Options for distribution of an offline Ruby on Rails application

Question

I am developing an application in using Ruby on Rails, mostly as an excuse to learn the language.

This is not intended to be a web-based application - and perhaps I

Answer 1

Note, Slingshot appears to be a dead project (see comments). I'll leave this answer here for historical purposes and the off-chance that it comes back

Joyent's Slingshot might be a good bet.

Joyent Slingshot allows developers to deploy Rails applications like a standard desktop application, which work online and offline (with synchronization), have drag and drop, and interact with all the other desktop applications.

With Joyent Slingshot:

• Create a hybrid Web/desktop application
• Synchronize online and offline data
• Use the same code for online and offline application(s)
• Deploy and update your application easily
• Drag into and out of application

Here are some further links to help with your evaluation and/or to help you get started:

• Introducing Joyent Slingshot
• Basic application walkthrough
• Slingshot wiki