Determine OS bit version with ruby

[Pout]

Is there a way to determine wether the OS where Sketchup is installed on is 32 or 64 bit?
puts RUBY_PLATFORM gives me i386-mswin32 (which is probably the ruby version since i am working on 64 bit)

machine_bytes = ['foo'].pack('p').size
machine_bits = machine_bytes * 8
Also gives me 32, again probably because ruby/SU is 32 bit

Is there another way?

Thx!

[tbd]

why do you need that in the first place ?

for me (OSX), the ruby command 1.size is

• 4 -> 32 bit SU Ruby
• 8 -> 64 bit command line Ruby

on Windows you can check for GetSystemWow64Directory as it is not present on 32bit version

[Dan Rathbun]

# define these methods within your module or class

def is_windows_32bit?
  ( not is_windows_64bit? )
end

def is_windows_64bit?
  ENV.has_key?('ProgramFiles(x86)')
end

Note: ENV['PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE'] may return a label for a 64bit CPU (like "AMD64",) but still could have a 32bit Windows OS installed.

[Pout]

thx TBD and Dan

I need it to determine where certain file are located.
For now i have used a similuar aproach as Dan suggested in which you look if Program Files(x86) 'exists'
But i think his method is better.

[tbd]

as I dont have 64bit Windows to test it up, take in account this as well - "The %ProgramFiles% itself depends on whether the process requesting the environment variable is itself 32-bit or 64-bit"

[thomthom]

And some versions of Windows doesn't even have folders names "ProgramFiles" but instead a localized version. Hard coded paths are not reliable, they should be requested from the system.

[Dan Rathbun]

The NAMES of the environment vars should NOT change, and their VALUES should be the localized language folder names.

So it is much safer to test FIRST if ENV.has_key? THEN use the value of the varible (IF it is present,) to check if the folder exists using:

if ENV.has_key?('ProgramFiles(x86)') &&
   File.exist?(ENV['ProgramFiles(x86)']) &&
   File.directory?(['ProgramFiles(x86)'])
  # safe to access directory
end

[Dan Rathbun]

@unknownuser said:

as I dont have 64bit Windows to test it up, take in account this as well - "The %ProgramFiles% itself depends on whether the process requesting the environment variable is itself 32-bit or 64-bit"

%ProgramFiles% = ENV['ProgramFiles']

But I told him to use %ProgramFiles(x86)% (which is ENV['ProgramFiles(x86)'],) and should not be present on 32bit systems.

On a 64bit system, running a 32bit process (in this case 32bit Sketchup, running 32bit Ruby as a subprocess,) a copy of the enviroment is created for the process. Both the vars ENV['ProgramFiles'] and ENV['ProgramFiles(x86)'] should contain a pathstring that points at the same 32bit localized "program files" directory.