diff --git a/compiler/cpp/src/generate/t_rb_generator.cc b/compiler/cpp/src/generate/t_rb_generator.cc
index 62234f6..cfa47c5 100644
--- a/compiler/cpp/src/generate/t_rb_generator.cc
+++ b/compiler/cpp/src/generate/t_rb_generator.cc
@@ -651,6 +651,10 @@
       out << ", :element => ";
       generate_field_data(out, ((t_set*)field_type)->get_elem_type());
     }
+  } else {
+    if (((t_base_type*)field_type)->is_binary()) {
+      out << ", :binary => true" << endl;
+    }
   }
   
   if(optional) {
diff --git a/lib/rb/Rakefile b/lib/rb/Rakefile
index 39334f0..bd38561 100644
--- a/lib/rb/Rakefile
+++ b/lib/rb/Rakefile
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@
     p.summary = "Ruby libraries for Thrift (a language-agnostic RPC system)"
     p.url = "http://incubator.apache.org/thrift/"
     p.include_rakefile = true
-    p.version = "0.2.3"
+    p.version = "0.2.4"
     p.rubygems_version = ">= 1.2.0"
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/rb/lib/thrift/struct_union.rb b/lib/rb/lib/thrift/struct_union.rb
index 2397822..ddd7938 100644
--- a/lib/rb/lib/thrift/struct_union.rb
+++ b/lib/rb/lib/thrift/struct_union.rb
@@ -141,6 +141,8 @@
         inspect_collection(value, field_info)
       elsif value.is_a? Set
         inspect_collection(value, field_info)
+      elsif value.is_a?(String) && field_info[:binary]
+        value.unpack("H*").first
       else
         value.inspect
       end
diff --git a/lib/rb/lib/thrift/union.rb b/lib/rb/lib/thrift/union.rb
index 640e78b..9fde8fc 100644
--- a/lib/rb/lib/thrift/union.rb
+++ b/lib/rb/lib/thrift/union.rb
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@
           name, value = name.keys.first, name.values.first
         end
 
+        if Thrift.type_checking
+          raise Exception, "#{self.class} does not contain a field named #{name}!" unless name_to_id(name.to_s)
+        end
+
         if value.nil?
           raise Exception, "Union #{self.class} cannot be instantiated with setfield and nil value!"
         end
diff --git a/lib/rb/spec/ThriftSpec.thrift b/lib/rb/spec/ThriftSpec.thrift
index b497a60..e4dece4 100644
--- a/lib/rb/spec/ThriftSpec.thrift
+++ b/lib/rb/spec/ThriftSpec.thrift
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
   2: i32 i32_field;
   3: i32 other_i32_field;
   4: SomeEnum enum_field;
+  5: binary binary_field;
 }
 
 struct Foo {
@@ -72,6 +73,10 @@
   8: bool my_bool
 }
 
+struct Foo2 {
+  1: binary my_binary
+}
+
 struct BoolStruct {
   1: bool yesno = 1
 }
diff --git a/lib/rb/spec/struct_spec.rb b/lib/rb/spec/struct_spec.rb
index 4b46284..c1271b9 100644
--- a/lib/rb/spec/struct_spec.rb
+++ b/lib/rb/spec/struct_spec.rb
@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@
       StructWithEnumMap.new(:my_map => {SomeEnum::ONE => [SomeEnum::TWO]}).inspect.should == "<SpecNamespace::StructWithEnumMap my_map:{ONE (0): [TWO (1)]}>"
     end
 
+    it "should pretty print binary fields" do
+      Foo2.new(:my_binary => "\001\002\003").inspect.should == "<SpecNamespace::Foo2 my_binary:010203>"
+    end
+
     it "should offer field? methods" do
       Foo.new.opt_string?.should be_false
       Foo.new(:simple => 52).simple?.should be_true
diff --git a/lib/rb/spec/union_spec.rb b/lib/rb/spec/union_spec.rb
index f563b0b..33df251 100644
--- a/lib/rb/spec/union_spec.rb
+++ b/lib/rb/spec/union_spec.rb
@@ -160,5 +160,9 @@
       My_union.new(:im_true => false).im_true?.should be_true
       My_union.new(:im_true => true).im_true?.should be_true
     end
+    
+    it "should pretty print binary fields" do
+      TestUnion.new(:binary_field => "\001\002\003").inspect.should == "<SpecNamespace::TestUnion binary_field: 010203>"
+    end
   end
 end