From: Wes Gamble <weyus@...>
Date: 2006-03-24T05:26:28+09:00
Subject: Re: What is the point of require_gem in Ruby 1.8.2?

Jim,

So I think the question still stands.  Is require_gem only do the 
version checking?

What does it mean to "activate" a Gem?

Wes

Jim Weirich wrote:
> Wes Gamble wrote:
>> I just went through this mess over the last few hours...
>> 
>> http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/59185
>> 
>> If I do:
>> 
>> require_gem 'gemname', '>= version'
>> 
>> I discovered that require_gem doesn't actually do the "require" call on 
>> the 1st argument.
> 
> That's because the first argument is the name of the Gem to be 
> activated, not the name of a file to be required.
> 
> However, many gems have the same name as their main require file, so 
> there is a lot of confusion.  Also some gems have an 'autorequire' flag 
> set that /will/ do a require on the main file.
> 
> And to futher the confussion, the command name 'require_gem' was poorly 
> selected.  Future versions of RubyGems will provide a better named 
> command for this operation.
> 
>> So what's the point of require_gem then?
> 
> If you have multiple versions of a gem installed, the require_gem 
> command specifies what version of the gem you are willing to use.  If 
> you don't care what version will be used, and just want the latest 
> version of whatever is installed, then there is no reason to even bother 
> with the require_gem command.
> 
> --
> -- Jim Weirich


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