Perl and Ruby

Question

I was running OmniDiskSweeper to see what was taking up space on my iMac. I saw "Perl" and "Ruby". I'm wondering what they are, and do I need them?
Thank you,
Romelle

Answer 1

Perl and Ruby come installed with Leopard 10.5; each has a different purpose and
could be used by users and developers. Usually they use little space and don't need
to be removed if looking for big space wasters on the computer.
+Warning: OS X expects and sometimes relies on frameworks and software shipped+
+with the system. It would be a very bad idea to remove the system Ruby (or Perl.)+
You can't just drag items from the System to Trash; some will mess up the OS X if
they are removed. There should be Developer pages about Perl and Ruby; the
versions installed as part of OS X 10.5, are probably best left alone...!
Sometimes, these obscure sounding things may have a connection to something you
do, or have done, in your computer. If you use X11 (for open office, etc) some of these
items may be helpful or required as support items. If you installed X11, you'd have to
use Terminal to uninstall it; same as with Ruby. A small input error in Terminal, and the
OS X may no longer work; so a re-install of OS X would be required. People who are
developers, may replace an older Perl or Ruby, with a newer one, for a project; the OS
looks for these to be there as part of its working system. Whether you do is secondary.
Ruby is a programming and scripting language. An open source utility, of a sort.
This kind of thing can be used with Xcode and Terminal, to customize the OS.
Perl is used by the system, too; and anything you find from the original OS X install
should be left alone... it helps scripting and other functions for the OS and the user.
There are several different background things essential to OS X functions.
• *An Introduction to Perl for Mac OS X:*
http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.18/18.09/PerlforMacOSX/index.html
• *An Introduction to Ruby for Mac OS X:*
http://www.io.com/~jimm/writing/IntrotoRuby.html
Some of these kinds of items would require careful consideration before removal;
and for some users, who use and need them, there are newer versions. To remove
Ruby, there is a command-line (terminal) level of access to handle it.
Since parts of OS X are very integrated, one has to be careful if removing stuff.
Software can use these items; so support for them is included with OS X 10.5.
You may be able to search a Wiki site to get more detailed information on each.
{However, as a matter of course, since they were installed with the original computer
software, they should not be a concern in what may be a need to remove folders &
files created by the user. A few dozen music files, and/or images can occupy much
more hard disk drive space than a few support software files.}
Have you archived music, photo, movie, and other files to an off-computer device?
Large libraries of images and music can be moved from the computer and then
the original files can be deleted; just be sure to double-check files in the new location
before trashing them off the computer's internal hard disk drive.
So, I'd not mess with anything in the OS X that was not user installed.
And to have a complete bootable backup clone on externally enclosed
hard disk drive, before attempting to change items in the computer' OS
where you have originals without a backup, is really asking for troubles.
But that's just my opinion:
Full speed ahead and swat the mosquitoes.
Good luck & happy computing!