Ruby Version Manager, often abbreviated as RVM, is a software platform for

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X, *nix or *NIX) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Uni ...

operating systems designed to manage multiple installations of

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

on the same device. The entire Ruby environment including the Ruby interpreter, installed RubyGems (gems), and documentation is partitioned. A developer can then switch between the different versions to work on several projects with different version requirements. In addition to

MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...

, the standard Ruby interpreter, RVM functions as an installer for various other implementations of Ruby. These include

JRuby JRuby is an implementation of the Ruby programming language atop the Java Virtual Machine, written largely in Java. It is free software released under a three-way EPL/ GPL/LGPL license. JRuby is tightly integrated with Java to allow the embeddi ...

, mruby,

MacRuby MacRuby is a discontinued implementation of the Ruby language that ran on the Objective-C runtime and CoreFoundation framework under development by Apple Inc. which "was supposed to replace RubyCocoa". It targeted Ruby 1.9 and used the high per ...

IronRuby IronRuby is an implementation of the Ruby programming language targeting Microsoft .NET Framework. It is implemented on top of the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), a library running on top of the Common Language Infrastructure that provides dynam ...

Maglev Maglev (derived from '' magnetic levitation'') is a system of rail transport whose rolling stock is levitated by electromagnets rather than rolled on wheels, eliminating rolling resistance. Compared to conventional railways, maglev trains h ...

Rubinius Rubinius is an alternative Ruby implementation created by Evan Phoenix. Based loosely on the Smalltalk-80 ''Blue Book'' design, Rubinius seeks to "provide a rich, high-performance environment for running Ruby code." Goals Rubinius follows in t ...

, Ruby Enterprise Edition, Topaz, and GoRuby (an interpreter optimized for

code golf Code golf is a type of recreational computer programming competition in which participants strive to achieve the shortest possible source code that solves a certain problem. Code golf challenges and tournaments may also be named with the programmi ...

). In addition, RVM supports the installation of patched versions of MRI. RVM provides features for organization of Ruby gems through "gemsets", collections of gems separated by a namespace and associated Ruby installation. Gemsets can be associated with directories/projects through the use of the RVM-exclusive .rvmrc file. An alternative to using the .rvmrc file (and the general purpose although user-specific .jrubyrc) and its format is use of the .ruby-version and .ruby-gemset files, which are compatible with other ruby version managers, such as RBenv and chruby. Additionally, using .rvmrc requires trusting to prevent execution of unauthorized code, while .ruby-version does not.

References

External links

* * Ruby (programming language) {{Unix-stub