Another vote for MacPorts. The trunk version of Rails ("Edge") is compatible with Ruby 1.8.5, so don't hesitate to go for the latest and greatest. Postgres is also available from MacPorts. Hint, hint.
I strongly recommend developing against Edge. You'll get the latest in features, and missing out on the new RESTful conventions is a waste of time. It's how Rails apps are going to be written, henceforth, and it makes more sense.
Skip Locomotive and manage the toolbox of Rails dependencies yourself. When it comes time for production deployment, you'll be glad you did.
As for servers, just use Mongrel while developing. When production time rolls around, get cozy with a Mongrel+Apache setup. It's the best of both worlds and not too horrible to set up. Lighttpd is neat but its codebase is going through a lot of overhauling right now.
I'd be happy to answer questions you may have. Good luck!
by Alex Payne — Oct 18
I strongly recommend developing against Edge. You'll get the latest in features, and missing out on the new RESTful conventions is a waste of time. It's how Rails apps are going to be written, henceforth, and it makes more sense.
Skip Locomotive and manage the toolbox of Rails dependencies yourself. When it comes time for production deployment, you'll be glad you did.
As for servers, just use Mongrel while developing. When production time rolls around, get cozy with a Mongrel+Apache setup. It's the best of both worlds and not too horrible to set up. Lighttpd is neat but its codebase is going through a lot of overhauling right now.
I'd be happy to answer questions you may have. Good luck!