# What's Ruby
Ruby is the interpreted scripting language for quick and easy object-oriented
programming. It has many features to process text files and to do system
management tasks (as in Perl). It is simple, straight-forward, and
extensible.
## Features of Ruby
* Simple Syntax
* **Normal** Object-oriented Features (e.g. class, method calls)
* **Advanced** Object-oriented Features (e.g. Mix-in, Singleton-method)
* Operator Overloading
* Exception Handling
* Iterators and Closures
* Garbage Collection
* Dynamic Loading of Object Files (on some architectures)
* Highly Portable (works on many Unix-like/POSIX compatible platforms as
well as Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, etc.) cf.
http://bugs.ruby-lang.org/projects/ruby-trunk/wiki/SupportedPlatforms
## How to get Ruby
For a complete list of ways to install Ruby, including using third-party tools
like rvm, see:
http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads/
The Ruby distribution files can be found on the following FTP site:
ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/
The trunk of the Ruby source tree can be checked out with the following
command:
$ svn co http://svn.ruby-lang.org/repos/ruby/trunk/ ruby
Or if you are using git then use the following command:
$ git clone git://github.com/ruby/ruby.git
There are some other branches under development. Try the following command
to see the list of branches:
$ svn ls http://svn.ruby-lang.org/repos/ruby/branches/
Or if you are using git then use the following command:
$ git ls-remote git://github.com/ruby/ruby.git
## Ruby home page
The URL of the Ruby home page is:
http://www.ruby-lang.org/
## Mailing list
There is a mailing list to talk about Ruby. To subscribe this list, please
send the following phrase:
subscribe
in the mail body (not subject) to the address
<mailto:[email protected]>.
## How to compile and install
This is what you need to do to compile and install Ruby:
1. If you want to use Microsoft Visual C++ to compile ruby, read
win32/README.win32 instead of this document.
2. If `./configure` does not exist or is older than configure.in, run
`autoconf` to (re)generate configure.
3. Run `./configure`, which will generate `config.h` and `Makefile`.
Some C compiler flags may be added by default depending on your
environment. Specify `optflags=..` and `warnflags=..` as necessary to
override them.
4. Edit `defines.h` if you need. Usually this step will not be needed.
5. Remove comment mark(`#`) before the module names from `ext/Setup` (or add
module names if not present), if you want to link modules statically.
If you don't want to compile non static extension modules (probably on
architectures which do not allow dynamic loading), remove comment mark
from the line "`#option nodynamic`" in `ext/Setup`.
Usually this step will not be needed.
6. Run `make`.
7. Optionally, run '`make check`' to check whether the compiled Ruby
interpreter works well. If you see the message "`check succeeded`", your
ruby works as it should (hopefully).
8. Run '`make install`'
This command will create following directories and install files onto
them.
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/bin`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/include/ruby-${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/include/ruby-${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}/${PLATFORM}`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby/${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby/${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}/${PLATFORM}`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby/site_ruby`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby/site_ruby/${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby/site_ruby/${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}/${PLATFORM}`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}/${PLATFORM}`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/lib/ruby/gems/${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/share/man/man1`
* `${DESTDIR}${prefix}/share/ri/${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${TEENY}/system`
If Ruby's API version is '*x.y.z*', the `${MAJOR}` is '*x*', the
`${MINOR}` is '*y*', and the `${TEENY}` is '*z*'.
**NOTE**: teeny of the API version may be different from one of Ruby's
program version
You may have to be a super user to install ruby.
If you fail to compile ruby, please send the detailed error report with the
error log and machine/OS type, to help others.
Some extension libraries may not get compiled because of lack of necessary
external libraries and/or headers, then you will need to run '`make distclean-ext`'
to remove old configuration after installing them in such case.
## Copying
See the file `COPYING`.
## Feedback
Questions about the Ruby language can be asked on the Ruby-Talk mailing list
(http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/community/mailing-lists) or on websites like
(http://stackoverflow.com).
Bug reports should be filed at http://bugs.ruby-lang.org. Read [HowToReport] for more information.
[HowToReport]: https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/projects/ruby/wiki/HowToReport
##Contributing
See the file `CONTRIBUTING.md`
## The Author
Ruby was originally designed and developed by Yukihiro Matsumoto (Matz) in
1995.
<mailto:[email protected]>
