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Vultr profile image Sanskriti Harmukh
Sanskriti Harmukh for Vultr

Posted on with Aashish Chaurasiya Originally published at docs.vultr.com

Installing Ruby on Ubuntu 24.04

#ruby #ubuntu #linux #devops

Ruby is a dynamic, object-oriented programming language perfect for creating basic scripts to complex web applications. It offers a modern syntax for productivity, runs with an interpreter instead of a compiler, and provides a wide range of frameworks for various projects. This guide covers installing Ruby on Ubuntu 24.04 using rbenv, RVM, and APT. By the end, you'll have a working Ruby installation, with the option to manage and switch between multiple Ruby versions on the same server.

Install Ruby Using rbenv

rbenv is a Ruby version manager that lets you install multiple versions of Ruby and switch between them.

1. Install all required dependencies for the ruby-build plugin to download and compile Ruby:

$ sudo apt install autoconf patch build-essential rustc libssl-dev libyaml-dev libreadline6-dev zlib1g-dev libgmp-dev libncurses5-dev libffi-dev libgdbm6 libgdbm-dev libdb-dev libtool uuid-dev
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2. Install the latest rbenv installation script:

$ curl -fsSL https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv-installer/raw/HEAD/bin/rbenv-installer | bash
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3. Add the rbenv path to the .bashrc file:

$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
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4. Reload the .bashrc shell configuration to apply the path changes in your active session:

$ source ~/.bashrc
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5. View the installed rbenv version:

$ rbenv -v
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Your output should be similar to the one below:

rbenv 1.3.0-9-gefeab7f
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6. List all available Ruby versions you can install:

$ rbenv install -l
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Note the target Ruby version in your output similar to the one below:

3.1.6
3.2.6
3.3.6
jruby-9.4.9.0
mruby-3.3.0
picoruby-3.0.0
truffleruby-24.1.1
truffleruby+graalvm-24.1.1

Only latest stable releases for each Ruby implementation are shown.
Use `rbenv install --list-all' to show all local versions.
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7. Install your target Ruby version. For example, 3.3.6:

$ rbenv install 3.3.6
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The installation process may take 3-5 minutes to complete depending on the available server resources.

8. Set the installed Ruby version as the default if the installation is successful:

$ rbenv global 3.3.6
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9. View the installed Ruby version:

$ ruby --version
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Your output should be similar to the one below:

ruby 3.3.6 (2024-11-05 revision 75015d4c1f) [x86_64-linux]
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Install Ruby Using RVM

Ruby Version Manager (RVM), also known as Ruby environment manager, is a command-line tool used to install, manage, and work with multiple Ruby environments on a server.

1. Install the required GPG keys for RVM:

$ gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3 7D2BAF1CF37B13E2069D6956105BD0E739499BDB
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2. Install RVM:

$ curl -sSL https://get.rvm.io | bash -s
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3. Load RVM into your shell environment:

$ source ~/.rvm/scripts/rvm
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4. List and install all the RVM system requirements:

$ rvm requirements
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Enter your sudo user password when prompted to update the server's package index. Your output should be similar to the one below:

Checking requirements for ubuntu.
Installing requirements for ubuntu.
.....................
Installing required packages: autoconf, automake, bison, libffi-dev, libgdbm-dev, libsqlite3-dev, libtool, libyaml-dev, sqlite3, libgmp-dev, libncurses-dev, libreadline-dev, libssl-dev...............
Requirements installation successful.
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5. View the installed RVM version:

$ rvm -v
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Your output should be similar to the one below:

rvm 1.29.12-next (master) by Michal Papis, Piotr Kuczynski, Wayne E. Seguin [https://rvm.io]
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6. List the available Ruby versions you can install:

$ rvm list known
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Note the target Ruby version in your output similar to the one below:

# MRI Rubies
[ruby-]1.8.6[-p420]
[ruby-]1.8.7[-head] # security released on head
[ruby-]1.9.1[-p431]
[ruby-]1.9.2[-p330]
[ruby-]1.9.3[-p551]
[ruby-]2.0.0[-p648]
[ruby-]2.1[.10]
[ruby-]2.2[.10]
[ruby-]2.3[.8]
[ruby-]2.4[.10]
[ruby-]2.5[.9]
[ruby-]2.6[.10]
[ruby-]2.7[.8]
[ruby-]3.0[.7]
[ruby-]3.1[.5]
[ruby-]3.2[.6]
[ruby-]3[.3.6]
[ruby-]3.4[.0-preview1]
ruby-head
............
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7. Install a specific Ruby version. For example, 3.3.6:

$ rvm install 3.3.6
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8. Set the installed Ruby version as the default:

$ rvm --default use 3.3.6
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9. View all installed Ruby versions:

$ rvm list
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Your output should be similar to the one below:

=* ruby-3.3.6 [ x86_64 ]

# => - current
# =* - current && default
#  * - default
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Install Ruby Using APT

Ruby is available in the default APT package manager repositories, but the included version is not the latest.

1. Update the server's package index:

$ sudo apt update
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2. Install Ruby:

$ sudo apt install ruby-full
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3. View the installed Ruby version:

$ ruby --version
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Your output should be similar to the one below:

ruby 3.2.3 (2024-01-18 revision 52bb2ac0a6) [x86_64-linux-gnu]
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Uninstall Ruby

1. Uninstall a specific Ruby version using rbenv. For example, 3.3.6:

$ rbenv uninstall 3.3.6
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2. Remove a specific Ruby version using RVM:

$ rvm remove 3.3.6
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3. Uninstall Ruby installed using APT:

$ sudo apt autoremove ruby-full
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Next Steps

You now have Ruby installed on Ubuntu 24.04 using rbenv, RVM, and/or APT, with the ability to install and switch between multiple Ruby versions. From here, you can:

  • Install a Ruby framework such as Rails or Sinatra to start building web applications
  • Set a per-project Ruby version with a .ruby-version file when using rbenv or RVM
  • Set up bundler to manage gem dependencies for your projects
  • Review the RVM Documentation or rbenv Manual Page for advanced version management

For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.

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