Ruby to EXE

Turn ruby scripts into portable executable apps.

Installation

gem install rb2exe

Usage

rb2exe RUBY_SCRIPT [options]
    -q, --quiet                      Do not run verbosely
    -a, --add=FOLDER                 Add an entire folder (eg. "--add=.")
    -o, --output=OUTPUT              Output executable filename
    -r, --rails                      Rails support
    -t, --target=[osx|l32|l64|win]   Target platform (binary)
    -h, --help                       Help

Example

echo "puts 'Hello world'" > test.rb

rb2exe test.rb
./test
# Hello world

Example II - Multi source project

mkdir test
cd test
echo "STR = 'Hello world'" > a.rb
echo "load 'a.rb'" > main.rb
echo "puts STR" >> main.rb

rb2exe main.rb --add=.
./main
# Hello world

Example III - Gemfile support

mkdir test
cd test
echo "source 'https://rubygems.org'" > Gemfile
echo "gem 'faker'" >> Gemfile
echo "require 'faker'" > a.rb
echo 'puts "Hello #{Faker::Name.name}"' >> a.rb

rb2exe a.rb --add=.
./a
# Hello Abbigail Okuneva

Example IV - Rails support

rails new myproject
cd myproject

rb2exe --rails
./output
# => Booting Puma
# => Rails 5.0.0.1 application starting in production on http://0.0.0.0:3000
# => Run `rails server -h` for more startup options
# Puma starting in single mode...
# * Version 3.6.0 (ruby 2.2.2-p95), codename: Sleepy Sunday Serenity
# * Min threads: 5, max threads: 5
# * Environment: production
# * Listening on tcp://0.0.0.0:3000
# Use Ctrl-C to stop

Example V - OSX binary

rb2exe test.rb --target=osx

Security

rb2exe DOESN’T protects your source code.

In fact, the produced executable file contains all the source files and THEY CAN BE EASILY EXTRACTED.

You can see the list of the added source files when you run rb2exe.

rb2exe just packages your source files (plus a stand-alone ruby) in an auto-extract zip file. It doesn’t protects your code in any way.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/loureirorg/rb2exe.

TODO

• Windows executable output;
• Allow ruby versions other than 2.2.2;
• Testing suite;

You can also take a look on my article, where I explain how this gem works, step-by-step:
http://www.learnwithdaniel.com/2016/08/ruby-to-portable-exe-app/