From: Ben Crowell <crowell07@...>
Date: 2007-06-14T00:05:04+09:00
Subject: Re: Getting Ruby

On a related topic, it turns out that if you try to compile ruby
from source, it won't work unless you already have ruby installed.
I tried it yesterday, on an ubuntu fiesty box that didn't have
ruby installed, and the build stopped with an error, because in
one place, a script tries to invoke ruby. It wasn't a huge problem
for me, because I was able to install the ruby 1.8 package using
apt, and then continue compiling 1.9. But presumably there are some
people out there who are compiling ruby because they can't get a
binary (e.g., people using unusual operating systems or cpu
architectures), and it would be a problem for them.

I also feel that the testing after the compile is through is a
little excessive. My old laptop compiled ruby in an hour or two
yesterday afternoon, but the test suite is still running this
morning.