From: Alexey Verkhovsky <alex@...>
Date: 2005-01-17T06:36:33+09:00
Subject: Re: Building, Packing and Distributing Ruby Applications

vruz wrote:

>The analogy here with the Java world would be having a JRE for each
>JAR you install in your system.
>That's clearly not a model I want to use in a desktop with several
>different apps installed.
>  
>
Have you ever tried to distribute a thick desktop Java application to a 
non-geek audience?
Packaging a JRE with the app is the only way to do it that would not 
lead you to a temporary loss of sanity.

Various other solutions to this problem, most notably Java Web Start, 
simply don't work.

Only problem is the size of the download. JRE is something like 15 Mb. 
And non-geek audience may not have broadband access. And a similar 
program compiled from C++ may weigh only 1 Mb. Oops...

>For instance, I have no way to update the Ruby runtime environment for
>all apps at once.
>
Which is Good Thing (TM) in the scenario above - because nobody else 
has, either :)

If your audience is all on the intranet, you just make sure they all 
have the same Ruby (which is easy for the right sysadmin with the right 
tools), and then there is no need for any packaging other than Gems or RPA.

-- 
Best regards,

Alexey Verkhovsky

Ruby Forum: http://ruby-forum.org        (moderator)
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