What makes python more of a real language than ruby?

It’s more mainstream for tools like this.

Please explain. Have you heard of chef? That is ruby and it can be beautiful. Chef > Ansible. Chef server is meh.

The point wasn’t that Python is better than Ruby, they are about the same IMO. The point was they are both better than Bash, and Ruby actually makes it super convenient to write bash-like scripts, so there’s no excuse to not be using Ruby.

Eh.. Puppet? [ed: and chef..]

Python and Ruby are both functionally equivalent in my book. The difference is prevalence; for systems tools, Python is more common because it comes installed by default with more Linux distros and in my experience anyways, is faster to respond to breaking upstream issues and build failures, which is almost certainly just due to more widespread usage. I have nothing against Ruby, it’s a pretty language and does what you need and has good metaprogramming support. Just saying for a tool you want lots of people to adopt, it’s more mainstream to choose Python.

Right. I just can't think of a more mainstream tool in this space than puppet - that's why I thought your statement seemed odd.

Yeah, I was thinking more broadly about systems utilities rather than specifically state management.

Ruby has fallen by the wayside in recent years largely because its lunch has been eaten by Python and JavaScript, but mostly by happenstance, not as a result of the merits of the language itself. Ruby has comparable speed and arguably more robust niceties for building complex software vs. Python. See, e.g., https://leanpub.com/combinators https://computationbook.com/ https://www.toptal.com/ruby/ruby-metaprogramming-cooler-than...

When it comes to server admin the libraries available for Ruby is miles ahead of anything available for Python.