How to install Ruby on Rails with mysql and get it working, a step by step guide?

Question

Some time ago I managed to get RoR working on Windows XP. I've been trying to get it working on Windows 7 for 2 days but there's just no way, there's always a problem, one that google can't answer, no matter what I try.

Can someone give me a guide or something to get it working on Windows 7 or XP ? Even Ubuntu but I'd rather not go through that maze again.

I figure I'm going to install Windows XP on a virtual machine and start from there.

I need RoR and mysql - what versions, where do I download them from and what steps do I take ?

On a side note, how do you install mysql2 (version < 0.3) on rails 3.0.7 ? Because it automatically tries something over 0.3 which doesn't work on rails 3.0.7 and if I try the gemfile bundle trick with 0.2.7 I don't know how to specify configuration options and of course it doesn't work if I don't give it the location of mysql lib and include directories.

Also I tried using rails 3.1 beta and everything goes smoothly until I start the server and the website never loads on localhost:3000.

score 17 · Accepted Answer · answered May 13 '11 at 20:02

17

This is basically what I do to install on Windows 7:

Download and install latest mysql from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/
Install Ruby http://rubyinstaller.org/downloads/ (check the box to update PATH)
Install Ruby Devkit http://rubyinstaller.org/downloads/ (for example extract to C:\DevKit)
Setup Devkit

cd [MY_DEVKIT_INSTALL_DIR]

ruby dk.rb init

ruby dk.rb install
Copy libmysql.dll from your mysql/bin install to C:\Ruby192\bin

gem install rails

gem install mysql2 -v 0.2.6

rails new my_test_app -d mysql

answered May 13 '11 at 20:02

Reuben Mallaby

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Ah, there it goes. Seems like I had to use the -v 0.2.6 and change the version in the gemfile. Thank you very much. – Kesarion May 14 '11 at 00:41
After numerous nightmarish hours trying to do the same, I figured I'd write down how I got it working 8) – Reuben Mallaby May 14 '11 at 12:21
@ReubenMallaby, where would I find "mysql/bin" in this context? I've looked under Program Files\MySQL, used Windows 7's search tool to attempt to locate libmysql.dll without success. MySQL is installed and working on my system (phpMyAdmin can interact with it). – Jessa Jan 29 '15 at 05:31

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 13 '11 at 19:40

3

To setup Rails on windows, just download and click:

http://railsinstaller.org/

answered May 13 '11 at 19:40

apneadiving

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This uses 1.8.7 so the installation will be slower than a real one. – alternative May 13 '11 at 20:08
... I do use Ruby 1.8.7 Enterprise Edition in production which just suits perfectly my needs. 1.9.2 is not a must have, at all – apneadiving May 13 '11 at 20:31
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that link is for EE. – alternative May 13 '11 at 20:49

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 13 '11 at 19:37

1

Take a look at http://rubyinstaller.org/ it should get you up and running.

answered May 13 '11 at 19:37

Scott

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 13 '11 at 21:04

I like Aptana Studio 3 for developping with RoR on Windows 7. The book "Agile Web Development with Rails" is also full of good advices.

Here are the steps I followed:

1- Installing Ruby via RubyInstaller

2- Install MySQL (follow @Reuben Mallaby instructions)

3- Install Rails

With the Built-in Terminal, make dev' easy. You should take a look: Aptana Studio

How to install Ruby on Rails with mysql and get it working, a step by step guide?

4 Answers4

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