From: Michael Schuerig <michael@...>
Date: 2005-05-04T15:14:52+09:00
Subject: Debian: coexistence of debs and gems?


I'm using Debian/Linux and have come upon tough rock while digging for
rubies. Debian, like most Linux distos, manages installed software with
a package management system. Ruby as well as several libs including
Rails, in particular, are available as packages. That's great as it is.
Nevertheless, of course there are libs that are not available as debian
packages, but are available as gems.

Installing RubyGems is quick and easy, but from there on, I'm stuck with
two problems:

* Files from gems are installed below /usr where they get intermixed
with files from regular debian packages. I'd much prefer gems being
installed below /usr/local.

* RubyGems does its own dependency management and is ignorant of
anything installed as debian packages. As an effect, when I try to
install a gem that depends on Rails, RubyGems wants to install the
Rails gem, even though Rails is already installed.

Is there a way to make these to package managers play nicely?

Michael

-- 
Michael Schuerig                 Not only does lightning not strike
mailto:michael@schuerig.de       twice, it usually doesn't strike once.
http://www.schuerig.de/michael/  --Salman Rushdie, Fury