post: My Ruby Development Environment

source/blog/_posts/2011-11-01-my-ruby-development-environment.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: My Ruby Development Environment
+categories: [technology, ruby, development]
+---
+
+Setting up your development environment is always a tedious task. My own
+environment has changed many times over the years. I've recently gotten my
+Ruby-related setup to the point I'm finally really happy with it.
+
+This is by no means a complete in-depth step-by-step guide of how to setup
+your environment like mine though. Instead it's meant as a quick reference of
+the tools I use, and how I use them. If you were looking for a magical silver
+bullet, this article is not it. If you're looking for an exciting adventure
+and treasure hunt, this article is hopefully it.
+
+
+## Ruby
+
+I install and manage multiple Ruby versions with [rbenv][] and [ruby-build][].
+They are not as established as [RVM][] which has been around a lot longer, but
+I prefer rbenv for it's bare-bones simplicity. If you're coming from RVM, the
+main thing that you'll miss is it's gemset feature, which won't be an issue if
+you use Bundler properly. There is however a [gemset][rbenv-gemset] plugin
+available for rbenv.
+
+To install rbenv, check the [ReadMe][rbenv] on the project page. I prefer the
+Git checkout method. [ruby-build][] has installation info on the project page
+too, but on OS X I prefer installing it with [Homebrew][].
+
+Once both are installed, you can install your Ruby version of choice, for
+example:
+
+    $ rbenv install 1.9.3-p0
+
+Then set your global Ruby version:
+
+    $ rbenv global 1.9.3-p0
+
+I tend to install a very basic set of gems, as all project-specific gems will
+be managed by Bundler. So obviously `bundler` needs to be installed:
+
+    $ gem install bundler
+
+With rbenv this does not create the `bundle` executable however, so the next
+step is to run:
+
+    $ rbenv rehash
+
+This creates the `bundle` executable in `~/.rbenv/shims`, and also any missing
+executables for other gems you have installed.
+
+
+## Gem Management with Bundler
+
+[Bundler][] is fantastic, but if you just run `bundle install` as default, I would
+argue you're not actually using Bundler correctly as it installs the gems into
+your Ruby verion's gem path. One of Bundler's great features is that you can
+keep gems completely self-contained within a project. For that reason I use
+the `--path` option, to install gems into `vendor/bundle` relative to the
+Gemfile.
+
+And because I'm lazy, I have a handy bash alias for my `bundle install`
+command.
+
+{% highlight bash %}
+alias bi="bundle install --path vendor/bundle --binstubs=.bin"
+{% endhighlight %}
+
+The `--binstubs` option there leads me into how I avoid typing `bundle exec`
+before every command. It tells Bundler to package binaries from all the
+installed gems into a hidden `.bin` directory within the project. Simply add
+the following at the very end of your `~/.profile` or `~/.bash_profile`:
+
+{% highlight bash %}
+export PATH="./.bin:$PATH"
+{% endhighlight %}
+
+This enables you to call all of the project's gem binaries like normal,
+but they're Bundler aware, as if they'd been called with `bundle exec`.
+
+I also have a few bash aliases for `bundle exec ...` which I find useful:
+
+{% highlight bash %}
+alias ru="bundle exec ruby"
+alias ra="bundle exec rake"
+alias rs="bundle exec rspec"
+alias ca="bundle exec cap"
+alias cu="bundle exec cucumber"
+{% endhighlight %}
+
+
+## Running Ruby Apps
+
+For running web-based apps I use [Pow][] and/or [Foreman][]. Pow is my
+favorite of the two, but for certain projects Foreman is the better match.
+
+I tend to go on a case-by-case basis. For example, some projects might need a
+few background workers, I tend to start all of them with Foreman, while I
+might run the web-based frontend with Pow.
+
+
+## MySQL, Redis, and More...
+
+Because I run Mac OS X, I use [Homebrew][] to install things liky [MySQL][],
+[Redis][], [Memcache][], and others. If you're not on OS X, you'll have to
+find your own preferred way to install these kinds of tools. But I'd imagine
+your operating system has some form of package management system you can use.
+
+
+[homebrew]: http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/
+[rbenv]: https://github.com/sstephenson/rbenv
+[ruby-build]: https://github.com/sstephenson/ruby-build
+[rbenv-gemset]: https://github.com/jamis/rbenv-gemset
+[bundler]: http://gembundler.com/
+[mysql]: http://www.mysql.com/
+[redis]: http://redis.io/
+[memcache]: http://memcached.org/
+[rvm]: http://beginrescueend.com/
+[pow]: http://pow.cx/
+[rack]: http://rack.rubyforge.org/
+[foreman]: https://github.com/ddollar/foreman