From: "Mauricio Fernández" <batsman.geo@...>
Date: 2004-09-29T02:56:29+09:00
Subject: Re: setup.rb and/or gem assist

On Wed, Sep 29, 2004 at 01:17:27AM +0900, Hal Fulton wrote:
> Hello all...
> 
> I am rather package-phobic and usually just offer a .tgz and a readme.
> But I'm thinking of doing a little more this time.

If you point me to your .tgz, RPA might repackage it for you ;-)

> I have an app I want to package, and I want to create a gem.
> 
> I *believe* that setup.rb is still required, is it not??

RubyGems does not require setup.rb; it needs a "gemspec".

> Anyhow, I have never used setup.rb except to play with it, and I've
> never created a gem.
> 
> Some of my constraints are:
> 
> 1. I have libs that are require'd only by this app (i.e., they are
>    just separate pieces for convenience). Where should they go, and
>    how should I reference them in the app?

If they are packaged independently, you can indicate the dependencies.
You probably want to install them under a common namespace (myapp/).

> 2. Same question for data files and such. Where to put them, how to
>    reference them?

There's a problem with RubyGems + datafiles;
see http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/110665
and http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/110679

Data files are normally found under
  File.join(::Config::CONFIG["datadir"], "share")
but this won't work with RubyGems so you would have to modify your program.

> 3. Suppose I have a file of marshalled data and want to run a little
>    utility program to load it into a .db -- how/when should I do this?

A mechanism to run post-installation scripts is being discussed in
RubyGems' ML. It seems unlikely to be implemented, though, since the
majority seems to be against it.

> Any assistance appreciated.

Just give me a link to the tgz :-)

-- 
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batsman dot geo at yahoo dot com