Installing Merb 1.0 at DreamHost

I’m using DreamHost as an initial hosting platform for yax.com development.

DreamHost is one of the least expensive web hosting services available. I’ve used EngineYard for production sites but given their pricing, it’s not an option for early stage development, so I’m trying DreamHost for this project. At DreamHost, one account gives me as many domains and sites as I need for any projects in development. DreamHost has an extensive wiki and active user forums for support. And despite what one might expect from the bargain price, I’ve been very happy with the quality of service from the DreamHost support staff. Since it’s shared hosting, I don’t have to wear the hat of a system administrator. And, for shared hosting, the service is fairly sophisticated. For example, I can run Merb, which I’m going to use for the yax.com project.

I’ve completed installing Merb 1.0 at DreamHost and confirmed, yes, Merb can be installed to run on a DreamHost shared server.

Did Merb run “out of the box” at DreamHost? With a “zero-configuration” install? No. First of all, there was some typical UNIX configuration overhead in creating a ~/.gem directory and modifying my ~/.bashrc file. Second, Merb is configured by default for Mongrel, not Passenger. Perhaps future versions of Merb will accommodate Passenger by default (see the currently open ticket) and installation may become a bit easier.

For me, the biggest challenge was sorting through several dozen blog entries that provided tips of varying usefulness.

To sort out the confusion, I created a wiki entry on the DreamHost support wiki that provides definitive and up-to-date instructions.

Here are some blog entries that were helpful (though dated):
PunNeng on Installing Merb on DreamHost
Merb, Passenger and DreamHost

Installing Merb 1.0 on Mac OS X 10.5

My desktop development machine is a Mac (like most UNIX-bred developers these days). I’ll be using Merb as a web application framework for the yax.com project.

Merb needs Ruby 1.8.6, which is already available on Mac OS X 10.5.

Here’s how to check your Ruby version:

1. In iTerm, type ruby -v.
2. You should see “ruby 1.8.6 (2008-03-03 patchlevel 114) [universal-darwin9.0]“.

Check your version of RubyGems:

• gem -v

You’ll need RubyGems version 1.3.0 (or newer):

1. sudo gem install rubygems-update
2. sudo update_rubygems

Here’s how to install Merb:

• sudo gem install merb

And, since Merb is getting updated often, here’s how to update:

• sudo gem update merb

Merb Resources

Here’s the collection of Merb resources I’ve found most useful. Suitable for Merb 1.0 (released November 7, 2008).

• Merb Resources from Ruby Inside

Right now, I’m not going to detail why I’m using Merb for development of yax.com (maybe later).

Toolset

I’m using a simple toolset to get started.

My desktop computer is a 24″ iMac (vintage October 2007) with Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6. My development account is set up with TextMate, iTerm (with Inconsolata 14 as the font), and Firefox 3.0.5 (with the Firebug add-on). Oh, and TweetDeck for following Twitter.

Project Under Way

Just starting the yax.com project and I’ve set up this blog at wordpress.com to collect my development notes.

I’ve set up a twitter account at http://twitter.com/yaxgod. Not that there’s anything here of consequence for anyone to follow. But I like to follow what’s happening in the developer community (among those who use Twitter).

The domain is currently hosted at DreamHost at http://www.yax.com. DreamHost will be fine for initial development (and it costs nearly nothing). I’m exploring building a “cloud app” though, so I may not do much with DreamHost.