ocran

issues :: http://github.com/largo/ocran/issues

Description

OCRAN (One-Click Ruby Application Next) packages Ruby applications for distribution. It bundles your script, the Ruby interpreter, gems, and native libraries into a single self-contained artifact that runs without requiring Ruby to be installed on the target machine.

OCRAN supports four output formats, all cross-platform:

Self-extracting executable — bundles everything into a single binary that unpacks and runs transparently, with no Ruby installation required. Produces a .exe on Windows, and a native executable on Linux and macOS.
macOS app bundle (--macosx-bundle) — wraps the executable in a .app bundle for Finder integration, Dock icons, and code signing.
Directory (--output-dir) — copies all files into a folder with a ready-to-run launch script (.sh on Linux/macOS, .bat on Windows).
Zip archive (--output-zip) — same as directory output, packed into a .zip.

OCRAN is a fork of OCRA maintained for Ruby 3.2+ compatibility.

Recommended usage

The most common use-case is shipping a program to Windows servers or users who do not have Ruby installed. By default, each time the .exe is opened it extracts the Ruby interpreter and your code to a temporary directory and runs them from there.

Because extraction takes time on each launch, consider using the Inno Setup option (--innosetup) to produce a proper installer that extracts once to a permanent directory.

For cross-platform packaging or CI artifacts, use --output-dir or --output-zip to produce a portable directory/archive that runs with the bundled Ruby on Linux, macOS, or Windows.

Features

Windows/Linux/macOS executable — self-extracting, self-running executable (primary output)
macOS app bundle — .app bundle with Info.plist for Finder/Dock/code-signing (--macosx-bundle)
Directory output — portable directory with a launch script (--output-dir)
Zip archive output — portable zip with a launch script (--output-zip)
LZMA compression (optional, default on, for .exe only)
Both windowed and console mode supported (Windows)
Gems included based on actual usage, or from a Bundler Gemfile
Code-signing compatible
Multibyte (UTF-8) path support on Windows 10 1903+

Problems & Bug Reporting

If you experience problems with OCRAN or have found a bug, please use the issue tracker on GitHub (http://github.com/largo/ocran/issues).

Safety

As this gem ships with binary blobs, releases are securely built on GitHub Actions. Feel free to verify that the published gem matches the source.

This repository includes lzma.exe from the official ip7z/7zip release (version 22.01, from lzma2201.7z), used to compress Windows executables.

stub.exe, stubw.exe, and edicon.exe are compiled from source in this repository.

Installation

gem install ocran

Alternatively, download from http://rubygems.org/gems/ocran or https://github.com/largo/ocran/releases/.

Synopsis

Building a Windows executable:

ocran script.rb

Packages script.rb, the Ruby interpreter, and all dependencies (gems and DLLs) into script.exe.

Building a portable directory (Linux / macOS / Windows):

ocran --output-dir myapp/ script.rb

Copies all files into myapp/ and writes a script.sh (or script.bat on Windows) launch script.

Building a macOS app bundle:

ocran --macosx-bundle script.rb

Produces script.app/ — a standard macOS .app bundle containing the self-extracting executable at Contents/MacOS/script and an Info.plist. Open it with open script.app or double-click it in Finder.

ocran --macosx-bundle --output MyApp --bundle-id com.example.myapp --icon icon.icns script.rb

Custom name, bundle identifier and icon (must be .icns format). The icon is placed at Contents/Resources/AppIcon.icns and referenced in Info.plist.

Building a zip archive:

ocran --output-zip myapp.zip script.rb

Same as --output-dir, but packages the result into a zip file. Requires zip on Linux/macOS or PowerShell on Windows.

Command line:

ocran [options] script.rb [<other files> ...] [-- <script arguments> ...]

Options:

ocran --help
ocran -h

General options:

--help, -h: Display available command-line options.
--quiet: Suppress all output during the build process.
--verbose: Provide detailed output during the build process.
--version: Display the OCRAN version number and exit.

Packaging options:

--dll <dllname>: Include additional DLLs from the Ruby bin directory.
--add-all-core: Add all standard Ruby core libraries to the executable.
--gemfile <file>: Include all gems and dependencies listed in a Bundler Gemfile.
--no-enc: Exclude encoding support files to reduce output size.

Gem content detection modes:

These options control which files from included gems are added to the output.

--gem-minimal[=gem1,..]: Include only scripts actually loaded during the dependency run.
--gem-guess[=gem1,..]: Include loaded scripts and a best guess of other needed files (DEFAULT).
--gem-all[=gem1,..]: Include all scripts and important files from the gem.
--gem-full[=gem1,..]: Include every file in the gem directory.
--gem-spec[=gem1,..]: Include files listed in the gemspec (not compatible with newer RubyGems).

Fine-tuning flags:

--[no-]gem-scripts[=..]: Include/exclude non-loaded script files (.rb, .rbw).
--[no-]gem-files[=..]: Include/exclude data files.
--[no-]gem-extras[=..]: Include/exclude extras (READMEs, tests, C sources).

Auto-detection options:

--no-dep-run: Skip running the script to detect dependencies. Use this if your script has side effects during load or if you are manually specifying all dependencies. Requires --add-all-core and --gem-full.
--no-autoload: Do not attempt to load autoloaded constants.
--no-autodll: Disable automatic detection of runtime DLL dependencies.

Output options:

--output <file>: Name the generated executable. Defaults to ./<scriptname>.exe on Windows and ./<scriptname> on Linux/macOS.
--output-dir <dir>: Output all files to a directory with a launch script instead of building an executable. Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
--output-zip <file>: Output a zip archive containing all files and a launch script. Requires zip (Linux/macOS) or PowerShell (Windows).
--macosx-bundle: Build a macOS .app bundle. Use --output to set the bundle name (default: <scriptname>.app). (macOS)
--bundle-id <id>: Set the CFBundleIdentifier in Info.plist (default: com.example.<appname>). Used with --macosx-bundle.
--no-lzma: Disable LZMA compression (faster build, larger executable).
--innosetup <file>: Use an Inno Setup script (.iss) to create a Windows installer.

Executable options:

--windows: Force a Windows GUI application (uses rubyw.exe). (Windows only)
--console: Force a console application (uses ruby.exe). (Windows only)
--chdir-first: Change working directory to the app's extraction directory before the script starts.
--icon <ico>: Replace the default icon with a custom .ico file.
--rubyopt <str>: Set RUBYOPT when the executable runs.
--debug: Enable verbose output when the generated executable runs.
--debug-extract: Unpack to a local directory and do not delete after execution (useful for troubleshooting).

Compilation:

OCRAN runs your script (using Kernel#load) and builds the output when it exits.
Your program should require all necessary files when invoked without arguments so OCRAN can detect all dependencies.
DLLs are detected automatically; only those within your Ruby installation are included.
.rb files become console applications; .rbw files become windowed applications (without a console window popping up on Windows). Use --console or --windows to override.

Running your application:

The working directory is not changed by OCRAN unless you use --chdir-first. You must change to the installation or temporary directory yourself. See also below.
When a .exe is running, OCRAN_EXECUTABLE points to the .exe with its full path.
The temporary location of the script is available via $0.
OCRAN does not set up the include path. Add $:.unshift File.dirname($0) at the start of your script if you need to require additional files from the same directory as your main script.

Directory and zip output (Linux / macOS / Windows):

When using --output-dir or --output-zip, OCRAN produces the same file layout as a .exe would extract to:

bin/          # Ruby interpreter and shared libraries
lib/          # Ruby standard library
gems/         # Bundled gems
src/          # Your application source files
script.sh     # Launch script (Linux/macOS) — or script.bat on Windows

The launch script sets RUBYLIB, GEM_HOME, GEM_PATH, and any other environment variables, then runs your script with the bundled Ruby.

On Linux/macOS, make the script executable and run it:

chmod +x myapp/script.sh
./myapp/script.sh

On Windows, run the batch file:

myapp\script.bat

Pitfalls:

Avoid modifying load paths at runtime. Use -I or RUBYLIB if needed, but don't expect OCRAN to preserve them for runtime. OCRAN may pack sources into other directories than you expect
If you use .rbw files or --windows, verify your application works with rubyw.exe before building.
Avoid absolute paths in your code and when invoking OCRAN.

Multibyte path and filename support:

OCRAN-built executables correctly handle multibyte paths (e.g. Japanese, emoji) on Windows 10 1903+.
When using the executable from the console, run chcp 65001 first to switch to UTF-8 on windows.

Limitations

No cross-platform building

OCRAN is not a cross-compiler. The executable or directory it produces bundles the Ruby interpreter from the machine where OCRAN is run, so you must run OCRAN on the same platform (and architecture) as the intended target:

To produce a Windows .exe, run OCRAN on Windows.
To produce a Linux binary, run OCRAN on Linux.
To produce a macOS app bundle, run OCRAN on macOS.

There is no support for building a Windows .exe from a Linux or macOS host, or vice versa. If you need builds for multiple platforms, run OCRAN in CI on each target platform separately (e.g., a Windows runner for .exe builds and a Linux runner for Linux builds).

Requirements

Ruby 3.2+
For building Windows .exe: Windows with RubyInstaller DevKit (mingw-w64), or Wine on Linux/macOS
For --output-dir / --output-zip: any platform with Ruby 3.2+
For --output-zip on Linux/macOS: the zip command must be available
For --output-zip on Windows: PowerShell (included in Windows 8+)

Output architecture

The architecture of the generated executable matches the Ruby interpreter used to run OCRAN:

macOS (Intel / Apple Silicon) — The output binary targets the same CPU as your Ruby installation. If you build with an ARM64 Ruby (Apple Silicon), the result is an ARM64 executable and will not run on Intel Macs. Build on Intel (or with an Intel Ruby under Rosetta) to produce a universally compatible x86-64 binary.
Windows on ARM (Windows 11 ARM) — RubyInstaller recently started shipping ARM64 builds; Installing the ARM64 RubyInstaller on a Windows ARM machine and running OCRAN from it will produce an ARM64 .exe. These run on ARM Windows natively. Installing the standard x86-64 RubyInstaller on a Windows ARM machine and running OCRAN from it will (probably?) produce an x86-64 .exe. These run on ARM Windows via the built-in x86-64 emulation layer, so the executables work on both ARM and x86-64 Windows targets. If you use --no-lzma, note that lzma.exe (the bundled compressor) is also x86-64 and relies on the same emulation.

Development

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/largo/ocran.git
cd ocran
bin/setup          # install Bundler & all dev gems, build stubs
bundle exec rake   # run the full Minitest suite
exe/ocran filename.rb # build filename.rb as an executable

Developer utilities (`bin/` scripts)

Script	Purpose
`bin/setup`	Installs Bundler and all required development gems, then builds stub.exe
`bin/console`	Launches an IRB console with OCRAN preloaded

Rake tasks

Task	Purpose
`rake build`	Compile stub(.exe) (requires MSVC or mingw-w64 + DevKit or Unix build tools)
`rake clean`	Remove generated binaries
`rake test`	Execute all unit & integration tests

Technical details

OCRAN first runs the target script to detect files loaded at runtime (via Kernel#require and Kernel#load).

For .exe output, OCRAN embeds everything into a single executable: a C stub, and a custom opcode stream containing instructions to create directories, extract files, set environment variables, and launch the script. The stub extracts everything to a temporary directory at runtime and runs the script.

For --output-dir / --output-zip, OCRAN performs the same file collection but writes directly to the filesystem and generates a shell/batch launch script instead of an opcode stream.

Libraries

Any code loaded through Kernel#require when your script runs is included. Conditionally loaded code is only included if it is actually executed during the OCRAN build run. Otherwise, OCRAN won't know about it and will not include the source files. You can use defined?(OCRAN) to check if the script is running while OCRAN is building it and exit the script after dependencies are loaded but before the main logic runs.

RubyGems are handled specially: when a file from a gem is detected, OCRAN includes the required files from that gem. It does not automatically include all the files of the Gem, which could be required at runtime. This behavior is controlled with the --gem-* options.

Libraries found in non-standard path (for example, if you invoke OCRAN with "ruby -I some/path") will be placed into the site dir (lib/ruby/site_ruby). Avoid changing $LOAD_PATH or $: from your script to include paths outside your source tree, since OCRAN may place the files elsewhere when extracted into the temporary directory.

If your script uses Kernel#autoload, OCRAN will attempt to load those constants so they are included in the output. Missing modules are ignored with a warning.

Dynamic link libraries (.dll files, for example WxWidgets, or other source files) will be detected and included by OCRAN.

Including libraries non-automatically

If automatic dependency resolution is insufficient, use --no-dep-run to skip running your script. This requires --gem-full and typically --add-all-core.

You can specify gems via a Bundler Gemfile with --gemfile. OCRAN includes all listed gems and their dependencies (they must be installed, not vendored via bundle package).

Example — packaging a Rails app without running it:

ocran someapp/script/rails someapp --output someapp.exe --add-all-core \
--gemfile someapp/Gemfile --no-dep-run --gem-full --chdir-first -- server

Note the space between -- and server! It's important; server is an argument to be passed to rails when the script is ran.

Gem handling

By default, OCRAN includes all scripts loaded by your script plus important non-script files from those gems, excluding C/C++ sources, object files, READMEs, tests, and specs.

Four modes:

minimal: Loaded scripts only
guess: Loaded scripts and important files (DEFAULT)
all: All scripts and important files
full: All files in the gem directory

If files are missing from the output, try --gem-all=gemname first, then --gem-full=gemname. Use --gem-full to include everything for all gems.

Code-signing a macOS app bundle

After building with --macosx-bundle, sign the bundle with your Developer ID:

codesign --deep --force --verify --verbose \
  --sign "Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)" \
  MyApp.app

Verify the signature:

codesign --verify --deep --strict --verbose=2 MyApp.app
spctl --assess --type execute --verbose MyApp.app

For distribution outside the Mac App Store, notarize with Apple:

# Submit for notarization (requires app-specific password or API key)
xcrun notarytool submit MyApp.app \
  --apple-id you@example.com \
  --team-id TEAMID \
  --password APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD \
  --wait

# Staple the notarization ticket so it works offline
xcrun stapler staple MyApp.app

Requirements:

Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install)
An Apple Developer account with a "Developer ID Application" certificate in Keychain

Creating a Windows installer

To make your application start faster or keep files between runs, use --innosetup to generate an Inno Setup installer.

Install Inno Setup 5+ and add it to your PATH, then supply an .iss script:

Make sure that iss is in the PATH environment variable by running the command iss in your terminal.

Do not add any [Files] or [Dirs] sections to the script; Ocran will figure those out itself. To continue the Rails example above, let's package the Rails application into an installer. Save the following as someapp.iss:

[Setup]
AppName=SomeApp
AppVersion=0.1
DefaultDirName={pf}\SomeApp
DefaultGroupName=SomeApp
OutputBaseFilename=SomeAppInstaller

[Icons]
Name: "{group}\SomeApp"; Filename: "{app}\someapp.bat"; IconFilename: "{app}\someapp.ico"; Flags: runminimized;
Name: "{group}\Uninstall SomeApp"; Filename: "{uninstallexe}"

ocran someapp/script/rails someapp --output someapp.exe --add-all-core \
--gemfile someapp/Gemfile --no-dep-run --gem-full --chdir-first --no-lzma \
--icon someapp.ico --innosetup someapp.iss -- server

If all goes well, a file named "SomeAppInstaller.exe" will be placed into the Output directory.

Environment variables

OCRAN clears the RUBYLIB environment variable before running your script so it does not pick up load paths from the end user's Ruby installation.

OCRAN sets the RUBYOPT environment variable to the value it had when you invoked OCRAN. For .exe output, OCRAN_EXECUTABLE is set to the full path of the running executable:

ENV["OCRAN_EXECUTABLE"] # => C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyApp.exe

Working directory

The OCRAN executable does not change the working directory when it starts. It only changes the working directory when you use --chdir-first.

You should not assume that the current working directory when invoking an executable built with .exe is the location of the source script. It can be the directory where the executable is placed (when invoked through the Windows Explorer), the users' current working directory (when invoking from the Command Prompt), or even C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32 when the executable is invoked through a file association.

With --chdir-first, the working directory is always the common parent directory of your source files. Do not use this if your application takes filenames as command-line arguments.

To require additional files from the source directory while keeping the user's working directory:

$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.dirname($0)

Detecting OCRAN at build time

Check for the Ocran constant to detect whether OCRAN is currently building your script:

app = MyApp.new
app.main_loop unless defined?(Ocran)

Additional files and resources

Append extra files, directories, or glob patterns to the command line:

ocran mainscript.rb someimage.jpeg docs/document.txt
ocran script.rb assets/**/*.png

This produces the following layout in the output (temp dir for .exe, or the output directory for --output-dir):

src/mainscript.rb
src/someimage.jpeg
src/docs/document.txt

Both files, directoriess and glob patterns can be specified on the command line. Files will be added as-is. If a directory is specified, OCRAN will include all files found below that directory. Glob patterns (See Dir.glob) can be used to specify a specific set of files, for example:

ocran script.rb assets/**/*.png

Command Line Arguments

Pass arguments to your script (both during the build run and at runtime) after a -- marker:

ocran script.rb -- --some-option=value

Extra arguments supplied by the user at runtime are appended after the compile-time arguments.

Load path mangling

Adding paths to $LOAD_PATH or $: at runtime is not recommended. Adding relative load paths depends on the working directory being the same as where the script is located (see above). If you have additional library files in directories below the directory containing your source script, use this idiom:

$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.join(File.dirname($0), 'path/to/script')

Window/Console

By default, OCRAN builds console applications from .rb files and windowed applications (without a console window) from .rbw files.

Ruby on Windows provides two executables: ruby.exe is a console mode application and rubyw.exe is a windowed application that does not bring up a console window when launched from Windows Explorer. By default, or if --console is used, OCRAN uses the console runtime. OCRAN automatically selects the windowed runtime when your script has the .rbw extension, or when you pass --windows.

If your application works in console mode but not in windowed mode, first check that your script works without OCRAN using rubyw.exe. A script that prints to standard output (puts, print, etc.) will eventually raise an exception under rubyw.exe once the IO buffers fill up.

You can also wrap your script in an exception handler that logs errors to a file:

begin
  # your script here
rescue Exception => e
  File.open("except.log", "w") do |f|
    f.puts e.inspect
    f.puts e.backtrace
  end
end

Credits

Lars Christensen and contributors for the OCRA project which this is forked from.

Kevin Walzer of codebykevin, Maxim Samsonov for ocra2, John Mair for codesigning support.

Igor Pavlov for the LZMA compressor and decompressor (Public Domain).

Erik Veenstra for rubyscript2exe, which provided inspiration.

Dice for the default .exe icon (vit-ruby.ico, http://ruby.morphball.net/vit-ruby-ico_en.html).

License

(The MIT License)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.