2009 Rubyist's guide to Linux development environment

After resintalling my workstation on Ubuntu Jaunty (for using EXT4), I had to reinstall my development softwares.

Using Giantrobot 2009 Rubyit’s guide to Mac Os development as a guideline for this post, I’ll present here my current Linux configutation for Ruby development.

Also opinionated (Gedit over Netbeans), this configuration suit all my need for developing everyday. (And NO I don’t need / want a Mac Os!)

Git

Install git and gitk (Repository vislulizer)

sudo apt-get intall git-core gitk
sudo apt-get intall git-core gitk

If you want to display the current git branch on your bash, just copy the content of this gist in ~/.bashrc


SSH
I also need a public keygen to access public repo
ssh-keygen

And press enter till the end. Now you have your key stored in ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

h2. LAMR => Linux, Apache, Mysql, Ror
Ruby
Install all you need with ruby in one line
sudo apt-get install ruby-full build-essential

Rubygems
First install Rubygem:
$ cd ~
$ wget http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/45905/rubygems-1.3.2.tgz
$ tar xzvf rubygems-1.3.2.tgz
$ cd rubygems-1.3.2
$ sudo ruby setup.rb
$ sudo ln -s /usr/bin/gem1.8 /usr/bin/gem

Then add the github gem source
sudo gem source -a http://gems.github.com

Rails





Once rubygem and rails are installed you just have to install rails via gems





sudo gem install rails
sudo gem install rails

You can also specify a version of the gem
sudo gem install rails -v 2.2.2

Apache + Mysql





First install apache2 and mysql





sudo apt-get install apache2 mysql-server mysql-client libmysql-ruby libmysqlclient-dev
sudo apt-get install apache2 mysql-server mysql-client libmysql-ruby libmysqlclient-dev

Then the rubygem mysql
sudo gem install mysql

Capistrano
Deploying code to production or staging as eaysier as
cap staging deploy
cap production deploy

Install capistrano and capistrano-ext
sudo gem install capistrano
sudo gem install capistrano-ext

Gedit for Ruby and Ruby on Rails





Mac users have Textmate, Linux user can have nearly the same! I must admit that I love Gedit, it’s such a good editor with the good plugins.

Install Gedit and Gedit plugins





First you need to install the plugin extenstion for gedit





sudo apt-get install gedit gedit-plugins
sudo apt-get install gedit gedit-plugins


Gmate, here is the magic

Gmate is a usefull program (collection set of plugins and theme) transforming Gedit into a Textmate like
cd ~
git clone git://github.com/lexrupy/gmate.git
cd gmate
sh ./install.sh

Now reboot your gedit, I use Bitstream Vera Sans Mono Blold 11 as main font, I’ve also activated the Bookmark plugin and the External Tools one.
Here is an exemple of my Gedit/Gmate display the user controller of SerialCooking


Quick reference:



	
F9 => Show / Hide left side pane


	
CTRL + F9 => Show / Hide bottom pane with integrated console (If you activated the plugin)


	
Enter => Complete the word completion


	
Tab => Use Tab to compete the snippets (lit + tab in an RHTML file == link_to ’’,  )


	
Ctrl + T => Indent


	
Ctrl + Alt + PgUp or Down => Navigate between tabs


Other useful softwares
Guake
Useful if you want to have a console display by pressing F12 (I use Bitstream Vera Sans Mono 10 as font)
sudo apt-get install guake











h2. Mysql Tools





Sun Mysql tools to enjoy Mysql navigation





sudo apt-get install mysql-gui-tools-common
sudo apt-get install mysql-gui-tools-common

Xmind
Xmind is an excellent mind mapper. You can learn more about Xmind on the official website, and download the last version on sourceforge

h2. Usefull tips
Api Dock
I use API dock to search on the Ruby and Rails doc. It comes with great Firefox extension that you can install
Ruby API Doc search
Rails API Doc search
Tail -f
Use tail -f log/developement.log in your console and you’ll an auto refresh of you log file. Really useful!
Virtual workspace
Ubuntu come by default with 2 virtual workspace. I like to have 4 of them, and switching by CTRL + Atl + Arrow left/right.
One will have personnal stuff, like music email twitter and co, second the source code, third the browser to test and fourth the console. A bit to much organised, but I like it.
Useful online app
I don’t want to do a copy and paste of Dan post, so checkout the web app list on the giantrobot 2009 Rubyit’s guide to Mac Os development

h2. Go forth & conquer!
With this you should be ready to develop you Ruby code on Linux. If you still don’t know how to do, tuts arrive this week on notgeeklycorrect so stay tuned!
Feel free to comment and add your own tips!
_Edit: Added API Dock section, typo

_