ruby-build
ruby-build is an rbenv plugin that
provides an rbenv install
command to compile and install different versions
of Ruby on UNIX-like systems.
You can also use ruby-build without rbenv in environments where you need precise control over Ruby version installation.
See the list of releases for changes in each version.
Installation
Installing as an rbenv plugin (recommended)
Installing ruby-build as an rbenv plugin will give you access to the rbenv install
command.
git clone https://github.com/rbenv/ruby-build.git ~/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build
This will install the latest development version of ruby-build into the
~/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build
directory. From that directory, you can check out
a specific release tag. To update ruby-build, run git pull
to download the
latest changes.
Installing as a standalone program (advanced)
Installing ruby-build as a standalone program will give you access to the
ruby-build
command for precise control over Ruby version installation. If you
have rbenv installed, you will also be able to use the rbenv install
command.
git clone https://github.com/rbenv/ruby-build.git
cd ruby-build
./install.sh
This will install ruby-build into /usr/local
. If you do not have write
permission to /usr/local
, you will need to run sudo ./install.sh
instead.
You can install to a different prefix by setting the PREFIX
environment
variable.
To update ruby-build after it has been installed, run git pull
in your cloned
copy of the repository, then re-run the install script.
Installing with Homebrew (for OS X users)
Mac OS X users can install ruby-build with the Homebrew
package manager. This will give you access to the ruby-build
command. If you
have rbenv installed, you will also be able to use the rbenv install
command.
This is the recommended method of installation if you installed rbenv with Homebrew.
brew install ruby-build
Or, if you would like to install the latest development release:
brew install --HEAD ruby-build
Usage
Before you begin, you should ensure that your build environment has the proper system dependencies for compiling the wanted Ruby version (see our recommendations).
rbenv install
with rbenv
Using To install a Ruby version for use with rbenv, run rbenv install
with the
exact name of the version you want to install. For example,
rbenv install 2.2.0
Ruby versions will be installed into a directory of the same name under
~/.rbenv/versions
.
To see a list of all available Ruby versions, run rbenv install --list
. You
may also tab-complete available Ruby versions if your rbenv installation is
properly configured.
ruby-build
standalone
Using If you have installed ruby-build as a standalone program, you can use the
ruby-build
command to compile and install Ruby versions into specific
locations.
Run the ruby-build
command with the exact name of the version you want to
install and the full path where you want to install it. For example,
ruby-build 2.2.0 ~/local/ruby-2.2.0
To see a list of all available Ruby versions, run ruby-build --definitions
.
Pass the -v
or --verbose
flag to ruby-build
as the first argument to see
what's happening under the hood.
Custom definitions
Both rbenv install
and ruby-build
accept a path to a custom definition file
in place of a version name. Custom definitions let you develop and install
versions of Ruby that are not yet supported by ruby-build.
See the ruby-build built-in definitions as a starting point for custom definition files.
Special environment variables
You can set certain environment variables to control the build process.
TMPDIR
sets the location where ruby-build stores temporary files.RUBY_BUILD_BUILD_PATH
sets the location in which sources are downloaded and built. By default, this is a subdirectory ofTMPDIR
.RUBY_BUILD_CACHE_PATH
, if set, specifies a directory to use for caching downloaded package files.RUBY_BUILD_MIRROR_URL
overrides the default mirror URL root to one of your choosing.RUBY_BUILD_SKIP_MIRROR
, if set, forces ruby-build to download packages from their original source URLs instead of using a mirror.RUBY_BUILD_ROOT
overrides the default location from where build definitions inshare/ruby-build/
are looked up.RUBY_BUILD_DEFINITIONS
can be a list of colon-separated paths that get additionally searched when looking up build definitions.CC
sets the path to the C compiler.RUBY_CFLAGS
lets you pass additional options to the defaultCFLAGS
. Use this to override, for instance, the-O3
option.CONFIGURE_OPTS
lets you pass additional options to./configure
.MAKE
lets you override the command to use formake
. Useful for specifying GNU make (gmake
) on some systems.MAKE_OPTS
(orMAKEOPTS
) lets you pass additional options tomake
.MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS
lets you pass additional options tomake install
.RUBY_CONFIGURE_OPTS
,RUBY_MAKE_OPTS
andRUBY_MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS
allow you to specify configure and make options for buildling MRI. These variables will be passed to Ruby only, not any dependent packages (e.g. libyaml).
Applying patches to Ruby before compiling
Both rbenv install
and ruby-build
support the --patch
(-p
) flag that
signals that a patch from stdin should be applied to Ruby, JRuby, or Rubinius
source code before the ./configure
and compilation steps.
Example usage:
# applying a single patch
$ rbenv install --patch 1.9.3-p429 < /path/to/ruby.patch
# applying a patch from HTTP
$ rbenv install --patch 1.9.3-p429 < <(curl -sSL http://git.io/ruby.patch)
# applying multiple patches
$ cat fix1.patch fix2.patch | rbenv install --patch 1.9.3-p429
Checksum verification
If you have the shasum
, openssl
, or sha256sum
tool installed, ruby-build will
automatically verify the SHA2 checksum of each downloaded package before
installing it.
Checksums are optional and specified as anchors on the package URL in each definition. (All bundled definitions include checksums.)
Package download mirrors
ruby-build will first attempt to download package files from a mirror hosted on Amazon CloudFront. If a package is not available on the mirror, if the mirror is down, or if the download is corrupt, ruby-build will fall back to the official URL specified in the definition file.
You can point ruby-build to another mirror by specifying the
RUBY_BUILD_MIRROR_URL
environment variable--useful if you'd like to run your
own local mirror, for example. Package mirror URLs are constructed by joining
this variable with the SHA2 checksum of the package file.
If you don't have an SHA2 program installed, ruby-build will skip the download
mirror and use official URLs instead. You can force ruby-build to bypass the
mirror by setting the RUBY_BUILD_SKIP_MIRROR
environment variable.
The official ruby-build download mirror is sponsored by Basecamp.
Package download caching
You can instruct ruby-build to keep a local cache of downloaded package files
by setting the RUBY_BUILD_CACHE_PATH
environment variable. When set, package
files will be kept in this directory after the first successful download and
reused by subsequent invocations of ruby-build
and rbenv install
.
The rbenv install
command defaults this path to ~/.rbenv/cache
, so in most
cases you can enable download caching simply by creating that directory.
Keeping the build directory after installation
Both ruby-build
and rbenv install
accept the -k
or --keep
flag, which
tells ruby-build to keep the downloaded source after installation. This can be
useful if you need to use gdb
and memprof
with Ruby.
Source code will be kept in a parallel directory tree ~/.rbenv/sources
when
using --keep
with the rbenv install
command. You should specify the
location of the source code with the RUBY_BUILD_BUILD_PATH
environment
variable when using --keep
with ruby-build
.
Getting Help
Please see the ruby-build wiki for solutions to common problems.
If you can't find an answer on the wiki, open an issue on the issue tracker. Be sure to include the full build log for build failures.