Hello and some clarity please before I start

Hello

I have been following a few Ruby on Rails tutorials developing some simple apps with inspiring levels of success. The reason is that I have a large project which I would consider using RoR for (previously I have developed using PHP + Codeigniter as a framework). The speed of development with RoR is fantastic.

However - massive snag! My hosting company, 1&1, does not support development with the RoR framework. Thier message to me was: 'At the moment we support the regular Ruby framework but not the Ruby on Rails'

My question is this: Can I use Ruby on Rails as a local development framework and then deploy the product of that work to my hosting server which supports only Ruby? In other words does the output from an RoR development require RoR on the production server?

If the answer is yes - RoR is required on the production server - then I will either abandon RoR as a dev framework or find a new hosting provider.

With thanks for any direction.

Best wishes to all.

Mike Jones

However - massive snag! My hosting company, 1&1, does not support development with the RoR framework. Thier message to me was: 'At the moment we support the regular Ruby framework but not the Ruby on Rails'

Ruby is a language, not a "framework". The statement above would be enough to send me off looking for a new hosting company.

My question is this: Can I use Ruby on Rails as a local development framework and then deploy the product of that work to my hosting server which supports only Ruby?

No.

In other words does the output from an RoR development require RoR on the production server?

Yes.

If the answer is yes - RoR is required on the production server - then I will either abandon RoR as a dev framework or find a new hosting provider.

Good luck with your decision :slight_smile:

Hassan Schroeder wrote:

However - massive snag! My hosting company, 1&1, does not support development with the RoR framework. Thier message to me was: 'At the moment we support the regular Ruby framework but not the Ruby on Rails'

Ruby is a language, not a "framework". The statement above would be enough to send me off looking for a new hosting company.

Agreed; that's just completely clueless tech support. As if there weren't already lots of reasons to abandon 1&1...

My question is this: Can I use Ruby on Rails as a local development framework and then deploy the product of that work to my hosting server which supports only Ruby?

No.

Well, maybe. It depends on the the details of the hosts' Ruby installation. But it probably won't be easy.

In other words does the output from an RoR development require RoR on the production server?

Yes.

Right. It's not "output" in the conventional sense: since Ruby is interpreted, you need the interpreter there on the server, just like what you're used to with PHP.

The one exception would be if 1&1 supports Java. You could compile your Rails app and the JRuby interpreter into a stand-alone Java servlet...

If the answer is yes - RoR is required on the production server - then I will either abandon RoR as a dev framework or find a new hosting provider.

As a former PHP developer myself, I'd say to find new hosting. Rails is *amazing*. For hosting, I recommend Heroku or Slicehost.

Good luck with your decision :slight_smile:

-- Hassan Schroeder ------------------------ hassan.schroeder@gmail.com twitter: @hassan

Best,