flynn23 wrote:
I know there are a lot of developer jockeys on this site. I'm working on a project where I'd like to use RoR. My background has been in Java development and I've been doing web stuff since the CGI was coined. But I've not set up a dev environment for RoR and I want to know what people use and what they find productive and efficient. I'll be doing this on Mac OSX, so any approaches on that platform are especially appreciated.

Dunno about RoR, I'm a Perl/Catalyst enthusiast.

What editors are you using? How do you have your terms set up for optimal effectiveness? Are you using Mongrel or the OSX Apache? What's promotion from dev to production like? Do I have to install the whole XCode framework? Using MacPorts or is it a waste of time? Any other frameworks or tools that you find indispensable?

Editor: Komodo IDE. Great for all the dynamic languages.

For development, I use the test server that comes when you generate your app. This applies in RoR too. It will reload every time you save code changes.

Promotion from dev to production involves knowing how to edit Apache configs. Not much else to it for a simple deployment.

Yes, you must install XCode to get the basic GNU tools FOSS is based on. This is not a big deal though.

Using Macports is not a waste of time. Its a huge timesaver.

Other tools I find indespensible: I don't bother trying to run my code in OS X anymore. I run Ubuntu inside VirtualBox, share files between them using vboxfs, edit/save files on OS X, and run the development server in Linux. This saves you the headache of dealing with library support in OS X. On Ubuntu everything is installale via apt-get, which is far superior to Macports.

The other tool I can't work without is subversion. It saves me from me. Also from other people.

Also, is anyone using Spaces to keep the clutter from your dev environ separate from your "work" environ (email, irc, etc)? I'd almost like to boot into an image that was just for developing, do my thing, and then switch out. Just to keep those two worlds apart.

Yes. A space for terminals. A space for email. A space for the IDE, etc. If you want the worlds apart, just close the programs. Although you do get some separation when you use a virtual Linux box, you still have to install some libraries OS X side to get IDE support for things like autocompletion.

RE: Ruby on Rails suggestions