Should I use the pre-installed Ruby on a Mac?

user_225211 0
Viewed 412

I am using macOS Big Sur. When I check if Ruby is available, I see:

$ ruby -v
ruby 2.6.3p62

Checking with which:

$ which ruby
/usr/bin/ruby

I can see Ruby is pre-installed on macOS. But I've been told, "Do not use the system Ruby." Why?

macos ruby
1 Answers

Don't use the system Ruby!

Here are reasons not to use it for developing with Ruby:

  • the default location for gems is the system Ruby directory /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0 so you will need to be superuser to install gems (and you really shouldn't alter this folder)

  • you could use sudo to install gems but that's a security risk (gem installation can run malicious code)

  • using Bundler is a best practice to manage gem versions and dependencies (projects might use different gem versions; or a project might use different gems that need different versions of a common dependency)

  • you could install Bundler with the --user-install argument to set the gem directory but that's not a common practice

  • it's best to start projects with the newest version of Ruby and the system Ruby is 2.6.3

  • if you've got multiple projects and can't update them all at once, you'll need multiple Ruby versions and a version manager (see my guide Install Ruby on a Mac that compares version managers and shows how to install Ruby with asdf or chruby or Homebrew)

  • the pre-installed Ruby is deprecated by Apple and may disappear in future macOS releases

Some developers use the system Ruby for running sysadmin scripts. That's fine, as long as you don't alter the system Ruby by attempting to update or adding gems. Remember, the system Ruby is there for macOS, not for you. For development, install Ruby with Homebrew or a version manager.

user_2252110
Related