How to Install Ruby 1.8.7 with RubyGems on CentOS 5.5 (64-bit): A Step-by-Step Guide


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Before installing Ruby, ensure your CentOS 5.5 system is up-to-date:

sudo yum update -y
sudo yum install -y gcc make openssl-devel zlib-devel readline-devel

CentOS 5.5 repositories contain older Ruby versions. We'll compile from source:

wget ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.8/ruby-1.8.7-p374.tar.gz
tar xzvf ruby-1.8.7-p374.tar.gz
cd ruby-1.8.7-p374
./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-shared --disable-rpath
make
sudo make install

Check if Ruby is properly installed:

ruby -v
# Should output: ruby 1.8.7 (2013-06-27 patchlevel 374) [x86_64-linux]

RubyGems 1.8.x is recommended for Ruby 1.8.7 compatibility:

wget https://rubygems.org/rubygems/rubygems-1.8.30.tgz
tar xzvf rubygems-1.8.30.tgz
cd rubygems-1.8.30
sudo ruby setup.rb

Add Ruby and Gems to your PATH:

echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Verify Gems installation and install a sample gem:

gem -v
sudo gem install rack -v 1.1.6

If you encounter SSL certificate errors:

wget http://curl.haxx.se/ca/cacert.pem -O /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/cacert.pem
export SSL_CERT_FILE=/usr/local/share/ca-certificates/cacert.pem

For "cannot load such file -- zlib" errors during gem installation:

cd ruby-1.8.7-p374/ext/zlib
ruby extconf.rb
make
sudo make install

For those preferring package managers, RVM can be used:

bash <<(curl -s https://rvm.io/install/rvm)
source /etc/profile.d/rvm.sh
rvm install 1.8.7
rvm use 1.8.7 --default

Before we begin, ensure you have:

sudo yum update -y
sudo yum groupinstall -y "Development Tools"
sudo yum install -y zlib-devel openssl-devel readline-devel ncurses-devel gdbm-devel db4-devel libffi-devel libyaml-devel

For CentOS 5.5, compiling from source gives you better control over the version:

wget ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.8/ruby-1.8.7-p374.tar.gz
tar xzvf ruby-1.8.7-p374.tar.gz
cd ruby-1.8.7-p374
./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-shared --disable-install-doc
make
sudo make install

Check if Ruby installed correctly:

ruby -v
# Should output: ruby 1.8.7 (2013-06-27 patchlevel 374) [x86_64-linux]

Download and install RubyGems manually:

wget https://rubygems.org/rubygems/rubygems-1.8.30.tgz
tar xzvf rubygems-1.8.30.tgz
cd rubygems-1.8.30
sudo ruby setup.rb

Add Ruby binaries to your PATH:

echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

If you encounter SSL certificate errors when using gem:

sudo yum install -y curl ca-certificates
sudo update-ca-trust

For "cannot load such file -- zlib" error:

cd ruby-1.8.7-p374/ext/zlib
ruby extconf.rb
make
sudo make install

Install a gem:

sudo gem install bundler --version 1.17.3

List installed gems:

gem list

Update RubyGems:

sudo gem update --system