[ruby-talk:12996] Re: Library packaging

On Tuesday 20 March 2001 16:05, Dave Thomas wrote:
> Kenichi Komiya <[e-mail]> writes:
> > If we can design new package format rather than adopting
> > existing one, we do not need to bother changing interpreter.
> > Just put few line of decoder (written in Ruby) at the top of the
> > package file, followed by ctrl-D and encoded binary data.  Ruby
> > stop parsing at ctrl-D and let the decoder handle the rest of
> > job.
> >
> > What Dave was looking for in [ruby-talk:12840] should fit nicely
> > in this scheme.  (Perhaps, this is his turn to claim his
> > invention :-)
>
> OK, I'll confess.
>
> I have something called 'rar' which does just that. It bundles a group
> of files together, adds a Ruby wrapper, and overrides 'require' so
> that it can find files in the bundle. It requires no support on the
> destination system: the archive is self-contained. It also never
> extracts files: it serves the .rb files internally.
>
> I was going to have it use compressed files, but I still haven't
> finished experimenting with options, so right now it simply bundles
> files in straight ASCII.
>
> The program is pretty trivial right now: just a proof of concept
> really, and I'm running short of hours in the day. If anyone's
> interested in playing with the ideas and perhaps developing this into
> something worthwhile I'd be happy to post what I have.
>

Ok, that explains your posts re compression :-)

Now, without foraging for details, someone came up with a system to provide 
EZ deployment of Tcl/Tk apps as standalone exe's using zip and some other 
shennaigans for Tcl. Basically, a wish interpretor was wrapped with the apps 
scripts and other supporting elements (like icons, etc) into an executable 
zip file for distribution. Running the zip exe ran wish and loaded the .tcl 
files. I can provide more info on this (to the extent I have it) if anyone 
wants. I believe this has been discussed here before.

Bottom line is that EZ deployment would be a very good thing for Ruby; while 
many of us _like_ to install interpretors, majority of end users do not want 
to be bothered with anything more than click=run. :-)

There is nothing wrong with this;  computers for most people are tools to 
solve problems and the easier solutions are provided the better. Which IMO is 
a "good" thing; if _everyone_ wanted to jump into the "sandbox" and play 
Ruby, the world would not need Ruby programmers!

Pardon te diversion...real point is that any language to become widely used 
for development outside of the professional/industrial environment requires 
both a GUI and EZ deployment (prefarbly point-click-run). Now, Ruby doesn't 
_need_ to become an end-user application development language, but IMO it 
would be nice (especailly for developers) if it did. :-)

And in answer to your question, Dave, yes, I, for one, would be interested in 
seeing your rar.

Regards,

Kent Starr
[e-mail]