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Debian HowTo for Mongrel

By Chris McGrath

Layout updated June 13, 2008

There's been issues with people installing on Debian, so this document is an attempt to detail how to do it. There are actually three different ways (at least! You may find more). The easy way worked first time I attempted it on a new VPS I was installing. The frankinstall way was discovered when I attempted to recreate the easy way to test the process on a brand new local Debian install. The backport your own way was worked out to avoid the frankinstall you end up with using the second method.

How to find out which one you need

Debian 3.1 only has Ruby 1.8.2, so you'll need to get Ruby 1.8.4 which is in testing. So add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list.

    deb ftp://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ testing main

*Make sure and change the .uk. to your local mirror.*

Now pin the testing repo so you don't install stuff from it accidentally. You'll need to edit /etc/apt/preferences, which doesn't exist on a bare install so create it and add the following three lines:

    Package: *
    Pin: release a=testing
    Pin-Priority: 200

OK, now to find out whether you're a lucky bunny or you have displeased your personal favorite deity. As root do:

    root# apt-get update
    root# apt-get -s -t testing install ruby irb rdoc ri ruby1.8-dev \
          libzlib-ruby libopenssl-ruby1.8

*Notice the -s it's important*

Examine the output, if you see the following:

    The following packages will be REMOVED:
      base-config initrd-tools kernel-image-2.6.8-2-386

Then you're one of the unlucky ones, sorry. Skip to the backport way (preferred) or if you're feeling brave the frankinstall way.

Installing the basic stack

If your still reading, congratulations! You don't have kernel issues and you should be up and running pretty quickly.

Ruby

First actually install Ruby, so as root do:

    root# apt-get -t testing install ruby irb rdoc ri ruby1.8-dev \
          libzlib-ruby libopenssl-ruby1.8

RubyGems

Debian don't provide packages for RubyGems, so we have to get it from somewhere else. A kind soul has made debs for RubyGems 0.8.11 available, so add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list

    deb http://www.sgtpepper.net/hyspro/deb unstable/

The final / is important. To install RubyGems do:

    root# apt-get update
    root# apt-get install rubygems

This package doesn't copy gem files to /usr/bin, instead it puts them in /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin so we need to add that to the path. Edit /etc/profile and add /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin to the end of each PATH statement, there's one for root and one for other users in the standard Debian install. You'll need to log in and out again to get your path setup correctly.

(NOTE: Some people say just install rubygems from source if this doesn't work for you).

GCC & Friends

We're nearly ready to install Mongrel, if you're doing a frankinstall go back to that page for the details. For the rest of us, the command is:

    root# apt-get install build-essential

Rails & Mongrel

Time to install Rails and Mongrel at last!

    root# gem install rails --include-dependencies
    root# gem install mongrel mongrel_cluster --include-dependencies

Pick the latest ruby version of Mongrel from the menu. Wait for it to finish. *CONGRATULATIONS*

Testing

To make sure the congratulations weren't premature, lets check it works. Login as a normal user and do:

    user$ rails test_app
    user$ cd test_app
    user$ script/generate controller HelloWorld index

Edit app/views/hello_world/index.rhtml to look like:

    <h1>Hello World</h1>
    <p><%= Time.now.to_s(:long) %></p>

Lets check it's all running.

    user$ mongrel_rails start

Point your browser at http://999.999.999.999:3000/hello_world

(NOTE: Replace 999.999.999.999 with your IP address.)

Backporting 1.8.4 from testing

Sorry you're here, but hey lets get this done. This involves building your own debs for Ruby 1.8.4 from source, so you don't have to upgrade your kernel and install the build tools from testing like in the frankinstall.

Building your own Ruby debs

First up, you need to *remove* the line we added before in /etc/apt/sources.list and clear out /etc/apt/preferences, so do that now. We're going to get the source from testing, so add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list

    deb-src ftp://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian testing main

*Make sure and change the .uk. to your local mirror.*

And do the following as root:

    root# apt-get update
    root# apt-get install devscripts # if you don't have them already
    root# mkdir scratch
    root# cd scratch
    root# apt-get source ruby1.8
    root# apt-get build-dep ruby1.8 
    root# cd ruby1.8-1.8.4
    root# debuild -us -uc
    root# cd ..
    root# rm ruby1.8-elisp # unless of course you've emacs installed
    root# dpkg -i *.deb
    root# ln -s /usr/bin/ruby1.8 /usr/bin/ruby
    root# ln -s /usr/bin/irb1.8 /usr/bin/irb
    root# ln -s /usr/bin/ri1.8 /usr/bin/ri
    root# ln -s /usr/bin/rdoc1.8 /usr/bin/rdoc

To be worked out

* No libzlib-ruby deb made... couldn't figure out how to get it done * Install rubygems - when I ignored that and tried to use Ezra's sgtpepper.net mirror it wants to install ruby-1.8.2

Frankinstall of Mongrel on Debian Sarge

If you're here I'm really, really sorry. I hope this doesn't mess up your machine. If you're going to do this I'd consider just using testing itself, or Ubuntu or something. Anyways, it's here for completeness, I had to re-install Debian four times to figure this out so I'm damn well writing it up.

This details how to go from a basic debian-31r2-i386-netinst.iso install to having Ruby 1.8.4, RubyGems, Rails and Mongrel running (and a good part of testing). I'm not going to cover MySQL or any of that, this is purely about the dog.

When I say a basic install, I mean a basic install. I entered linux26 at the boot menu to get a 2.6 based system. Let it do it's stuff, then when the installer asks what kind of system you want I chose to manual package selection, and only installed ssh.

I'm going to assume you got as far as adding the testing stuff to /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/preferences from the Debian HOWTO page. The next thing you need to read is "this":http://www200.pair.com/mecham/spam/kernel.html, which explains why we have to do what we now have to do.

Upgrading the kernel

    root# apt-get -t testing install initrd-tools

This installed 0.1.84.1, so next time to install an updated kernel that can handle udev.

    root# apt-get -t testing install linux-image-486

Lots of stuff gets installed, including a 2.6.15 kernel. It asks you if you want to upgrade glibc during this so say yes. When it's finished, reboot the system.

When it comes back up (and lets hope it does), time to install Ruby. Now you've upgraded the kernel this is the same procedure the lucky people get to use. So go and follow the instructions for Ruby and RubyGems there, then come back here when it's time for GCC and it's toolchain.

Installing the testing version of the GCC toolchain

Because of glibc issues now you've upgraded your kernel, you're back here. It's actually not that different a command from the lucky people, it just installs a bunch more stuff from testing than you might be comfortable with.

    root# apt-get -t testing install build-essential

When it's finished, and you have your frankinstall, it's time to install Rails and Mongrel at last! Back to the luck people page, it's the same from here on in. Good luck! I don't guarantee you'll have a trouble free ride installing whatever else you need to get going, but I hope you do.

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