Ruby on Rails Installation

Please Note
''All DreamHost accounts now have Ruby and Rails installed so you don't need to install Ruby or Rails (directions below) unless you have specific requirements that can't be met with the standard config. Even then, you can contact support and request specific gem packages for specific servers if you need them and they will try to accomodate you. To start using Ruby on Rails with Dreamhost, read the Ruby on Rails wiki page.

Installing by Hand
The following script will install the newest version of Ruby, along with RubyGems (a package management framework) and Ruby on Rails. To use it:  Log in to your account using SSH Create a new file by entering the command: vim rubyinstall   Copy the text below into your clipboard. In PuTTY, hit i for insert mode, then right-click to paste your clipboard contents, then hit Esc, type :wq (that's 'colon', 'w', 'q'), and press Enter to save and exit. Make the file executable by entering the command: chmod +x rubyinstall   Run it by entering the command: ./rubyinstall   You need to add $HOME/local/bin to your path, e.g. add export PATH=$HOME/local/bin:$PATH to your .profile/ Once you've set the path up, generate or re-generate your site following these instructions.  Alternately, Tobias Lutke has enhanced the script some. You can run it from the shell using:

curl http://home.leetsoft.com/dropbox/private-ruby/install | sh

Note that this installs v. 1.8.2, which is the current dreamhost default. The script below installs 1.8.4.

The Install Script
(Note: Towards the end when the rails installation happens, you'll be prompted a few times about whether or not to install dependencies. Hit y and  a few times when prompted.)


 * Updated to include readline support which is needed for ruby on rails' script/console, via Creative Stid Blog
 * Updated to fix the path so that the gems install

mkdir -p ~/local/usr/src/ruby cd ~/local/usr/src/ruby
 * 1) setup directories

curl -O ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline/readline-5.1.tar.gz tar xzvf readline-5.1.tar.gz cd readline-5.1 ./configure --prefix=$HOME/local make make install cd ..
 * 1) Install readline

curl -O ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.8/ruby-1.8.4.tar.gz tar xzvf ruby-1.8.4.tar.gz cd ruby-1.8.4 ./configure --prefix=$HOME/local --with-readline-dir=$HOME/local/ make make install cd ..
 * 1) install ruby

export PATH=$HOME/local/bin:$PATH
 * 1) fix path

curl -O http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/5207/rubygems-0.8.11.tgz tar xzvf rubygems-0.8.11.tgz cd rubygems-0.8.11 $HOME/local/bin/ruby setup.rb config --prefix=$HOME/local $HOME/local/bin/ruby setup.rb setup $HOME/local/bin/ruby setup.rb install cd ..
 * 1) get rubygems

gem install rails --include-dependencies
 * 1) Install RAILS

curl -O http://www.fastcgi.com/dist/fcgi-2.4.0.tar.gz tar xzvf fcgi-2.4.0.tar.gz cd fcgi-2.4.0 ./configure --prefix=$HOME/local make make install cd ..
 * 1) Install FastCGI

gem install fcgi -- --with-fcgi-dir=$HOME/local gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-config gem update
 * 1) Install FastCGI & MySQL gem packages