Question

I just did apt-get install ruby.1.9.1, installing it successfully. Now when I do ruby -v, it’s still 1.8.7. Why won’t it use the newly installed version? I don’t know why, but I can’t find anything via google on how to manage ruby versions without rvm. I know rvm is awesome, but in this case it has to be without rvm.

Can anybody help me?

Answer 1

This is just an example of how to resolve this issue. The paths and file names might be different on your system, but you should get the idea from here:

# First locate the original ruby
> which ruby
/usr/bin/ruby   # <- Your path might be different

# Then locate ruby19
> which ruby19
/usr/bin/ruby19

# Move the old ruby out of the way
> mv /usr/bin/ruby /usr/bin/ruby_old

# Link ruby to the new ruby (ruby19)
# ln -s is used to create a new symbolic link. See "man ln" for more info.
> cd /usr/bin
> ln -s ruby19 ruby

Now you should have:

/usr/bin/ruby_old                 # The old executable
/usr/bin/ruby -> /usr/bin/ruby19  # The new link
/usr/bin/ruby19                   # The new executable

Note: it’s easy to break your system ruby if you’re not careful using this method. That’s why RVM is usually a better solution if you have the choice. You can leave a comment if something breaks, and I will try and improve the instructions.