From: Leslie Viljoen Date: 2006-05-24T07:04:30+09:00 Subject: Re: Proposing: A new Ruby Windows installer On 5/23/06, Enterprise Astronaut wrote: > Curt Hibbs wrote: > > installer team. I have been asking for help repeatedly over the years > > without much response. So far, only Ryan Leavengood and Shashank Date > > have > > helped. > > Well, maybe this is the real problem with the Ruby community then? > Asking for assistance over a number of years to get help on an installer > package that I'm sure thousands of people, companies, etc. use daily and > coming back with mostly deaf echos is not ideal. This installer is a > fundamental piece of Ruby being accepted by a larger audience (sorry but > Windows is still the dominant platform out there). I know a lot of > developers/companies that unless they get a timely pretty installer > package they won't bother using it or allow it on a server. (I hear the > argument already "well we don't want those types of developers > anyway"... Don't we? Do we want critical mass or be a niche language?) I didn't know help was needed here, if there's something I can do, I volunteer. Professionally, I am a WIndows and embedded software developer. Perhaps there's something I can do. > The point of my post was to eliminate the manual work that has to go > into a Ruby installer. Make it a lot more automated, flick a switch and > walk away. Even under ideal situations the Ruby Windows Installer is at > least a few days/weeks turn around time. Right now the 1.84 release is > going on 6 months. This is the reality right now. The release of a > Ruby installer should not be based on someone's agenda, it should be an > automated process. I appreciate what the team does and the endless work > they put into it but at some point the Ruby community will need to > mature in this regard. You are part of the community right? Are you going to help? Few of us get paid for Ruby projects so we have to do these things in our spare time. Who will sacrifice to help more people get the Ruby joy? > From a company's perspective I have a lot better chance of having this > installed on a server based simply off of the organized, tidy webpage: > http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.4.3/ > All the releases synced up, all the builds ready for download from one > location. Nice and easy. When I look at the Ruby download site I see a > mis-mash of info and links leading off to other sites- it looks > unprofessional at best. Again, I'm looking at this from a company's > eyes. First impressions mean a lot. In all the eyes of the people who love Ruby, it's the greatest langauge ever. Like most open source projects it seems that the makers and maintainers of Ruby etc. have no agenda other than to make something great for themselves to use. A lot of people assume everybody wants Ruby to be "prime time" or to appeal to some company or some greater body of developers so it doesn't die out or fade away - but I don't think that's true. If you want your company to like Ruby, put in the effort to make it appeal to your company. Perhaps you can help with the mish-mash. Remeber that your goal of making Ruby "professional" isn't necessarily the goal of the community. The important thing is that you can only complain about lack of community support if you yourself are in there helping!