Step 1
Create a folder in /home/username/rails by using the command rails foldername
Step 2
Create a symlink in /home/username/www by doing ln -s /home/username/rails/foldername/public /home/username/www/foldername
Step 3
Test the installation by going to http://username.phpwebhosting.com/foldername and you should have the welcome screen.
Note:
Some older phpwebhosting.com servers do not have rails installed or may need an upgrade. Enter a support ticket and they can update your server.
All the base gems are installed. If you need others you can either install a private copy or ask them to install a global copy. Installing private is the best (but a bit harder). If you use your own private copy on your account then any changes in the future to the global copy would not break your site.
If you have them install a global copy for you to use then if they update the global copy it could break your site. This would be pretty rare but something to think about. In general upgrades shouldn’t break old installs but (personally) I would take the extra time and do my own private install and upgrade it when I’m ready. It’s really your call.
How do you do this?