How to Install Ruby on Ubuntu Linux

This article describes steps one can take to install Ruby on Ubuntu Linux.

Ruby is a popular high-level programming language known for its focus on simplicity and elegant syntax. It is widely used for web development and is behind the powerful Ruby on Rails framework.

Installing Ruby on Ubuntu Linux allows you to develop and run Ruby applications on your Ubuntu system. Multiple ways to install Ruby on Ubuntu include the built-in apt package manager, Rbenv, and RVM.

Depending on your needs, you can choose the method that best suits your requirements.

How to install Ruby on Ubuntu Linux

As described above, Ruby is a popular, high-level programming language focused on simplicity. It has an elegant syntax that is easy to read and write and is behind the powerful Ruby on Rails Framework.

Install Ruby via Apt

Again, the easiest way to install Ruby on Ubuntu is via the apt package manager. To do that, simply run the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ruby-full

To verify if Ruby is installed, run the commands below:

ruby --version

It should output a similar line as below:

Ouput:
ruby 2.5.1p57 (2018-03-29 revision 63029) [x86_64-linux-gnu]

Install Ruby via Rbenv

Another way to install Ruby is via Rbenv. Rbenv is a tool that allows you to switch between different versions of Ruby but doesn’t allow you to install Ruby.

To get Ruby, we’ll need to use ruby-build. To install Ruby-build, run the commands below to install dependencies.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git curl libssl-dev libreadline-dev zlib1g-dev autoconf bison build-essential libyaml-dev libreadline-dev libncurses5-dev libffi-dev libgdbm-dev

After that, run the commands below to clone both Rbenv and Ruby-build repositories at Github.

curl -sL https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv-installer/raw/master/bin/rbenv-installer | bash -

Next, run the commands below if you’re running Bash Shell in Ubuntu.

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc
exec $SHELL

If you’re running Z Shell, run the lines below:

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

After the steps above, you can install any available version of Ruby. To list the available versions, run the commands below:

rbenv install -l

Then, install the version you want by using the commands below. For this post, we’re installing Ruby 2.5.1.

rbenv install 2.5.1
rbenv global 2.5.1

Replace the version number with the correct one that suits your environment.

To verify the Ruby version, run the commands below:

ruby -v

It should output a similar line as below:

Output:
ruby 2.5.1p206 (2019-10-01 revision 67816) [x86_64-linux]

Install Ruby via RVM

RVM is another tool for installing and managing Ruby on Linux systems, including Ubuntu.

To install RVM and use it to get Ruby, follow the steps below:

First, install dependencies by running the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl g++ gcc autoconf automake bison libc6-dev libffi-dev libgdbm-dev libncurses5-dev libsqlite3-dev libtool libyaml-dev make pkg-config sqlite3 zlib1g-dev libgmp-dev libreadline-dev libssl-dev

Then, run the commands below to install RVM.

gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3 7D2BAF1CF37B13E2069D6956105BD0E739499BDB
curl -sSL https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable

After that, run the command below to activate RVM

source ~/.rvm/scripts/rvm

To install Ruby, run the commands below:

rvm install 2.5.1
rvm use 2.5.1 --default

To verify if Ruby is installed, run the commands below:

ruby -v

It should output a similar line as below:

Output:
ruby 2.5.1p57 (2018-03-29 revision 63029) [x86_64-linux]

Conclusion:

• Ruby is a versatile and high-level programming language ideal for web development.
• Multiple methods are available for installing Ruby on Ubuntu Linux, including using the apt package manager, Rbenv, and RVM.
• Each installation method has its advantages, such as simplicity with apt and version management with Rbenv and RVM.
• Verifying the installation is straightforward by checking the Ruby version through the command line.
• With Ruby installed, you can begin developing robust applications, leveraging the powerful Ruby on Rails framework and a vast array of libraries.