Comments on: Is Windows a supported platform for Ruby? I guess not

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:11:21 +0000

Ruby on Windows is extremely important to me. I’m trying to move beyond the “Windows box” and Ruby is by far the most attractive language I’ve found to do so. Clearly, Ruby will lead me deeper into Linux as well. I sincerely hope you decide to continue your invaluable work with Ruby on Windows, and I thank you for the amazing work you’ve already done.

By: NickG

NickG — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:47:24 +0000

Without Ruby for Windows, I’d be using Python.
Unix is a great environment, particularly for large systems, but Macs are something one can take or leave. Nothing clearly wrong with them, but nothing clearly right with them either. They offer frequently elegant high-level design at a consistently premium price, and for more technical aspects Macs suffer from a frequently idiosyncratic learning curve.
Thank you, Luis, for making Ruby for Windows available. You are truly a hero!
-Nick

By: Luis

Luis — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:23:06 +0000

@All: thank you guys for your kind words and appreciation of the work being done on this project.

I’ll like to point everyone to the Progress Report post I made a few days back.

I’ll keep working on Ruby for Windows, but there are still things that don’t work as expected yet, and I’m trying to track them down (but right now is one-man show)

By: James

James — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:13:26 +0000

I think Ruby on Windows is important. What I love about Ruby is that it is one language that I can use on both Windows and linux computers, which is important, since I am a sysadmin for Windows and linux servers.

So anyway, the better Ruby is on Windows, then the better things are for me. So don’t lose hope, you WILL have a big impact on a lot of people’s experience whether you realize it or not.

By: Scott Markwell

Scott Markwell — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:07:34 +0000

While I can’t offer up help, I will say that I develop ruby on windows, but deploy to FreeBSD or Ubuntu.

I personally don’t have speed requirements and all ruby gems I use usually maintain a windows binary. Granted I am a developer in many areas so having VC6 around isn’t an issue. I greatly appreciate the work on Mongrel to make it Windows compatible.

My interpretations are that people develop on their platform of choice, and deploy server solutions to better support Unix platforms.

I will say that I end up using Python for random scripting tasks, simply because Python is ready and available out of the box on Ubuntu. If someone would smack the Debian package managers upside the head who so completely screwed up RubyGems….

To answer you question: There is a need I think, but personally I exist quite well as is. I think the question comes down to, who should do the porting? Gems maintainers or the Ruby environment on Windows?

By: Tom Agnew

Tom Agnew — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:31:08 +0000

Thank you for your hard work and dedication!

I have been using the one-click every day at work for many diverse and complex tasks. It is an indispensible tool for us.

Moving to MINGW is a fantastic idea! This would allow us to more easily use more obscure ruby extensions…. and would match the ease of use on our Linux servers. My vote is +10 !

Many thanks again for your dedication and contribution!

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:47:49 +0000

I use Ruby on Windows at work to create Active Directory users, add and remove users from Active Directory groups, to run corporate Ruby on Rails applications. I work for a big company with over 6000 employees. So this stuff is more mainstream than maybe some people think. I have Rails apps the entire company uses as well as the behind the scenes Ruby on Windows scripts that keep things humming.

I hope the Ruby leadership sees how important it is that Ruby be supported on ALL the major platforms – including Windows.

By: CharlesR

CharlesR — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:59:50 +0000

Luis, just wanted to show my appreciation for what you’re doing. I love Ruby and use it every day and work and home. I use Ruby at work in a Windows environment. I love my job, I love my environment, love the work I do; Ruby on Windows makes it that much more pleasurable. I’m not a particular fan of Windows and I’m not a hater either – it’s a tool I have to work with. I like Linux and OS X too; great platforms, great systems.

Robust, agnostic, cross-platform Ruby is something well worth striving for. Just as a healty natural ecosystem has high biodiversity, a healthy computing ecosystem has high platform (and developer) diversity. I applaud and encourage your work. If there’s anything I can do to help I will. I’ve subscribed to your blog and will follow with enthusiasm.

Cheers man.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:17:08 +0000

I also started using Ruby because it was available on Windows, the platform I’m most productive with. All those Mac elitists telling me that Windows is not a platform for web development… Well, for me it is! And from the looks of it, I’m not alone.

If you stop supporting Ruby on Windows, the only alternative I’ll have is JRuby, but I don’t know if it’s ready for serious development…

Anyway, thanks for your efforts man! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t know Ruby!

Â¡Ã�nimo Luis!

By: David Mullet

David Mullet — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:14:40 +0000

Luis-

Like Arnaud and Murmansk here, I use Ruby on Windows every day, for both end-user desktop applications and admin, reporting, and automation scripts.

For Ruby to be seriously considered an all-around language, rather than a web-development language, it must fully support Windows.

I’m not qualified to provide an opinion regarding VC6 versus MinGW.

But I can tell you that the work that you do is important, and it is very much appreciated.