Installing a Specific Version of a Ruby Gem

When working with Ruby gems, you might need to install a particular version of a gem to ensure compatibility with your project. Fortunately, Ruby's package manager, RubyGems, allows you to specify the version of a gem during installation.

Using the gem install Command

Overview

The gem install command is used to install Ruby gems. To install a specific version of a gem, you can include the version number after the gem's name.

Syntax

gem install gem_name -v version_number

Here, gem_name is the name of the gem you want to install, and version_number is the specific version you wish to install.

Example

Suppose you want to install version 2.2.0 of the rails gem. You can use the following command:

gem install rails -v 2.2.0

RubyGems will then fetch and install version 2.2.0 of the rails gem along with its dependencies.

Checking the Installed Version

Overview

After installing the gem, you can verify that the correct version is installed.

Syntax

gem list gem_name

This command will display a list of all installed versions of the specified gem.

Example

gem list rails

This command will show a list of all installed versions of the rails gem on your system.