This documentation is for an old GraalVM version. See the latest version.

Ruby Managers and Installers

If you have installed GraalVM, it is recommended to add TruffleRuby to a Ruby manager. See Configuring Ruby managers for the full GraalVM distribution below.

Installing TruffleRuby with rvm, ruby-build, asdf or ruby-install #

TruffleRuby is supported by the 3 major Ruby installers.

rvm #

Upgrade rvm to let rvm know about the latest TruffleRuby release:

rvm get head

Install the latest TruffleRuby standalone release with:

rvm install truffleruby

You can also install the latest nightly standalone build of TruffleRuby with:

rvm install truffleruby-head

ruby-build and rbenv #

We assume you already have ruby-build installed as a plugin for rbenv.

First, you need to upgrade ruby-build to get the latest TruffleRuby definition. See ruby-build’s instructions for upgrading.

On macOS, if ruby-build is installed via Homebrew and you do not see the latest TruffleRuby release, you might need to install the HEAD version of ruby-build with:

brew reinstall --HEAD ruby-build

Check the latest available version of TruffleRuby with:

rbenv install --list

Then install the latest TruffleRuby standalone release with:

rbenv install truffleruby-[LATEST_VERSION]

You can also install the latest nightly standalone build of TruffleRuby with:

rbenv install truffleruby-dev

You can also install TruffleRuby+GraalVM with:

rbenv install truffleruby+graalvm-[LATEST_VERSION] OR truffleruby+graalvm-dev

asdf (with asdf-ruby plugin) #

See https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-ruby for installing and updating asdf-ruby.

You can install a TruffleRuby standalone release or nightly build with:

asdf install ruby truffleruby-VERSION OR truffleruby-dev

You can install TruffleRuby+GraalVM with:

asdf install ruby truffleruby+graalvm-VERSION OR truffleruby+graalvm-dev

ruby-install and chruby #

First, ensure you have the latest ruby-install release. Check your version with:

ruby-install --version

And compare to the latest tag. If it is older, you should update to the latest ruby-install (e.g. 0.8.4 is necessary for aarch64 support). Follow the installation instructions, since the steps for upgrading ruby-install are the same as the steps for installing it.

Then install the latest TruffleRuby standalone release with:

ruby-install --latest
ruby-install truffleruby

You can also install TruffleRuby+GraalVM with:

ruby-install truffleruby-graalvm

ruby-install does not support installing nightly builds. Please use ruby-build (which also works with chruby) if you want to install nightly builds:

ruby-build truffleruby-dev ~/.rubies/truffleruby-dev
OR
ruby-build truffleruby+graalvm-dev ~/.rubies/truffleruby+graalvm-dev

There are also instructions on the chruby wiki if you prefer to install TruffleRuby manually.

Configuring Ruby Managers for the Full GraalVM Distribution #

When installing GraalVM and Ruby, it is recommended to add TruffleRuby to a Ruby manager for ease of use.

Make sure you ran the post-install script before adding GraalVM to Ruby managers.

Then follow these steps to integrate GraalVM with your Ruby manager.

The first step is to find the TruffleRuby home. On macOS, run:

ruby_home=$(path/to/graalvm/Contents/Home/bin/ruby -e 'print RbConfig::CONFIG["prefix"]')

On Linux and other platforms, run:

ruby_home=$(path/to/graalvm/bin/ruby -e 'print RbConfig::CONFIG["prefix"]')

rbenv #

To add TruffleRuby to rbenv, create a symbolic link in the versions directory of rbenv:

ln -s "$ruby_home" "$RBENV_ROOT/versions/truffleruby"
rbenv shell truffleruby
ruby --version

chruby #

To add TruffleRuby to chruby, create a symbolic link to the $HOME/.rubies directory:

ln -s "$ruby_home" "$HOME/.rubies/truffleruby"
chruby truffleruby
ruby --version

rvm #

rvm has a command for adding a precompiled Ruby to the list of available rubies:

rvm mount "$ruby_home" -n truffleruby
rvm use ext-truffleruby
ruby --version

asdf (with asdf-ruby plugin) #

To add TruffleRuby to asdf, create a symbolic link in the .installs/ruby directory. You also need to reshim:

ln -s "$ruby_home" "$HOME/.asdf/installs/ruby/truffleruby"
asdf reshim ruby truffleruby
asdf local ruby truffleruby
ruby --version

Using TruffleRuby without a Ruby Manager #

If you are using a Ruby manager like rvm, rbenv, or chruby and wish not to add TruffleRuby to one of them, make sure that the manager does not set environment variables GEM_HOME and GEM_PATH. The variables are picked up by TruffleRuby (as any other Ruby implementation would do) causing TruffleRuby to pickup the wrong gem home instead of its own.

It can be fixed for the current terminal by clearing the environment with one of the following commands:

rbenv system
chruby system
rvm use system
# Or manually:
unset GEM_HOME GEM_PATH

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