From: David Alan Black <dblack@...>
Date: 2001-03-25T14:01:15+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:13189] Re: Advice on installation philosophy needed

On Sun, 25 Mar 2001, Dave Thomas wrote:

> My question: should 'ri' and similar packages be installed in the
> general system directory tree like this, or should they go in the Ruby 
> tree as they are now? What are the advantages and disadvantages or
> each? How can we make it easy for package maintainers, and also for
> casual users? What are the issues?

My general sense is that if a package's role on the system is fully
language-neutral (i.e., if it's an application for end users, rather
than components for developers), then it can/should go in the
non-language-specific area.  ri is really both.  If you're writing an ri
extension you need to 'require' parts of it, and at that point having
them in /usr/local/lib/ri rather than .../site_ruby/ri would become an
annoyance (in my view).  But putting the executable somewhere in
the non-ruby hierarchy seems fine.

Another consideration would be the ease/flexibility of non-root
installation.


David

-- 
David Alan Black
home: dblack@candle.superlink.net
work: blackdav@shu.edu
Web:  http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav