From: Eric Hodel <drbrain@...7.net>
Date: 2007-01-21T15:40:03+09:00
Subject: Re: Getting the version number for rubygems?

On Jan 20, 2007, at 21:03, Jeremy McAnally wrote:
> require 'rubygems'
>
> unless Kernel.respond_to? :gem
>  alias gem require_gem
> end
>
> gem 'ruport'
>
> That should work I believe...

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

#gem and #require_gem do different things (autorequire).

You'll screw over other gems by aliasing things around.

Instead, just fall back to require_gem when gem isn't loaded.

if Kernel.respond_to? :gem then
   gem blah
else
   require_gem blah
end

DO NOT go aliasing methods on top of each other.  #require and  
#require_gem do different things, much like #sub and #sub! do  
different things, respect that.

-- 
Eric Hodel - drbrain@segment7.net - http://blog.segment7.net

I LIT YOUR GEM ON FIRE!