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.