From: John Wilger <johnwilger@...>
Date: 2004-11-19T03:11:11+09:00
Subject: Re: Including code from other projects in your own project.

I think the best answer is, unhelpfully, "it depends". But it really does.

First, how stable is the included project? If you have tight coupling
to that project, and its api isn't stable, you probably want to
include a specific, integration-tested version in your distribution
(if that project's licensing allows, of course).

Also, who are the end users that will be installing it? If they aren't
expected to be knowledgeable Rubyists (shame on them! ;-) ), then you
probably don't want to make them hunt down and install dependencies on
their own.

On the other hand, if you're distributing the project mainly to other
Ruby developers--especially if it is some type of framework or
library--dependencies are better off left separate. As a developer, I
might want to use your code as a starting point, but adapt it to use
some other version of that dependency (for whatever reason). This is a
bit easier if the dependency isn't "bundled".

Just my 2 cents, anyway. Take care!

-- 
Regards,
John Wilger

-----------
Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
- Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland