Skip to content

GettingStarted

Jump to bottom Edit New page
adriensebbane edited this page Apr 24, 2013 · 7 revisions

Getting Started with JRuby

To get JRuby on your system, install the most recent JRuby binary file for your system, extract it, and then work with it from the command line in a terminal window or command window

Installing JRuby

The easiest way to get up and running with JRuby is to download the latest binary, extract it, and add the directory to your PATH environment variable.

Note: It's best to avoid using a package manager because of issues with keeping the downloaded versions current.

If you prefer to build your own JRuby, see Downloading JRuby Source and Building It Yourself.

To download and install JRuby: Download a JRuby binary file

  • For OSX, Linux, BSD, Solaris, and other UNIX varieties, get the most recent jruby-bin-X.Y.Z.tar.gz file.
  • If you're on Microsoft Windows, get the most recent jruby-bin-X.Y.Z.zip file.
  • Extract JRuby into a directory.
  • Add that directory's bin subdirectory to the ''end'' of your PATH environment variable.
  • On OSX, Linux, BSD, Solaris, and other UNIXes, the variable is $PATH, and a sample JRuby path is /opt/jruby/bin.
  • On Microsoft Windows, the variable is %PATH%, and a sample JRuby path is C:\JRuby\jruby-1.5.0\bin. Also, make sure your JAVA_HOME environment variable points to your Java installation. For example, C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_14\.

Note: On some versions of Linux, you'll need to get the right version of Java installed. For more infomation, see JRuby With Wrong Java.

Note: If you're on HP-UX, see Using JRuby on HPUX.

Note: If you're using RVM to install JRuby, remove these options from (your optional rubygems configuration file) ~/.gemrc: --conservative --local.

With `--local', (at this writing) RVM fails to obtain the jruby-launcher gem required by jruby.

With `--conservative', the older rubygems (at this writing, 1.8.9) currently used by JRuby fails to begin gem executables with #!/usr/bin/env, and that doesn't work on most systems (e.g. Linux earlier than 2.6.27.9, per http://www.in-ulm.de/~mascheck/various/shebang/#interpreter-script).

Then: rvm install jruby ; rvm use jruby

Linux and OSX Installation Example

Once you've downloaded or built a JRuby installation and it is located in the directory /opt/jruby, you'll need to add /opt/jruby/bin to the end of your $PATH environment variable.

On Mac OS X and Linux, you can add to the PATH variable with the export command

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/jruby/bin

Microsoft Windows XP Installation Example

Once you've downloaded or built a JRuby installation and it is located in the directory C:\JRuby\jruby1.5.0\, you'll need to add C:\JRuby\jruby1.5.0\bin to the end of your %PATH% environment variable. You'll also need to ensure that your JAVA_HOME variable is set to the location of your current Java installation, for example, C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_14\.

  • In Windows XP, choose Start > Control Panel > System to open the System Properties window.
  • Click the Advanced tab, then click the Environment Variables button at the bottom of the window.
  • In the System Variables section, scroll down to Path, select it, and click Edit.
  • Add the path to the JRuby bin directory to the end of the Path. For example, add:
    ;C:\JRuby\jruby1.5.0\bin
  • Look for JAVA_HOME in both the User Variables section and the System Variables section and make sure it points to your current Java installation. If necessary, create a new JAVA_HOME variable as follows:
  • Under the User Variables section, click New.
  • Variable name: enter JAVA_HOME
  • Variable value: enter the actual path. For example,
    C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_14\.
  • Click OK to add the variable.
  • Click OK at the bottom of the Environment Variables window.
  • Click OK to close the System Properties window.

Did It Work?

To test whether JRuby installed correctly, open a command window or terminal window and run:

jruby --version

If it installed correctly, JRuby will return the current version.

How Do I Run rake, gem, etc?

The recommended way to run these commands (known as system-level executable commands) in JRuby is to always use jruby -S.

jruby -S gem list --local
jruby -S gem install rails mongrel jdbc-mysql activerecord-jdbcmysql-adapter
jruby -S rails blog ##(for rails3 we should use: jruby -S rails new blog)
cd blog
jruby -S rake -T
jruby -S rake db:create
jruby -S rake db:migrate

The -S parameter tells JRuby to use its version of the installed binary.

How Do I Run a Ruby Program?

To run any other ruby program by using JRuby, run it using the jruby command in a command window. For example,

jruby script/server ##(for rails3 you should use: jruby script/rails server)
jruby my_ruby_script.rb

See Also: JRuby Command Line Parameters

jirb: Ruby Interactive Console

One of the few standard Ruby utilities that has a different name in JRuby than in C Ruby is the command for the interactive Ruby console: jirb. In C Ruby this utility is simply called irb.

To enable tab completion within jirb, add the following line to the configuration file .irbrc

require 'irb/completion'

Note: If you're on Linux, BSD, OSX, Solaris, and other UNIXes, the .irbrc file must be in your home directory. If you're on Windows, it goes in your My Documents folder or the folder specified in the HOME environment variable.

See Also: Jirb Command Line Parameters

Installing and Using Ruby Gems

The RubyGems can be easily installed with JRuby with the following command:

jruby -S gem install rails mongrel jdbc-mysql activerecord-jdbcmysql-adapter

Many Gems will work fine in JRuby; however, some Gems build native C libraries as part of their install process. These Gems will not work in JRuby unless the Gem has also provided a Java equivalent to the native library.

Mongrel and Hpricot are two examples of Gems that build their native library in a platform independent manner. Each of them specify a parsing library using the Ragel language and a Ragel program can be automatically converted into either C or Java as part of the compile process.

Also, keep in mind that installing gems from behind a firewall will require setting the HTTP_PROXY. For example:

Not authenticated:

export http_proxy=http://${http-proxy-host}:${http-proxy-port}/

Authenticated:

export http_proxy=http://{your_user_id}:{your_password}@${http-proxy-host}:${http-proxy-port}/

See also JRuby Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Code Examples

For some examples of calling JRuby from Java and calling Java from JRuby, see JRuby and Java Code Examples.

Add a custom footer
Add a custom sidebar
Clone this wiki locally