Installing Ruby on Rails on Ubuntu 20.04

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Overview

Ruby on Rails or Rails is an open-source web framework written in Ruby. It enables developers to efficiently build server-side rendered web applications through a model-view-controller code structure.

Prerequisites

Deploy a new Ubuntu 20.04 Vultr cloud server.
Set up a non-root user with sudo privileges.
Verify that your server is up to date.

Install Dependencies

Install build-essential.
```
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential
```

Install the developer dependencies.

$ sudo apt-get install libssl-dev zlib1g-dev sqlite3 libsqlite3-dev

Install Git and curl if not already installed.
```
$ sudo apt-get install git curl
```

Install Nodejs & Yarn

Rails uses the Javascript runtime through Nodejs to build applications through its Asset Pipeline.

Install the latest LTS version of Nodejs.

$ curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo -E bash -

$ sudo apt-get install nodejs

Verify successful Nodejs installation.
```
$ node -v

v16.xx.x
```

Install Yarn.

$ curl -fsSL https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | sudo apt-key add -

$ echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install yarn

Verify successful Yarn installation.
```
$ yarn -v

1.2x.xx
```

Install rbenv

rbenv is a Ruby version manager used to install and manage Ruby environments.

Install rbenv.

$ curl -fsSL https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv-installer/raw/HEAD/bin/rbenv-installer | bash

This script automatically installs and updates rbenv.

Add rbenv to the path.

$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

$ echo 'eval "$(rbenv init - bash)"' >> ~/.bashrc

$ exec $SHELL

Test that rbenv is installed correctly.

$ curl -fsSL https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv-installer/raw/HEAD/bin/rbenv-doctor | bash

Confirm audit results.

$ Checking for `rbenv' in PATH: /home/user/.rbenv/bin/rbenv

$ Checking for rbenv shims in PATH: OK

Verify PATH is correct by replacing user with your user name.

Install Ruby

List the latest stable versions of Ruby.
```
$ rbenv install -l
```
Install Ruby with the desired version.

Keep in mind, Rails requires Ruby 2.5.0 or greater.
```
$ rbenv install 3.0.2 -v
```
Set global Ruby version.
```
$ rbenv global 3.0.2
```
Confirm installation with similar output.
```
$ ruby -v

ruby 3.0.2pxxx
```
Install Bundler using gem.
```
$ gem install bundler
```

Installing Rails

Install Rails using gem.
```
$ gem install rails
```
Confirm successful installation.
```
$ rails -v

Rails 6.x.x.x
```

Creating a Test Application

Create a new Rails project.

$ cd ~

$ rails new hello-world

$ cd hello-world

Start Rails server.
```
$ rails server --binding=0.0.0.0
```
Navigate to your server's IP address at port 3000 in a web browser. For example:
```
$ http://192.0.2.123:3000
```

You should see a working Rails server response.

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