Robby on Rails: Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX

Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX

Robby Russell — Mon, 29 May 2006 09:46:00 -0500

WARNING: This post contains some outdated instructions. Please read Installing Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL on OS X, Second Edition.

Our Creative Director, Allison Beckwith, picked up a new black MacBook this weekend and I had the luxury of getting it setup to model our standard setup. We all try to keep our setups fairly similar so that we don’t hit too many issues when working together on projects.

I’ll try to keep this short and to the point… because if you’re like me… you just want to start playing with Rails! ;-)

The steps I followed to get her setup like the rest of the development team at PLANET ARGON went something like this.

XCode and DarwinPorts

Download and install iterm (the Universal dmg)
Download and install XCode tools from Apple (dmg)
Download and install DarwinPorts (dmg)
Start up iterm.

In this step we are going to modify the default bash profile so that every user on the machine that uses bash will get the path for darwinports in their bash_profile.

sudo vi /etc/profile

Modify the following line to include /opt/local/bin in the PATH… save the file (see vim documentation for details)


  PATH="/bin:/sbin:/opt/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin"

Ruby and Rails

Open up a new iterm tab (apple-t)
Install ruby with darwinports with: sudo port install ruby rb-rubygems
Install Ruby on Rails and all its dependencies with: sudo gem install -y rails

PostgreSQL and Ruby libs

Install PostgreSQL8 with: sudo port install postgresql8
We need to modify the /etc/profile file again because the postgresql8 install doesn’t add programs like pg_ctl to /opt/local/bin. Change the PATH to now look like this and save.


  PATH="/bin:/sbin:/opt/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/opt/local/lib/pgsql8/bin"

Install the postgres gem with: sudo gem install postgres
- Oh NO!!! You should see an error about it not finding libraries… what will we do?


  cd /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/postgres-0.7.1
  sudo ruby extconf.rb --with-pgsql-include=/opt/local/include/pgsql8 --with-pgsql-lib=/opt/local/lib/pgsql8
  sudo make && sudo make install
  # for good measure...
  sudo gem install postgres

Successfully installed postgres-0.7.1

Configure PostgreSQL for single user

In our development environments, we don’t find it necessary to keep PostgreSQL running all the time on our servers. We only want it running when we’re doing development. We also typically install it per user on a machine to keep us from needing things like usernames and passwords to connect to it from an application we’re running on the machine. Let’s setup PostgreSQL the PLANET ARGON way!

Open up iterm and go to your home directory
Init your new PostgreSQL database with: initdb -D pgdata
Start up PostgreSQL with: pg_ctl -D pgdata -l pgdata/psql.log start
Create a new database with: createdb argon_development
Test the new database with: psql argon_development
Did it load up your new database? If so, great! If not… check your steps… :-)

Test Rails + PostgreSQL

Navigate to a directory where you don’t mind sticking projects… mkdir development; cd development
Generate a new Rails application with: rails -d postgresql argon
Navigate to new Rails application directory. cd argon
Generate a new model to test with: ./script/generate model Argonista
Edit and save the migration that was generated ( db/migrate/001_create_argonistas.rb ) file with your favorite editor…


  class CreateArgonistas < ActiveRecord::Migration
    def self.up
      create_table :argonistas do |t|
        t.column :name, :string
        t.column :blog_url, :string
      end
    end

    def self.down
      drop_table :argonistas
    end
  end

Edit config/database.yml to look like the following… you’ll notice that we don’t need to supply a username or password.


  development:
    adapter: postgresql
    database: argon_development

  test:
    adapter: postgresql 
    database: argon_test

  production:
    adapter: postgresql
    database: argon_production

* Run the migration with: rake db:migrate


  $ rake db:migrate
  (in /Users/allisonbeckwith/development/argon)
  == CreateArgonistas: migrating ================================================
  -- create_table(:argonistas)
  NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE will create implicit sequence "argonistas_id_seq" for serial column "argonistas.id" 
  NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE / PRIMARY KEY will create implicit index "argonistas_pkey" for table "argonistas" 
     -> 0.0399s
  == CreateArgonistas: migrated (0.0402s) =======================================

* Test your new model from console


  $ ./script/console 
  Loading development environment.
  >> a = Argonista.new
  => #<Argonista:0x24569dc @attributes={"name"=>nil, "blog_url"=>nil}, @new_record=true>
  >> a.name = 'Robby'
  => "Robby" 
  >> a.blog_url = 'http://www.robbyonrails.com'
  => "http://www.robbyonrails.com" 
  >> a.save
  => true
  >> exit

* Great, let’s go look at our database table…


  $ psql argon_development
  Welcome to psql 8.1.3, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

  Type:  \copyright for distribution terms
         \h for help with SQL commands
         \? for help with psql commands
         \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
         \q to quit

  argon_development=# SELECT * FROM argonistas;
   id | name  |          blog_url           
  ----+-------+-----------------------------
    1 | Robby | http://www.robbyonrails.com
  (1 row)

There we go, we’ve setup Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on a brand new Intel MacBook without breaking a sweat!

Extra Goodies

Subversion: sudo port install subversion
Lighttpd: sudo port install lighttpd
ImageMagick: sudo port install ImageMagick (known to take a while…)
GraphicsMagick: sudo port install GraphicsMagick
Install the rmagick gem: sudo gem install rmagick

Have fun!

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Manjoor

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 06:00:30 -0500

mail me at manzoor@aboutd.com phone me at +91-9829298623 india. i wat ur mail or phone

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Manjoor

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 05:59:03 -0500

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Manjoor

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 05:58:26 -0500

hi isr i am manjoor alihere i want asoftware Cd of postgreSQl version 8.1.3 sir plz help me to run my project to it because it uninstall on my PC your friend Er. Manjoor Ali

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Dan B

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 16:05:47 -0500

Nice writeup. I’m having problems with getting ruby and postgresql installed. They both depend on readline and darwinports cannot install readline:

mac:~ mac$ sudo port install readline Password:

-> Fetching readline -> Attempting to fetch readline51-001 from ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/bash/readline-5.1-patches/ -> Attempting to fetch readline51-001 from http://distfiles-od.opendarwin.org/ -> Attempting to fetch readline51-001 from http://distfiles-msn.opendarwin.org/ -> Attempting to fetch readline51-001 from http://distfiles-bay13.opendarwin.org/ Error: Target com.apple.fetch returned: fetch failed Error: /opt/local/bin/port: Status 1 encountered during processing. mac:~ mac$

I did find a readline tar-ball here: ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline/readline-5.1.tar.gz

Is there any way I can graft it on to /opt/local so that ports [ ruby for example ], which depend on it can get installed?

Thanks, -Dan

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Joe

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 15:19:03 -0500

Well, since it’s aPple, why isn’t it xCode?

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by chris

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:54:05 -0500

Thanks for the help.

Good stuff.

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by zorph

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 21:28:18 -0500

Leaving out the username and password in database.yml caused an error when I tried to rake migrate. When I put the username and password back in, it migrated! (I’m setting up rails/postgresql on windows XP though)

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Chris

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:10:28 -0500

For a new developer, this site is so useful. Tips like these that help me streamline my own forming processes. Thanks!

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Jim Greer

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 23:21:04 -0500

Works for me!

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by David Salgado

Sat, 03 Jun 2006 03:47:44 -0500

Very useful article – many thanks.

On my Powerbook running Panther, I got a complaint about autoconf versions when trying to do “sudo port install ruby rb-rubygems”.

To fix this, simply;

sudo port install autoconf
sudo port install ruby rb-rubygems

Thanks again.

David

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Al Hulaton

Wed, 31 May 2006 09:40:42 -0500

Very timely article. I just got a Macbook Pro and was about to muddle through the postgres install. Now I can just copy your homework. Thanks!

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Jacob Harris

Tue, 30 May 2006 14:02:36 -0500

FYI, there was an issue where Postgresql would fight with iChat for shared memory when you attempted to do a video chat (it would get a signal fine from the iSight for preview, but then complain there was no signal when a chat is initiated). There is a fix on the Interwebs, but I figured I’d let you know in case allisbe’s iChat starts acting up.

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by David

Tue, 30 May 2006 09:36:32 -0500

Just a minor correction: It’s spelled Xcode, not XCode. Seriously, nobody calls you RObby, do they?

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by Xenith

Mon, 29 May 2006 16:21:14 -0500

There’s no need to recompile the postgres gem. You can pass the configure options straight to the gem using -- as so:

sudo gem install postgres -- --with-pgsql-include=/opt/local/include/pgsql8 --with-pgsql-lib=/opt/local/lib/pgsql8

"Install Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL on OSX" by atmos

Mon, 29 May 2006 11:30:27 -0500

I did a similar writeup but did a few things differently. :) You can check out my macbook pro how-to here .