[ANN] Instant Rails 1.0 preview1 Released

A preview release of Instant Rails 1.0 for Windows is available for
download.
There are still a number of rough edges, but it is essentially functional
and
usable (see a list of planned changes for the 1.0 release at the end).

Instant Rails is a one-stop Rails runtime solution containing Ruby, Rails,
Apache, and MySQL, all preconfigured and ready to run. No installer, you
simply drop it into the directory of your choice and run it. It does not
modify your system environment.

This release of Instant Rails for Windows, but there are plans for ports
to Linux, BSD, and OSX.

Instant Rails includes the full source code of the cookbook application
developed in the [Rolling with Ruby on Rails] tutorial. Once you have
installed Instant Rails, you can verify that everything is working properly
by running this cookbook application.

Instant Rails includes a number of open source software packages. Below is a
list of all included software.

Primary Instant Rails Components

···

================================

* [Instant Rails Manager] 1.0 preview1

* [Ruby 1.8.2] (from the [One-Click Ruby Installer] 182-15)

* [Ruby on Rails] 0.13.1

* [Apache] 1.3.33

* [MySQL] 4.1.9

* [SCGI] 1.7

* [SCGI Rails Runner] 0.3.1

* [phpMyAdmin] 2.6.1

Ancillary Instant Rails Components

These components are not the primary focus of Instant Rails, but are
included
because the primary components above depend upon them..

* [PHP] 4.3.10

* [Rake] 0.6.2

* [cmdparse] 2.0.0

Install & Verify

Follow these steps to install Instant Rails and verify that it is working
properly:

* Download and unzip the Instant Rails zip file.

* Start InstantRails?.exe.

* Instant Rails will detect that it is being started from a new
directory and ask if you want to have it update the paths in the
all of the configuration files... Just say yes.

* Click on the I button to drop down the main menu and select
Configure > Windows Hosts file.

* In the editor that pops up, add this line to the end of the file:

127.0.0.1 <http://127.0.0.1> www.mycookbook.com <http://www.mycookbook.com>

* Save the change and exit the editor.

* In the main menu, select Rails Applications > Manage Rails Applications...

* Check the checkbox next to the cookbook application.

* Click on the Start SCGI button.

* Once the SCGI server says that it is listening to
127.0.0.1:9999<http://127.0.0.1:9999>,
open
our browser and go to:

www.mycookbook.com <http://www.mycookbook.com>

You should now be using a running Rails application! Poke around in the
menus
to see what's there.

Desired Changes for 1.0 Release

* Use Apache2 instead of Apache 1.3

* Run SCGI Rails Runner in the background as a service.

* Allow mutliple SCGI Rails Runner processes to service requests for
a single Rails application. SRR already allows this on Linux, but
it still needs to be implemented on Windows.

* Use the C-based MySQL driver for for Ruby (currently the
Ruby-based driver is used).

I thought I waited long enough for the RubyForge mirrors to sync this
release file, but I guess not. If you get a file-not-found message when you
try to download, just try again later. Once the mirrors are sync'd there
should be no problem.

Curt

···

On 10/11/05, Curt Hibbs <curt.hibbs@gmail.com> wrote:

A preview release of Instant Rails 1.0 for Windows is available for
download.
There are still a number of rough edges, but it is essentially functional
and
usable (see a list of planned changes for the 1.0 release at the end).

Instant Rails is a one-stop Rails runtime solution containing Ruby, Rails,
Apache, and MySQL, all preconfigured and ready to run. No installer, you
simply drop it into the directory of your choice and run it. It does not
modify your system environment.

This release of Instant Rails for Windows, but there are plans for ports
to Linux, BSD, and OSX.

Instant Rails includes the full source code of the cookbook application
developed in the [Rolling with Ruby on Rails] tutorial. Once you have
installed Instant Rails, you can verify that everything is working
properly
by running this cookbook application.

Instant Rails includes a number of open source software packages. Below is
a
list of all included software.

Primary Instant Rails Components

* [Instant Rails Manager] 1.0 preview1

* [Ruby 1.8.2] (from the [One-Click Ruby Installer] 182-15)

* [Ruby on Rails] 0.13.1

* [Apache] 1.3.33

* [MySQL] 4.1.9

* [SCGI] 1.7

* [SCGI Rails Runner] 0.3.1

* [phpMyAdmin] 2.6.1

Ancillary Instant Rails Components

These components are not the primary focus of Instant Rails, but are
included
because the primary components above depend upon them..

* [PHP] 4.3.10

* [Rake] 0.6.2

* [cmdparse] 2.0.0

Install & Verify

Follow these steps to install Instant Rails and verify that it is working
properly:

* Download and unzip the Instant Rails zip file.

* Start InstantRails?.exe.

* Instant Rails will detect that it is being started from a new
directory and ask if you want to have it update the paths in the
all of the configuration files... Just say yes.

* Click on the I button to drop down the main menu and select
Configure > Windows Hosts file.

* In the editor that pops up, add this line to the end of the file:

127.0.0.1 <http://127.0.0.1> <http://127.0.0.1> www.mycookbook.com<http://www.mycookbook.com><
http://www.mycookbook.com>

* Save the change and exit the editor.

* In the main menu, select Rails Applications > Manage Rails
Applications...

* Check the checkbox next to the cookbook application.

* Click on the Start SCGI button.

* Once the SCGI server says that it is listening to
127.0.0.1:9999 <http://127.0.0.1:9999><http://127.0.0.1:9999>,
open
our browser and go to:

www.mycookbook.com <http://www.mycookbook.com> <http://www.mycookbook.com>

You should now be using a running Rails application! Poke around in the
menus
to see what's there.

Desired Changes for 1.0 Release

* Use Apache2 instead of Apache 1.3

* Run SCGI Rails Runner in the background as a service.

* Allow mutliple SCGI Rails Runner processes to service requests for
a single Rails application. SRR already allows this on Linux, but
it still needs to be implemented on Windows.

* Use the C-based MySQL driver for for Ruby (currently the
Ruby-based driver is used).

MySQL versions prior to 4.1.13a contain some security flaws.

···

On Oct 11, 2005, at 2:56 PM, Curt Hibbs wrote:

* [MySQL] 4.1.9

It's on the Planet Argon mirror... looks like it synch'd a few hours
ago.

http://rubyforge.planetargon.com/instantrails/

-Robby

···

On Wed, 2005-10-12 at 07:09 +0900, Curt Hibbs wrote:

I thought I waited long enough for the RubyForge mirrors to sync this
release file, but I guess not. If you get a file-not-found message
when you
try to download, just try again later. Once the mirrors are sync'd
there
should be no problem.

Curt

--
/******************************************************
* Robby Russell, Owner.Developer.Geek
* PLANET ARGON, Open Source Solutions & Web Hosting
* Portland, Oregon | p: 503.351.4730 | f: 815.642.4068
* www.planetargon.com | www.robbyonrails.com
* Programming Rails | www.programmingrails.com
*******************************************************/

Thanks, this will be updated by the time the official 1.0 release is out, as
well as moving to Apache 2.

This initial version of Instant Rails is a fork of the EasyPHP project, and
contains the same basic component versions as the current release of
EasyPHP. The point was to get something out as quickly as possible.

The plan is to finish up this 1.0 release using the current Windows-only
code base, and then begin work on a cross-platform 2.0 version (the C++
manager app will be rewritten in Ruby).

Curt

···

On 10/11/05, Eric Hodel <drbrain@segment7.net> wrote:

On Oct 11, 2005, at 2:56 PM, Curt Hibbs wrote:

> * [MySQL] 4.1.9

MySQL versions prior to 4.1.13a contain some security flaws.

Thanks Robby! I was able to download from a couple other mirrors, too… so
it looks like everything is ok.

However, I just realized that I didn’t include a download link in my
announcement. The Instant Rails home page is:

http://instantrails.rubyforge.org/

and the download page is at:

http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=904

Curt

···

On 10/11/05, Robby Russell robby.lists-/Lcn8Y7Ot69QmPsQ1CNsNQ@public.gmane.org wrote:

On Wed, 2005-10-12 at 07:09 +0900, Curt Hibbs wrote:

I thought I waited long enough for the RubyForge mirrors to sync this
release file, but I guess not. If you get a file-not-found message
when you
try to download, just try again later. Once the mirrors are sync’d
there
should be no problem.

Curt

It’s on the Planet Argon mirror… looks like it synch’d a few hours
ago.

http://rubyforge.planetargon.com/instantrails/

-Robby


/******************************************************

How well does Instant Rails play with versions of these components already installed on a machine? Great work, Curt. This should make it dirt-simple to get people started with Rails. It's almost too easy!

Roy

Curt Hibbs wrote:

···

On 10/11/05, Eric Hodel <drbrain@segment7.net> wrote:
  

On Oct 11, 2005, at 2:56 PM, Curt Hibbs wrote:

* [MySQL] 4.1.9
      

MySQL versions prior to 4.1.13a contain some security flaws.
    
Thanks, this will be updated by the time the official 1.0 release is out, as
well as moving to Apache 2.

This initial version of Instant Rails is a fork of the EasyPHP project, and
contains the same basic component versions as the current release of
EasyPHP. The point was to get something out as quickly as possible.

The plan is to finish up this 1.0 release using the current Windows-only
code base, and then begin work on a cross-platform 2.0 version (the C++
manager app will be rewritten in Ruby).

Curt

Yup... that's the whole idea!

You can have other versions of Apache and MySQL installed as long as they
are not running when you start Instant Rails. Not that it will hurt anything
if they are, but Instant Rails' servers won't be able to start because
they'll be trying to use the same ports.

Of course, you can even configure that problem away if you like, but then
things start getting more complicated -- which defeats the purpose of
Instant Rails.

Curt

···

On 10/11/05, Roy Sutton <roys@mindspring.com> wrote:

How well does Instant Rails play with versions of these components
already installed on a machine? Great work, Curt. This should make it
dirt-simple to get people started with Rails. It's almost too easy!