From: "M. Edward (Ed) Borasky" <znmeb@...>
Date: 2007-06-14T00:35:53+09:00
Subject: Re: Getting Ruby

Ben Crowell wrote:
> 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.
> 
> 
> 

I suspect your system isn't configured correctly. I've re-compiled Ruby
hundreds of times. There is a "miniruby" built during the install that
runs scripts, but there should *not* be any need to install a Ruby
binary in order to build Ruby from source. If you'd like, email me off
list or post your error messages here, and I'll see if I can figure out
what's wrong.