Portable Ruby on Rails environment

Question

I got myself a new 8 gig USB key and I'm looking for a decent solution to have a portable RoR environment to learn on. I did the google on it and found a few possibilities, but I'm curious to hear some real life experiences and opinions. Thanks!

Solution 1

I like InstantRails, very easy to use, no installer, and does not modify your system environment.

Solution 2

InstantRails was replaced by [BitNami RubyStack] in 2007.

http://bitnami.org/stack/rubystack

Solution 3

How to create a portable environment based on RubyInstaller's binaries and Development kit:

http://hcettech.blogspot.pt/2012/05/windows-portable-rails-development.html

Related: Portable Ruby on Rails environment for Windows

Solution 4

Setting up a portable install of Cygwin would be a good choice.

You'll have a full *nix environment which would give you endless possibilities. You could easily have Ruby, Rails, Mongrel (or whatever server of choice) as well as a really good editor at your disposal as well. I would recommend VIM with this Rails specific VIM configuration (fantastic looks and feel!).

I currently have a similar setup running Cygwin off a jump drive. I use it mostly for the bash shell, VIM, and using tail to monitor development log files with its nicely color coded syntax.

Solution 5

I found this, and I intend to give it a go this evening: Flash Rails

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