From: Austin Ziegler Date: 2004-12-12T06:40:20+09:00 Subject: Re: iconv replacement for windows? On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 05:12:34 +0900, Stu wrote: > On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 05:22:38 +0900, Austin Ziegler > wrote: >> On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 04:57:24 +0900, gabriele renzi >> wrote: >>> Curt Hibbs ha scritto: >>>> If someone would be willing to package iconv as a RubyGem, them >>>> it would become immediately available thru a simple "gem >>>> install iconv", since RubyGems is now included in the one-click >>>> installer. >>> yes, but iconv is one of the things that is part of the standard >>> ruby (it is a c bingind in /ext) so it would be nice to see it >>> provided with the standard 1-click-installer (maybe with the >>> proper iconv utility) >> Right. If it's provided with standard Ruby (e.g., OpenSSL, iconv, >> a few other things), then the 1-click installer should include >> them. >> >> I personally don't like the idea of forcing users to use RubyGems >> for a lot of things that are currently in the installer. > personally im kinda sick of all the duplication. For extra/external libraries, I can agree with you. Thus, iconv.dll should only be installed when it is selected (which it should be, by default). However, iconv.so -- the Ruby interface to iconv -- must be installed regardless. Maybe the installer can check to see if it can load iconv.dll from the PATH before it selects the iconv.dll installation by default. MySQL and PostgresQL (the databases, not the bindings) would not be included because they are clearly separate libraries that a user must want to use. Iconv and OpenSSL are *assumed* by Ruby to be part of a working operating system. At a minimum, the Ruby bindings must be included. If there are redistributables (e.g., openssl.dll, iconv.dll) that would be beneficial, they should be included but made optional for installation. The point is to have a complete installer for people who would run our applications, not just programmers. If not, then we tell people on Windows to download and install fifteen things *before they can even RUN Ruby*. -austin -- Austin Ziegler * halostatue@gmail.com * Alternate: austin@halostatue.ca