From: Jim Weirich <jim@...>
Date: 2006-02-06T02:15:42+09:00
Subject: Re: Debian, gem(?) , and libraries

unknown wrote:
> Now, my original purpose at hand was to install
> a command-line argument parser.   By searching
> the Internet, I had learned there are getopt, getoptlong,
> optparse (parseopt??), and ropt.  (Sorry if I misspelt some
> of them).  Reading some documents, I decided I like the
> simplicity of ropt.  But then, "gem search opt --remote"
> listed getopt, getopt-declare, and OptionParser.
> Not ropt.   Argh.
> 
> 1) Does the gem system work for those libraries which
> aren't shown in the listing?  In other words, if the gem
> command doesn't show a library, would you need to
> install it separately from the gem framework?

RubyGems only works for software explicitly packaged as gems.  Although 
most Ruby authors make their packages available as a gem as an option, 
not all do.  The gem command itself only searches the gem repository on 
RubyForge by default, so it is possible that a gem is available for a 
package and not show up with the gem list command.  Indeed, many 
experimental or beta packages are available only one their own special 
servers.

> 2) How do you install ruby libraries which are not on
> the gem framework?

Download the package and read the README file.  Most ruby packages that 
don't use gems will use either setup.rb or install.rb.  I took a brief 
look at ropt, and it looks like you cat download the tar.gz file, and 
untar it into a directory.  Then cd into that directory and type:

    ruby install.rb

If you are on a unix-like system, you probably need the appropriate user 
privileges as well.

> 3) Which command line argument parser is "standard"?
> (Please user your own definition of "standard" :)

I've always like optparse that comes standard with Ruby.  Its not as 
simple as ropt, but I really like the flexibility it gives me.

--
-- Jim Weirich

-- 
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