Ruby is already installed on OS X (at /usr/lib/ruby). Good starter sites are RubyGarden (follow the RubyNuby link for more info) & MacZealots. Main site
The default install may not be completely standard. There is a one-click install to create a parallel installation. Ruby can also be installed from source (good detailed instructions) (then located at /usr/local/src/ and /usr/local/bin/).
RubyGems is a package management system for Ruby (to easily add functions and features to the language). The manual and the installation instructions are available from the RubyGems site. (Packages are put at /usr/lib/ruby/gems/)
Using RubyGems:
- RubyGems is not available by default to Ruby programs without pre-loading the rubygems library. This may be done by putting require "rubygems" at the top with other require's.
- Or, to get Ruby to load rubygems automatically, the RUBYOPT environment variable must be set (detailed directions). This can be set by adding "export RUBYOPT=rubygems" to the profile file (Use /private/etc/.profile to apply to all users; use ~/.profile to apply to single users.)
Associated good things:
- TextMate is a popular editor for Ruby development.
- Eclipse is a good IDE that has a plugin supporting Ruby.
- The Bluecloth project implements Markdown text-to-html conversion. (install with 'sudo gem install BlueCloth')
Installing: