Ruby on Rails

Hi Jeremy and everyone :)

Found myself following this discussion and all the great informative
answers supplied here. I am too in a learning process with my first
app, very much a Newbie (in RoR and Web in general, though have a
programming experience) and lately have been trying to figure out the
deployment process, terms, and sort of 'what belongs where' :)

I wish to validate what I understood so far, it probably contains
mistakes and wrong assumptions as I'm still learning , so please
correct me when I'm wrong :)
(@Jeremy: hope it's ok I joined the discussions you opened..)

I'm currently developing on Windows.. started with using InstantRails
and installed Git on Cygwin. This allowed me to experiment with some
developing locally, begin with local version control and git-clone
repositories for plugins/Gems.
As I read some more, I realized I'd probably want to deploy my App on
a Linux/Unix based server rather than a Windows one and that
developing on windows and deploying on Linux (the way I initially
started developing) might not be a good idea at all.
Therefore I decided to install VM on my Windows machine.. have seen
some posts lately on the subject.. currently I just installed VMWare
Player (had to use version 2.5, my CPU wasn't compatible with 3.1) but
have thoughts of maybe trying VirtualRails instead (if it works on my
machine) – I did see VirtualRails is using MintLinux-based Linux and
was wondering whether that might cause future problems (as opposed to
using Ubuntu for example)?
After deciding and once I have that set (I expect future questions
about setting it all up as well) – more questions.. these I'm afraid
are going to reflect my newbie confusion.. but sincere informative and
patient answers can help me "map" the information I have in my head,
the information I'm reading and looking for and focus me, and thus
will be very much appreciated..
I will say in advance I think some of the mistakes I'm about to
describe may result from the fact English isn't my first language and
so maybe I don't understand the different terms fully (such as
deployment, hosting, etc.), that and being also new to Web
development..
Ok – deployment questions:
I couldn't understand for sure whether I need both a host and a place
to deploy my App? And also was confused by the lines Sur wrote:
"Go for some economical hosting providers, Linode or SpeedyRails etc.
I don't have personal experience with Linode, but SR guys will setup
everything for you ... including.. MySql, Phusion Passenger and
automated deployment with Capistrano.... you will just need to give
them your repository information (and money :). "
I mean – it didn't make sense I'd use both Passenger and Capistrano
(probably it does but I understood they're both used for deployment,
thus the confusion..), unless Capistrano does both automated
deployment but can also be used when using a different deployment
service..
I feel and know I mix everything up here, but any light you can put
for me on this subject will be very helpful..
Was also confused by the fact Phusion Passenger offers "Phusion
Passenger for Nginx".. while I got the impression (obviously a wrong
one, or not full) – I can deploy my app on Nginx as well?
At least I heard people mentioning Nginx at the same sentence with
Heroku and Passenger..
This brings me to another question:
I also understood I can use heroku for deployment, which will require
not more than one git push every once in a while (of course I know
there's much more to it, but it was to explain me the ease of use)..
in case I do use heroku (couldn't find any cons to using it I should
be aware of, if someone can write a few from his/her experience, I'll
be glad to learn..) – can I git push from my local repository or do I
need first to push to a remote one, such as a public/private
repository on GitHub? Moreover, if I'm the only one playing around
with this app right now – what benefits can a GitHub repository give
me comparing to using it locally? (this question is relevant, of
course, only in case it's not a mandatory step for deployment, for
example.. from Sur's quote it sounds it is a required step, at least
if I used Capistrano..)
More about Heroku – if I choose to use it, do I need a host as well?
From what I understood concerning Heroku – I git push my code there
(which should be possible with local Git repository to my
understanding), and I also need to point my DNS to Heroku, but then it
means I only need a DNS provider and not a necessarily a host.. (?)
I feel whenever I think I begin to understand bits of information, I'm
faced with more information which doesn't fit the previous one.. think
once I have the terms and process better mapped I can better learn and
understand..
I'm also feeling this might be seen as a very clueless, mixed post..
To sum this long post up – I'm a NewB, and this is the reason I'm
asking many questions here, as I'm teaching myself and don't have
anybody to correct me or direct me when I do mistakes :)
It does not mean I'm not doing my heavy reading to figure things out
on my own, but doing lots of reading with no experienced person around
to direct me led me to such confusion at the moment of writing..
Many thanks in advance to anyone patient enough to address some of my
questions / direct me :)

Nin.

On Jun 30, 1:34 am, Jeremy <bathrobewarr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> I have to say that I am very pleased that I have received such great
> responses!  I kept expecting that I would get the cold shoulder but
> instead I got real answers. I feel I have a solid direction and don't
> feel like I'm blindly trying to figure this stuff out. So please
> accept my sincerest thank you to all of you for helping me out!
>
> Bob,
> I decided to go ahead and buy the book regardless if it's
> outdated :-)  I kinda figured the way deployment is done couldn't have
> changed too much.
>
> Peter,
> Thank you, I appreciate your contribution as well.  Although, it was a
> little over my head when you started talking "mercurial repositories"
> but I'm sure I'll understand what that means sometime in the near
> future.
>
> Sur,
> This helps greatly! You have certainly gone above and beyond what I
> was looking for, so thank you for all the time and effort you put into
> this thread.  I'm sure all this information will help other newbs as
> well when they go looking for an answer.
>
> Thanks again!

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