On Apr 16, 2009, at 7:52 PM, Juan Zanos wrote:

> I'd like to start using Ruby 1.9 more often.  Often I could use the  
> extra performance.  However, I'm still concerned about bugs and  
> incompatibilities.   Is there a practical way to use 1.9 in such a  
> way that these potential problems are minimized?  I mostly use Linux  
> and OSX, and on rare occasions Windows.


I have installed several Ruby versions in the following directories  
(using --prefix):

   /usr/local/pkgs/ruby-1.8.5-p231
   /usr/local/pkgs/ruby-1.8.6-p368
   /usr/local/pkgs/ruby-1.8.7-p72
   /usr/local/pkgs/ruby-1.9.1-p0

I have /usr/local/pkgs/ruby-current which is a symlink to one of the  
above directories. I also have a script that changes the symlink so I  
can switch to any version of Ruby at any time. Lastly, I have /usr/ 
local/pkgs/ruby-current/bin in my $PATH.

--program-suffix is IMHO not a great solution. I prefer keeping the  
different Ruby versions entirely separate (no shared gems for  
instance). In addition, some applications that use Ruby don't work  
well with a Ruby installation that has a custom program suffix  
(NetBeans jumps to mind).

Regards,

Denis

-- 
Denis Defreyne
denis.defreyne / stoneship.org