From: Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@...>
Date: 2005-10-11T11:13:32+09:00
Subject: Re: gems is a language change, not a pkging system

On 10/11/05, Sean E. Russell <ser@germane-software.com> wrote:
>
> > But what's so doggone hard or objectionable about installing gem Y if you've
> > already  installed gem X?
>
> You misunderstood me.  I've already installed Y, but not as a Gem.  Now I try
> to install X (which depends on Y).  What happens?

Best case: it works because gem X only says -require 'y'-, which is
resolved in site_ruby.

Worst case: gem X says -require_gem 'Y', '~> 1.0.2'-, which isn't
resolved in site_ruby.  Solution: -gem install Y-  Now you've got Y
installed in site_ruby *and* as a gem, which is not a problem.  It's
worthwhile, because you can ensure that the *right* version of gem Y
is there.

So you get a temporary interruption to your schedule.  All this is
unlikely anyway, because when you installed gem X you are most likely
to have also installed gem Y, as it was specified as a dependency.

Gavin