[ruby-core:97836] [Ruby master Misc#16778] Should we stop vendoring default gems code?

Issue #16778 has been updated by vo.x (Vit Ondruch).


shevegen (Robert A. Heiler) wrote in #note-4:
> this may help distributions such as,
> say, debian, when there is some known bug already fixed, in a gem release,
> and it can be quickly updated, without having to wait for e. g. x-mas =

> release or pull out some patch manually.

Wearing my Fedora Ruby maintainer hat, I was always for gemification of Std=
Lib. Nevertheless, I can tell you that that the *current* design, including=
 the source tree layout, is going precisely against what I need to properly=
 maintain Ruby there.

However, things has changed since the gemification started and the main cha=
nge is that Ruby moved to Git. So I think it would be worth of considering =
to use git submodules to get the gem source directories included into the R=
uby sources, because AFAIK the concern was that Ruby developer want to have=
 the whole tree including the StdLib and they want to be able to commit eve=
rywhere. The git submodules could solve that.

----------------------------------------
Misc #16778: Should we stop vendoring default gems code?
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/16778#change-85058

* Author: deivid (David Rodr=EDguez)
* Status: Open
* Priority: Normal
----------------------------------------
Currently ruby-core vendors all the code in default gems, and runs the test=
s for each of them.

Also, ruby-core continuously updates the vendored code of default gems to s=
ync with the upstream repos. That's overhead work, not only from syncronizi=
ng the code itself, but it also requires perfect syncronization of releases=
 to avoid including versions of default gems that are different from releas=
ed versions.

Also, this causes confusion for contributors because the code lives "duplic=
ated" in two different places. Some times contributors will open a PR in th=
e ruby-core repo, only to find out that they need to go to the upstream rep=
o and contribute it in there. And this rule is not even always followed and=
 sometimes ruby-core contributors apply patches to the vendored code direct=
ly (many times to fix test-only issues inherent to the different structure =
of the core repository). These patches then need to be contributed back to =
the upstream repo.

I believe that all of that kind of defeats the point of "gemification" of t=
he standard library.

Once some ruby code its gemified, it should be the new upstream's responsab=
ility to make sure the code works and it's properly tested, and ruby-core s=
hould be free'd from that responsability.

Maybe ruby-core could do something along the following lines:

* Remove all the vendored code from default gems.
* When this code is needed for internal tests, manage it as a development d=
ependency, clone it as necessary on non source controlled locations, and us=
e it from there.
* Maybe a file similar to `gems/bundled_gems` can be added for default gems=
 indicating their versions and upstream repos, to ease things.
* Upon `make install`, clone the proper version of each default library and=
 get it installed in the default $LOAD_PATH.
* Maybe add some bare high level CI checks to ensure that all default libra=
ries can be properly required after `make install`, and that their executab=
les (if they include any) can also be run.

This should bring several benefits to the development process:

* No more duplicated code.
* No more syncronization from upstream to ruby-core.
* No more syncronization from ruby-core to upstream.
* No more confusion around the canonical place to contribute.
* No more complexities derived from the different organization of the code =
depending on whether it lives in ruby-core or outside.  =


I believe jruby already does something like this so it'd be interesting to =
get some input from them.

If this is a direction the ruby-core team would like to take, I'm happy to =
help @hsbt with small steps towards slowly approaching to this high level g=
oal.



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