I'm pleased to announce the second Release Candidate of the latest RubyInstaller packages. For those not already familiar with RubyInstaller, these versions continue the great work started with the original One-Click Installers by providing both 1.8 and 1.9 versions of MRI Ruby for Windows. RubyInstaller now uses a different compilation tool than the legacy One-Click Installers. As a result, when combined with our optional Development Kit, it is now possible to install RubyGems that, until today, were not readily or easily available to Windows users. This release also focuses on improving the installation process and ensuring a much more pleasant experience for existing and new users of Ruby on Windows. = Before installing If you're upgrading from previous RubyInstaller packages, please uninstall these versions before proceeding. Don't worry, any gems that you installed or compiled since installed will not be removed. Since the new RubyInstaller uses a different compiler, we highly advise that you avoid attempting to install over any previous One-Click Installer installation, or any other variant versions (InstantRails, BitNami, etc.) We recommend that you backup your previous installation, take note of the details, your installed gem list, etc and proceed to completely uninstall any legacy installations. = Getting the installers and the packages As usual, we distribute the installer and binary packages on our project page at RubyForge. Please download from RubyForge the RubyInstaller version that best suits your needs: http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=167&release_id=42563 The following are the MD5 signatures of each component: Installers: 6819cda63d0f48c140f27f560825e2b8 *rubyinstaller-1.8.6-p398-rc2.exe 82ec7f599d3ef15b9f788e7421e865b7 *rubyinstaller-1.8.7-p249-rc2.exe f3b6a780f1b2135961a45883ef702dcf *rubyinstaller-1.9.1-p378-rc2.exe Binary Packages: 06ac64dc509cf1a914b3335031407136 *ruby-1.8.6-p398-i386-mingw32.7z 61c1497f8f9748d5da05f39455bcc269 *ruby-1.8.7-p249-i386-mingw32.7z dd14e3f02505589f042f92f0487ae6a3 *ruby-1.9.1-p378-i386-mingw32.7z CHM Help Files: e474f74208373e89264a676cf7017a2e *ruby-1.8.6-p398-doc-chm.7z 968de52735c1710913518e0f5a0e87c2 *ruby-1.8.7-p249-doc-chm.7z dfc6ac01f6df945ac0a3a0c2825fcee6 *ruby-1.9.1-p378-doc-chm.7z Installers are meant for people with no previous or existing installations. Installers are tested and signed by me, Luis Lavena, using a digital certificate. The signed installers do not require administrative privileges, and can be installed by users with limited system privileges. Packages are meant for advanced users who want to configure the installation to fit their needs. For example, installing multiple Ruby versions. The CHM Help files provide access to both Core and Standard Library to simplify search. These files are already integrated in the installers, so the separate downloads are for convenience purposes only Packages and documentation has been compressed using 7-Zip compression to achieve smaller file sizes and download times. Out of the box, Windows do not support extraction of these files, but can be easily downloaded from from it's website: http://www.7-zip.org/ = What was improved or new in this version? * Installers now properly manage switches when doing silent installations (useful for automated deployment) * Installers now correctly restore file associations on installation and uninstall (issue found during rc1) * Provided upgraded versions of all stable branches of Ruby: 1.8.6, 1.8.7 and 1.9.1 * No longer requires elevation of privileges with UAC enabled for administrators * Package newer 1.8.7 for future Ruby/Rails development as 1.8.6 for backwards compatibility. = Why so many versions? Due the extensive server-base that currently runs Ruby 1.8.6, support and releases for this version will continue be provided. It is recommended that for newer projects you start using either 1.8.7 or 1.9.1, whichever suit your needs. = In case of problems, where should I go? We recommend that you first check our FAQ at the Wiki: http://wiki.github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller/faq And in case these resources do not answer your questions, please join us at our Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/rubyinstaller ...where you will find friendly people to help you resolve your issues. = Bug reports We all know there is no bug free software, so we ask that you communicate your frustrations in a positive way and report any bugs you have found so that we work on fixing them :-) Please report bugs at RubyForge: http://rubyforge.org/tracker/?atid=715&group_id=167&func=browse For native C-based RubyGem compatibility, you can also read our Gem List at the Wiki: http://wiki.github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller/gem-list = Contributing We always love when someone wants to contribute. We have a flexible contribution policy: first patch merged gets you commit rights. Feel free to read more about how you can contribute the project at the wiki: http://wiki.github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller/how-to-contribute = Thanks Last, but certainly not least, would like to thank you the following kind human beings who made this release possible: - Alexey Borzenkov - Bosko Ivanisevic - deepj - Gordon Thiesfeld - Jon Maken - Park Heesob - Rodolfo Budeguer And many others! http://github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller/blob/master/CONTRIBUTORS -- Luis Lavena AREA 17 - Perfection in design is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but rather when there is nothing more to take away. Antoine de Saint-ExupñÓy