Installing Ruby https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/insta...

Installing Ruby

With package managers or third-party tools, you have plenty of options to install and
manage Ruby.

You may already have Ruby installed on your computer. You can check inside a
terminal emulator by typing:
ruby -v

This should output some information on the installed Ruby version.

Choose Your Installation Method

There are several ways to install Ruby:

On a UNIX-like operating system, using your system’s package manager is

easiest. However, the packaged Ruby version may not be the newest one.
Installers can be used to install a specific or multiple Ruby versions. There is
also an installer for Windows.
Managers help you to switch between multiple Ruby versions on your system.
Finally, you can also build Ruby from source.

Here are available installation methods:

Package Management Systems

Debian, Ubuntu
CentOS, Fedora, RHEL
Gentoo
Arch Linux
macOS
FreeBSD
Solaris, OpenIndiana
Other Distributions
Installers
ruby-build
ruby-install
RubyInstaller (Windows)
RailsInstaller and Ruby Stack
Managers
chruby
rbenv
RVM
uru

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Building from source

Package Management Systems

If you cannot compile your own Ruby, and you do not want to use a third-party tool,
you can use your system’s package manager to install Ruby.

Some members of the Ruby community feel that you should avoid package managers
to install Ruby and that you should use dedicated tools instead.

It’s possible that major package managers will install older Ruby versions instead of
the latest release. To use the latest Ruby release, check that the package name matches
its version number. Or use a dedicated installer.

apt (Debian or Ubuntu)

Debian GNU/Linux and Ubuntu use the apt package manager. You can use it like this:
$ sudo apt-get install ruby-full

As of writing, the ruby-full package provides Ruby 2.3.1, which is an old stable
release, on Debian and Ubuntu.

yum (CentOS, Fedora, or RHEL)

CentOS, Fedora, and RHEL use the yum package manager. You can use it like this:
$ sudo yum install ruby

The installed version is typically the latest version of Ruby available at the release
time of the specific distribution version.

portage (Gentoo)
Gentoo uses the portage package manager.
$ sudo emerge dev-lang/ruby

By default, this will try to install versions 1.9 and 2.0, but more versions are available.
To install a specific version, set RUBY_TARGETS in your make.conf. See the Gentoo
Ruby Project website for details.

pacman (Arch Linux)

Arch Linux uses a package manager named pacman. To get Ruby, just do this:
$ sudo pacman -S ruby

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This should install the latest stable Ruby version.

Homebrew (macOS)
Ruby versions 2.0 and above are included by default in macOS releases since at least
El Capitan (10.11) all the way through Mojave (10.14).

Homebrew is a commonly used package manager on macOS. Installing a Ruby using

Homebrew is easy:
$ brew install ruby

This should install the latest Ruby version.

FreeBSD
FreeBSD offers both pre-packaged and source-based methods to install Ruby. Prebuilt
packages can be installed via the pkg tool:
$ pkg install ruby

A source-based method can be used to install Ruby using the Ports Collection. This is
useful if you want to customize the build configuration options.

More information about Ruby and its surrounding ecosystem on FreeBSD can be
found on the FreeBSD Ruby Project website.

Ruby on Solaris and OpenIndiana

Ruby 1.8.7 is available for Solaris 8 through Solaris 10 on Sunfreeware and Ruby
1.8.7 is available at Blastwave. Ruby 1.9.2p0 is also available at Sunfreeware, but this
is outdated.

To install Ruby on OpenIndiana, please use the Image Packaging System (IPS) client.
This will install the Ruby binaries and RubyGems directly from the OpenIndiana
repositories. It’s easy:
$ pkg install runtime/ruby

However, the third-party tools might be a good way to obtain the latest version of
Ruby.

Other Distributions
On other systems, you can search the package repository of your Linux distribution’s
manager for Ruby. Alternatively, you can use a third-party installer.

Installers

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If the version of Ruby provided by your system or package manager is out of date, a
newer one can be installed using a third-party installer.

Some installers allow you to install multiple versions on the same system; associated
managers can help to switch between the different Rubies.

If you are planning to use RVM as a version manager you don’t need a separate
installer, it comes with its own.

ruby-build
ruby-build is a plugin for rbenv that allows you to compile and install different
versions of Ruby. ruby-build can also be used as a standalone program without rbenv.
It is available for macOS, Linux, and other UNIX-like operating systems.

ruby-install
ruby-install allows you to compile and install different versions of Ruby into arbitrary
directories. chruby is a complimentary tool used to switch between Ruby versions. It’s
available for macOS, Linux, and other UNIX-like operating systems.

RubyInstaller
On Windows, RubyInstaller gives you everything you need to set up a full Ruby
development environment.

Just download it, run it, and you are done!

RailsInstaller and Ruby Stack

If you are installing Ruby in order to use Ruby on Rails, you can use the following
installers:

RailsInstaller uses RubyInstaller but gives you extra tools that help with Rails
development. It supports macOS and Windows.
Bitnami Ruby Stack provides a complete development environment for Rails. It
supports macOS, Linux, Windows, virtual machines, and cloud images.

Managers
Many Rubyists use Ruby managers to manage multiple Rubies. They allow easy or
even automatic switching between Ruby versions depending on the project and other
advantages but are not officially supported. You can however find support within their
respective communities.

chruby

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chruby allows you to switch between multiple Rubies. It can manage Rubies installed
by ruby-install or even built from source.

rbenv
rbenv allows you to manage multiple installations of Ruby. While it can’t install Ruby
by default, its ruby-build plugin can. Both tools are available for macOS, Linux, or
other UNIX-like operating systems.

RVM (“Ruby Version Manager”)

RVM allows you to install and manage multiple installations of Ruby on your system.
It can also manage different gemsets. It is available for macOS, Linux, or other
UNIX-like operating systems.

uru
Uru is a lightweight, multi-platform command line tool that helps you to use multiple
Rubies on macOS, Linux, or Windows systems.

Building from Source

Of course, you can install Ruby from source. Download and unpack a tarball, then
just do this:
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

By default, this will install Ruby into /usr/local. To change, pass the --prefix=DIR
option to the ./configure script.

You can find more information about building from source in the Ruby README
file.

Using the third-party tools or package managers might be a better idea, though,
because the installed Ruby won’t be managed by any tools.

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