From: "Sean E. Russell" Date: 2005-09-28T21:22:14+09:00 Subject: Re: gems is a language change, not a pkging system --nextPart1364541.bkFaBNWP6P Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline On Monday 26 September 2005 22:41, Austin Ziegler wrote: > The *real* harm is that without RubyGems, there would be fewer libraries > easily installed. This is a straw-man argument.=20 The easiest way for users to install software -- ANY software, including=20 libraries -- is by using the package manager that they use for installing a= ll=20 other software on their system. > You don't like RubyGems? MAKE SOMETHING YOURSELF AND PROMOTE IT. > Otherwise you're simply being obstructionist and *no one* has time for > that. Another straw man. Users may oppose RubyGems for other reasons not having = to=20 do with any specific implementation of a library manager. I only fear getting locked into using a specific library manager. I (and y= ou)=20 expect the following process to occur: 1 RubyGems is bundled with Ruby. 2 Gems then becomes viewed as the standard library distribution mechanism. 3 Library developers, especially newcomers who've never used setup.rb, will only distribute their packages as Gems. 4 The perception of the standard becomes a fact, resulting in a feedback loop at 3. None of this bothers me as a developer, because I won't be distributing my= =20 libraries as Gems. However, it bothers me greatly as a user, because now I= =20 won't be able to install Ruby libraries without gems, which forces me to us= e=20 it. It also means that I won't be able to use Ruby at work, because of=20 RubyGems' aforementioned inability to deal with firewalls properly. > API version numbering in the name is one of the *worst* things you can > do. I much prefer supporting AIX and HP-UX to supporting Linux because > of this nonsense. (Solaris isn't much better than Linux for this.) "Carthago delenda est!" -- The versioning mechanism must be separate from= =20 the library manager. =2D-=20 =2D-- SER "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents,=20 more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some=20 great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach=20 their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned=20 by a downright moron." - H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956) --nextPart1364541.bkFaBNWP6P Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2-ecc0.1.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQBDOonNP0KxygnleI8RAmWlAKC2b12aZEYAxWYUUOWM9Cl++YlG4gCgwPrO TuvmzmzGSbx1Qh5BqRWnGdw= =J2tJ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --nextPart1364541.bkFaBNWP6P--