<div class="gmail_quote">Hey guys,<div><br></div><div>I recently read your position on Rubygems. I think we can probably find a way to solve the problem if we can get some help from Debian.</div><div><br></div><div>It seems to me like you have the following problems:</div>
<div><br></div><div>1) People have libraries that rely on Rubygems. I agree with this issue: <a href="http://yehudakatz.com/2009/07/24/rubygems-good-practice/" target="_blank">http://yehudakatz.com/2009/07/24/rubygems-good-practice/</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>2) You want a simple way to install packages without needing the full rubygems. To be honest, while you can appeal to the community to provide setup.rb, it would in fact be easier for us to provide you with a tiny subset of rubygems that can help you extract the installation information from the gem specification. You can then find the bin directories, as well as instructions for installing any binary gems. This will enable you to install the parts of the gem where you want, and make it trivial to make debian packages from rubygems. I would be willing to write something that could serve as the base for a Rubygems=>Debian package converter if one does not already exist.</div>
<div><br></div><div>3) Rubygems binaries have shebang lines that don't work on Debian or none at all. This is because Rubygems creates a wrapper file that points directly at the binary with the appropriate shebang. A rubygems=>deb converter could use the same technique and then stash the binary anywhere it wished. It could also copy the contents of the file out and replace or add the appropriate shebang. I'd note that /usr/bin/env ruby does not work on Windows and is therefore not considered a general purpose solution.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I understand that in a perfect world the Ruby community would conform with Debian's desires here. In practice though, I think we can work toward a solution that works for both communities with minimal fuss. I'm also probably not the first person who's attempted this dialog. Some in the Ruby community have decided to effectively write off Debian but I'm not willing to do so.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Thoughts?</div><div><br>-- <br>Yehuda Katz<br>Developer | Engine Yard<br>(ph) 718.877.1325</div></div>