How to use Rails on Google App Engine (Thanks to JRuby)
Two days ago, Google announced the release of Java support on its App Engine service (a system that allows you to run Web apps on Google's infrastructure). And.. what runs on Java that we care about? JRuby!
It took JRuby guru Ola Bini just a day to work out how to get JRuby and Rails working on App Engine using the Java support. So, in a round about way, App Engine now supports Ruby too..
If you're not already familiar with getting a Rails app running on JRuby, it's not going to be a walk in the park, but even experienced JRubyists might need to do a double-take, as you're not going to be using ActiveRecord and the authentication system (using Google's user service) is a different kettle of fish.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Rails is so last year. Scala is the new Ruby so liftweb is the new Rails. :D
April 9th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
FYI, there's a new project in the works to simplify the whole GAE process and make deployment a one-shot, push-button affair. Should be a beautiful thing!
And BTW, Oracle: Liftweb doesn't run on GAE because it needs to launch native threads for Actors. I believe JRuby is the only non-Java language with working web frameworks on GAE right now. Rails, Merb, Sinatra, and Ramaze have all been deployed successfully.
April 11th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Charles: Ioke does work, too: http://blog.hendrikvolkmer.de/2009/4/8/running-ikanserve-on-google-app-engine Although not all the time. But this seems to be a problem with GAE
April 15th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Charles, I think it's changed now, since you can run Jython and even PHP implementation (written in Java) on top of GAE.
May 5th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
You can definitely run jython on AppEngine
http://jython.xhaus.com/how-to-run-jython-wsgi-applications-on-google-appengine-with-modjy/
May 8th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Thanks for the info Charles,
I am very interested in this new project that simplifies rails on GAE. That would be a great combination of power and simplicity. Can you give more details about this project please?
December 5th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Thanks Peter, again, for being informative. Been reading some posts and i like the direct say-it-as-it-is, clear summary style. i.e, in this post, a newbie know upfront what to expect with rails on google app engine. And on the retrospectiva post, there was a one-liner installation, sweet! Simple :)