knight
Aimee Knight
9,701 Points

Environment for Playing with Rails 4

I used Railsinstaller on my OS X 10.7.5 in March and it appears my environment is currently:

 rvm 1.21.9
 ruby 1.9.3p392
 Rails 3.2.13

When I run: gem list

*** LOCAL GEMS ***

actionmailer (3.2.13, 3.2.12) actionpack (3.2.13, 3.2.12) activemodel (3.2.13, 3.2.12) activerecord (3.2.13, 3.2.12) activeresource (3.2.13, 3.2.12) activesupport (3.2.13, 3.2.12) annotate (2.5.0) appscrolls (0.9.0) arel (3.0.2) bcrypt-ruby (3.0.1) bigdecimal (1.1.0) bootstrap-sass (2.1.0.0) bootstrap-will_paginate (0.0.6) builder (3.0.4) bundler (1.2.4) capybara (1.1.2) carrierwave (0.8.0) childprocess (0.3.9) coffee-rails (3.2.2) coffee-script (2.2.0) coffee-script-source (1.6.3, 1.6.2, 1.4.0) cucumber (1.3.1) cucumber-rails (1.2.1) database_cleaner (0.7.0) devise (2.2.3) diff-lcs (1.1.3) erubis (2.7.0) execjs (1.4.0) factory_girl (4.1.0) factory_girl_rails (4.1.0) faker (1.0.1) ffi (1.8.1) figaro (0.7.0) gherkin (2.12.0) hike (1.2.3, 1.2.2, 1.2.1) i18n (0.6.4, 0.6.1) io-console (0.3) journey (1.0.4) jquery-rails (3.0.4, 2.2.1, 2.0.2) json (1.8.0, 1.7.7, 1.5.5) mail (2.5.4, 2.5.3, 2.4.4) mime-types (1.23, 1.22, 1.21) minitest (2.5.1) multi_json (1.7.7, 1.7.3, 1.7.2, 1.6.1) nokogiri (1.5.9) orm_adapter (0.4.0) pg (0.14.1, 0.12.2) polyglot (0.3.3) rack (1.4.5) rack-cache (1.2) rack-ssl (1.3.3) rack-test (0.6.2) rails (3.2.13, 3.2.12) railties (3.2.13, 3.2.12) rake (10.1.0, 10.0.4, 10.0.3, 0.9.2.2) rdoc (3.12.2, 3.12.1, 3.9.5) rspec (2.11.0) rspec-core (2.11.1) rspec-expectations (2.11.3) rspec-mocks (2.11.3) rspec-rails (2.11.0) rubygems-bundler (1.1.0) rubyzip (0.9.9) rvm (1.11.3.6) sass (3.2.9, 3.2.8, 3.2.7, 3.2.6) sass-rails (3.2.6, 3.2.5) selenium-webdriver (2.32.1) simple_form (2.1.0) sprockets (2.2.2) sqlite3 (1.3.7, 1.3.5) thor (0.18.1, 0.17.0) tilt (1.4.1, 1.4.0, 1.3.7, 1.3.6, 1.3.3) treetop (1.4.14, 1.4.12) tzinfo (0.3.37, 0.3.35) uglifier (2.1.2, 2.1.1, 2.1.0, 2.0.1, 1.3.0, 1.2.3) warden (1.2.1) websocket (1.0.7) will_paginate (3.0.3) xpath (0.1.4)

I took a look at http://railsapps.github.io/updating-rails.html & http://railsapps.github.io/installing-rails.html and see that RailsInstaller is probably not the best option (although I'm certainly not a prof Rails Dev).

Since I'm still very new, but would like to experiment with Rails 3.2 and 4, what's my best option? Given that I initially set up my environment with RailsInstaller, should/can I just generate a new app, update the Gemfile and run bundle update rails right away? To me that seems messy, but in my newness, I'm not really sure what the best approach is?

Finally, I'm also unsure if I need to update Ruby? I tried running rvm get stable earlier today, but received a few error message. However, from the Gemfile list above, it appears to have updated? Do you think I'm safe to run rvm install ruby?

Please let me know if I can clarify any information, or provide an further log info. I sincerely appreciate the time anyone is able to take in helping me ensure I'm setting up my environment properly.

4 Answers

Jason Seifer
STAFF
Jason Seifer
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Hey all! We just updated some content and there's now a whole section on Installing a Ruby Development Environment. If you have any trouble, I recommend checking out the Treehouse VM for the most consistent way of installation.

You can have both installed; it's just that you would have to make effective use of bundle exec or install the binstubs for the Rails 3.2 app to make it easier for you to manage the Rails 3.2 app along with your Rails 4 installation.

I've used Rails 3.2 and Rails 4 on windows with no issues for over 5 months.

Being a person familiar with Railsapps, you honestly shouldn't have to install a Rails 3.2 now; I would recommend knowing how to use Rails 4 and adjust following the tutorials of RailsApp with Rails 4 conventions such as mass-assignment concerns now done int he controller via strong-parameters and so on.

All gems used by RailsApp with the exception of maybe Mongoid are Rails 4 compatible. U

Unless your job requires it, I would merely understand the gist of the old Rails 3.2 conventions.

Or, if you can wait, wait till railsapp upgrade all their apps to Rails 4; he's in the process of doing so.

Regarding Rails Installer

Unless they upgraded their installer to Rails 4, I would avoid the RailsIntaller. Since you seem already aware of rvm, merely install Ruby 2.0, install Rails, and begin your Rails adventure already.

Aimee Knight
Aimee Knight
9,701 Points

Kevin or Jason Seifer ,

Thanks for the response. I guess (please tell me otherwise) what I want to do, is update to Ruby 2 and Rails 4. If I follow the railsapps instructions (which are a bit over my head) and run

 rvm get stable --autolibs=enable

I get the following output:

   % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                             Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
 100 13779  100 13779    0     0   7922      0  0:00:01  0:00:01 --:--:--  7922
 Downloading RVM from wayneeseguin branch stable
   % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                  Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
 100 1408k  100 1408k    0     0   683k      0  0:00:02  0:00:02 --:--:-- 1389k

 Upgrading the RVM installation in /usr/local/rvm/
     Can not automatically remove lines with 'rvm_autolibs_flag=' from '/etc/rvmrc', please      clean it manually.
     Found 40929 files not belonging to 'rvm', use `--debug` to see the list, prefix the command      with 'rvmsudo' to fix it, if the situation persist report a bug.
     Found 2762 directories with mode different then '775', use `--debug` to see the list, prefix      the command with 'rvmsudo' to fix it, if the situation persist report a bug.
     Found 12859 files with mode different then '664' or '775', use `--debug` to see the list,      prefix the command with 'rvmsudo' to fix it, if the situation persist report a bug.
 Upgrade of RVM in /usr/local/rvm/ is complete.

 # Aimee Knight,
 #
 #   Thank you for using RVM!
 #   I sincerely hope that RVM helps to make your life easier and more enjoyable!!!
 #
 # ~Wayne

 # In case of problems:
 #        run and read: rvm notes
 #           read docs: http://rvm.io/
 #          talk to us: http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=rvm
 #     read cheatsheet: http://cheat.errtheblog.com/s/rvm
 #    watch screencast: http://screencasts.org/episodes/how-to-use-rvm
 #   open a bug report: https://github.com/wayneeseguin/rvm/issues

 Upgrade Notes:


   * WARNING: In case of using Zsh, version 4.3.12 / 5.0.0+ is recommended, you have      4.3.11, errors to be expected.


   * WARNING: you have 'rvm_configure_env' in /etc/rvmrc, run the following to fix:

  sudo sed -i'' -e "/rvm_configure_env=.*\/opt\/sm/d" /etc/rvmrc
  rvm autolibs smf

   * No new notes to display.

 RVM reloaded!

Can you, or anyone else please tell me if I'm ok to run

 rvm install 2.0.0

Then, what are my next steps for installing Rails? I'm sorry, but I am pretty new and want to make sure I understand and am doing this correctly.

Jason Seifer
Jason Seifer
Treehouse Guest Teacher

RVM should have been installed with RailsInstaller. You should be ok to install 2.0 through rvm. Afterwards you can do "gem install rails" and you will get 4.0.

As a heads-up, we're not supporting Rails 4 in the videos just yet and there will be a ton of differences as you follow along. This could get difficult as you go through.

Aimee Knight
Aimee Knight
9,701 Points

Jason Seifer

I REALLY appreciate you taking a minute to look. What I would like to do is learn Rails 4 via Hartl's tutorial, and also continue on with Treekbook using 3.2. Essentially, can I set up my computer as mentioned above so that whenever I run "rails new ..." it will always default to Rails 4, but continue to create Rails 3.2 apps by just changing the specification in the Gemfile immediately after I generate the app?

Can I

  1. Install Ruby 2.0 system wide with RVM and set that as my default?
  2. Run "gem install rails" (I assume this will be system wide now so that when I do "rails new ...", I'll always have a new Rails 4 app)?
  3. Keep Rails 3.2 in my Treebook gemfile and continue working as is?
  4. Start the Hartl 4 tutorial which will generate a Rails 4 app since this is now the latest version on my system?

I appreciate your patience because I'm sure it takes a lot dealing with our ignorance so often!

Aimee Knight
Aimee Knight
9,701 Points

Edit: With help from Kevin at Rails Machine, I'm all set now. I'll post the solution when I add it to my blog for other newbies!

For some reason I'm not able to edit my full message above so here is what I'd like to add.

Can I alternatively keep Rails 3.2 as my system default and only use Rails 4 by following the commands below?

 $ mkdir myapp
 $ cd myapp
 $ rvm use ruby-2.0.0@myapp --ruby-version --create
 $ gem install rails
 $ rails new .
jadaml
jadaml
11,593 Points

Jason Seifer What combo of Ruby and Rails should we run then? How do we initiate that? A little more information here would be helpful if the tutorials wont work with current versions.

Aimee Knight
Aimee Knight
9,701 Points

Jadam L Sorry... looks like Treehouse deleted my comment when I tried to update it. Here's a link to what I ended up doing. http://aimeemarieknight.com/blog/

You're just going to do something like

 gem install rails --version=3.2.13 

once you create your .rvmc file instead of

 gem install rails

You should be fine using whatever version of Ruby you have (if you installed recently). Feel free to let me know if you have questions and I will try to help.

jadaml
jadaml
11,593 Points

Thanks Aimee!

jadaml
jadaml
11,593 Points

When I tried to create the custom gem set:

From there, you’ll create a directory specific gemset. I’ve explicitly stated I want to use Ruby 2.0.0, but of course you can choose whichever version you like. rvm –rvmc –create 2.0.0@rails_4

I get the following error:

Unrecognized command line argument(s): '–rvmc 2.0.0@rails_4' ( see: 'rvm usage' )

Aimee Knight
Aimee Knight
9,701 Points

Jadam L , those are double dashes

 rvm --rvmrc --create 2.0.0@rails_4

Sorry for the confusion. I'm going to update my post also since it's hard to see.

you probably have it installed, you just aren't using the login shell.

/bin/bash --login rvm use 2.0.0 #~> Using /../rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p353

then check to see that rails 4.0+ is being used with that ruby version rails -v #~>Rails 4.0.2