Will Ruby extensions built in OS X work on Linux?

Question

I want to make a Ruby extension for a C (with C++ libraries) program that will run on a CentOS server, but it would be more convenient for me to work on a Mac (especially without having to reinstall all the 3rd party libraries).

Since they're both UNIX-based, would creating the library in OS X throw it off once I put it on CentOS, or should I just man up, install CentOS, and do it all there?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You don't even have 100% source compatibility between them, although you can easily stick to what will work on both.

There is no binary compatibility between Linux and OS X; even the basic object file formats differ (Linux uses ELF, OS X uses Mach-O).