From: Dave Howell <groups.2009a@...>
Date: 2010-10-06T17:46:35+09:00
Subject: Re: Need help installing Appscript on MAC OSX 10.4.11 Power PC


On Sep 30, 2010, at 6:55 , jalbers wrote:

> I downloaded appscript and it is unzipped.  I started up terminal and
> changed directories to the folder rb-appscript-0.5.3 and I think that
> I need to do the following three commands to get it installed:
> 
> ruby extconf.rb
> make
> sudo make install
> 
> after typing "ruby extconf.rb", I get an error message saying "can't
> find header files for ruby."
> 
> The documentation said something about "Please note that the version
> of Ruby included with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is missing the header
> files needed to build appscript on PPC-based Macs."
> 
> I am not very experienced with doing anything at the command prompt,
> and I am starting to learn Ruby.  I don't want to have to install a
> new version of ruby. 

I'm afraid that's really your best option. The version of Ruby that shipped with 10.4 was, if I recall correctly, pretty darn old even at the time it shipped. 1.8.2? Or maybe 1.8.4? You will probably have fewer difficulties in the long run if you install 1.8.7 or the shiny new 1.9.2. 

However, I think you should be able to find a newer version of ruby that can be installed without using the command prompt. Somebody has built .pkg files for installing Ruby, so it can be installed like any normal Mac app.