At Ruby Central, we’re proud to support projects that make open source more accessible to developers around the globe. One such initiative is RubyInstaller, an essential tool for building Ruby applications on Windows machines. 

RubyInstaller provides developers with a simple and seamless way to install Ruby on Windows, bundling the Ruby language, libraries, and development tools into a single package. RubyInstaller also includes RubyGems and the DevKit, ensuring that developers have everything they need without the complex setup that would otherwise be required on Windows.

During RubyConf in November, we learned that Lars Kanis, the maintainer of RubyInstaller, had launched a GoFundMe campaign to purchase a new laptop with a Snapdragon-X chip. The Ruby Central team decided to fund the remaining balance of the campaign, enabling Kanis to expand RubyInstaller’s support for the latest ARM64 architecture. 

Kanis has since received the laptop and reports that it’s already a great asset to his work. He has been able to get Ruby and RubyInstaller up and running on the new hardware and added rake tasks for building RubyInstaller-head for ARM64, utilizing the ruby-head version from oneclick/rubyinstaller2-packages#21. Rails is already running on the new setup and Kanis is working through issues related to DLL loading, fiber switching, and gem installations. 

This investment aligns with our goal of making Ruby development more inclusive, particularly because Windows support is often overlooked in favor of macOS and Linux. We’re excited to see how RubyInstaller continues to evolve, ensuring Ruby remains accessible on modern devices.