Ruby - Upgrading Ruby to a new version.

Rootroute maintains a stable version of Ruby, that supports the larger number of libraries. Users can upgrade ruby for their own in their account, without asking. it is relatively simple:

1. Login into your main shell account.
2. Download the version of ruby you need. This command downloads in one shot:
   ftp ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.8/ruby-[version].tar.gz
Where [version] is the version you decide. You may need to replace 1.8 also, according the version you desire.
3. Extract the tarball:
   tar -xvzf ruby-[version].tar.gz
4. Compile ruby.
   Replace [account] with your account login name:
   cd ruby-(version)
./configure --prefix=/home/[account]/usr
...
make && make install
cp -p ./ruby ../usr/bin
Ruby is now ready.
   you can check: /home/[account]/usr/bin/ruby -v
5. For cgi and related scripts using ruby, change the shebang line on the top into:
   #! /home/[account]/usr/bin/ruby

That is it.

The same method can be used to "downgrade" ruby, for example, good and responsible programmers think of backward compatibility rather than just developping for the "version they're using on their box", which is ok too, but limits the range of potential users. Remember most users are less enthusiastic than programmers about upgrading.