Written by Katherine Giron Pe
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How to use multiple versions of Ruby in Ubuntu, Leopard and other Unix Operating Systems using RVM
There are many ways on how to run multiple versions of Ruby on Unix. The most simple solution is by creating a shell script.
Michael Greenly wrote a script to do just that and it worked great for me for several months. Check out his post.
This was how I switched from Ruby 1.8.7 to Ruby 1.9.2 Preview 1 and back to Ruby 1.8.7.
$ sudo select_ruby
[sudo] password for katz:
current = ruby 1.8.7 (2008-05-31 patchlevel 0) [i686-linux]
Select Option
1. ruby-1.8.7
2. ruby-1.9.2-preview1
3. exit
Your choice? : 2
$ ruby -v
ruby 1.9.2dev (2009-07-18 trunk 24186) [i686-linux]
$ sudo select_ruby
current = ruby 1.9.2dev (2009-07-18 trunk 24186) [i686-linux]
Select Option
1. ruby-1.8.7
2. ruby-1.9.2-preview1
3. exit
Your choice? : 1
$ ruby -v
ruby 1.8.7 (2008-05-31 patchlevel 0) [i686-linux]
Very neat.
But lately I found out about Ruby Version Manager and it seems to be a more sensible way to install multiple versions of Ruby. Here’s how I installed it on Ubuntu.
$ sudo gem install rvm
[sudo] password for katz:
Successfully installed rvm-0.0.84
1 gem installed
Installing ri documentation for rvm-0.0.84...
Installing RDoc documentation for rvm-0.0.84...
$ rvm-install
rvm - shell scripts that allows a user to manage multiple
ruby versions in their own account.
Installing to /home/katz/.rvm...
Adding 'if [[ -s /home/katz/.rvm/scripts/rvm ]] ;
then source /home/katz/.rvm/scripts/rvm ; fi' to /home/katz/.bash_profile.
Adding 'if [[ -s /home/katz/.rvm/scripts/rvm ]] ;
then source /home/katz/.rvm/scripts/rvm ; fi' to /home/katz/.bashrc.
Adding 'if [[ -s /home/katz/.rvm/scripts/rvm ]] ;
then source /home/katz/.rvm/scripts/rvm ; fi' to /home/katz/.zshrc.
rvm notes for Linux
* For JRuby (if you wish to use it) you will need:
$ aptitude install sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre sun-java6-jdk
* For MRI & ree (if you wish to use it) you will need:
$ aptitude install bison build-essential zlib1g-dev libssl-dev libreadline5-dev libxml2-dev
* In order to use rvm the following line must occur in your
shell's loading files, after all path/variable settings.:
* if [[ -s /home/katz/.rvm/scripts/rvm ]] ;
then source /home/katz/.rvm/scripts/rvm ; fi
* CLOSE THIS SHELL AND OPEN A NEW ONE in order to use rvm.
RTFM:
http://rvm.beginrescueend.com/
w⦿‿⦿t!
~ Wayne
rvm 0.0.84 by Wayne E. Seguin ([email protected]) [http://rvm.beginrescueend.com/]
Since you don’t want to install all versions of Ruby, you might want to do this:
rvm list --all
(ruby-)1.8.0-tv1_8_0
(ruby-)1.8.0-tv1_8_0_preview1
(ruby-)1.8.0-tv1_8_0_preview2
(ruby-)1.8.0-tv1_8_0_preview3
(ruby-)1.8.0-tv1_8_0_preview4
(ruby-)1.8.0-tv1_8_0_preview5
(ruby-)1.8.0-tv1_8_0_preview6
(ruby-)1.8.0-tv1_8_0_preview7
(ruby-)1.8.1-tv1_8_1
(ruby-)1.8.1-tv1_8_1_preview1
(ruby-)1.8.1-tv1_8_1_preview2
(ruby-)1.8.1-tv1_8_1_preview3
(ruby-)1.8.1-tv1_8_1_preview4
(ruby-)1.8.2-tv1_8_2
(ruby-)1.8.2-tv1_8_2_preview1
(ruby-)1.8.2-tv1_8_2_preview2
(ruby-)1.8.2-tv1_8_2_preview3
(ruby-)1.8.2-tv1_8_2_preview4
(ruby-)1.8.3-tv1_8_3
(ruby-)1.8.3-tv1_8_3_preview1
(ruby-)1.8.3-tv1_8_3_preview2
(ruby-)1.8.3-tv1_8_3_preview3
(ruby-)1.8.4-tv1_8_4
(ruby-)1.8.4-tv1_8_4_preview1
(ruby-)1.8.4-tv1_8_4_preview2
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_11
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_113
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_114
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_115
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_12
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_2
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_231
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_35
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_52
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_preview1
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_preview2
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_preview3
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_preview4
(ruby-)1.8.5-tv1_8_5_preview5
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_110
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_111
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_114
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_230
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_286
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_287
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_36
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_368
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_369
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_383
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_preview1
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_preview2
(ruby-)1.8.6-tv1_8_6_preview3
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_160
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_17
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_173
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_174
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_22
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_71
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_72
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_preview1
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_preview2
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_preview3
(ruby-)1.8.7-tv1_8_7_preview4
(ruby-)1.9.0-tv1_9_0_0
(ruby-)1.9.0-tv1_9_0_1
(ruby-)1.9.0-tv1_9_0_2
(ruby-)1.9.0-tv1_9_0_3
(ruby-)1.9.0-tv1_9_0_4
(ruby-)1.9.0-tv1_9_0_5
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_0
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_126
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_127
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_128
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_129
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_243
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_preview1
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_preview2
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_rc1
(ruby-)1.9.1-tv1_9_1_rc2
(ruby-)1.9.2-tv1_9_2_preview1
(ruby-)1.9.2-tv1_9_2_preview2
(ruby-)1.8.6(-p383)
(ruby-)1.8.6-head
(ruby-)1.8.7(-p174)
(ruby-)1.8.7-head
(ruby-)1.9.1(-p243)
(ruby-)1.9.1-head
(ruby-)1.9.2-preview1
jruby-1.2.0
jruby-1.3.0
jruby-1.3.1
jruby(-1.4.0) # the default
jruby-head
rbx(-head) # rubinius head, the default rbx
rbx(-head) --jit (rubinius head with LLVM enabled)
ree-1.8.6
ree(-1.8.7) # the default
ree-1.8.6-head
ree-1.8.7-head
mput(-head) # shyouhei head, the default mput
I think most relevant and acceptable versions are Ruby 1.8.7 and Ruby 1.9 versions. I prefer to have Ruby 1.9.1-tv1_9_1_rc2 and 1.8.7 versions.
Do not worry, it will not do anything about the Ruby version installed on root.
rvm install ruby-1.9.1 #this will download the stable version of Ruby 1.9
rvm install ruby-1.8.7-tv1_8_7_72
So now I have these Ruby Versions:
rvm list
ruby-1.8.7-tv1_8_7_72
(ruby -v # => ruby 1.8.7 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 72) [i686-linux]) )
ruby-1.9.1-p243
( ruby -v # => ruby 1.9.1p243 (2009-07-16 revision 24175) [i686-linux]) )
system ( ruby -v # => /opt/ruby/bin/ruby
ruby 1.8.7 (2008-05-31 patchlevel 0) [i686-linux] )
And now I could switch to using Ruby 1.9.1.
$ rvm use ruby-1.9.1-p243
<i> Now using ruby 1.9.1 p243 </i>
$ ruby -v
ruby 1.9.1p243 (2009-07-16 revision 24175) [i686-linux]
$ irb
ruby-1.9.1-p243 > exit
$ gem list
*** LOCAL GEMS ***
rake (0.8.7)
rubygems-update (1.3.5)
And today I found out that Rails 2.3.5 is released. Perfect. :)
Update:
As Wayne has noted on the comment below. “Use” is optional and “ruby” is optional. So to switch to using 1.9.1, use:
$ rvm 1.9.1-p243