hi alan et al, well, i finally got it...using the most recent mod_ruby and eruby, i installed eruby, and when compiling mod_ruby used: ./configure.rb --with-apxs=/usr/local/bin/apache/apxs --with-eruby-include etc... it was the last set of info that did it, i'm sure...it didn't complain about not having the eruby info, so i thought it had worked..but now, after giving it the path to the eruby folder, its all set thanks for all your help!! jack