Watir is a family of drivers for different browsers running on several operating systems. This page provides an overview of how to install the leading drivers on several operating systems.

Install Ruby

Windows

Install Ruby using the one-click installer for Windows. We recommend using the latest version of Ruby 1.8.6 with Watir 1.6. More details.

With Watir 1.5 users had who used its support for the IE showModalDialog had to use Ruby 1.8.2. With Watir 1.6, these users should now be using Ruby 1.8.6 just like everybody else.

Mac and Linux

Ruby is probably already installed on your machine. You can verify which version of Ruby is install by typing this command in a terminal window:

ruby -v

We recommend using Ruby 1.8.6 on all platforms.

Install Watir

Watir drivers are packaged as gems, Ruby libraries that can be installed over the internet.

Windows

Type these commands at a command prompt:

gem update --system 
gem install watir

Beginning with Watir 1.6.0 (Oct 2008), this installs drivers for both IE and Firefox (FireWatir).

Watir’s support for Firefox also requires a plugin.

If you run into trouble or are installing from behind a firewall, please see additional notes.

Mac

Type these commands at a command prompt:

sudo gem update --system 
sudo gem install firewatir
sudo gem install safariwatir
Watir’s support for Firefox also requires a plugin.

If you run into trouble or are installing from behind a firewall, please see additional notes.

Linux

Type these commands at a command prompt:

sudo gem update --system 
sudo gem install firewatir
Watir’s support for Firefox also requires a plugin.

If you run into trouble or are installing from behind a firewall, please see additional notes.

Install an HTML inspector

To use Watir effectively, you’ll need to be able to browse through the structure of your application’s HTML pages. These tools help you do that.


Watir is released under a BSD license | Hosted by RubyForge and OpenQA
Logo by Jacinda Scott | Web design by webgen and Andreas Viklund
Watir development is sponsored by WatirCraft