From: Stefan Mahlitz <stefan@...>
Date: 2007-08-17T05:48:40+09:00
Subject: Re: LoadError - Mechanize, Hpricot (gems)

killy971 wrote:
>>> [Guillaume@KILLY971 ~]$ gem install mechanize
>>> Bulk updating Gem source index for:http://gems.rubyforge.org
>>> Install required dependency hpricot? [Yn]  Y
>>> Select which gem to install for your platform (i386-cygwin)
>>>  1. hpricot 0.6 (mswin32)
>>>  2. hpricot 0.6 (jruby)
>>>  3. hpricot 0.6 (ruby)
>>>  4. hpricot 0.5 (ruby)
>>>  5. hpricot 0.5 (mswin32)
>>>  6. Skip this gem
>>>  7. Cancel installation
>>>> 1
>> Shouldn't you use ruby (3) for a cygwin install?
> 
> I didn't know, until know it seemed to work when I was using mswin32
> to install other gems...
> I am going to try. By the way, what is the difference between these 2
> installs ?

I'm not 100% sure about the facts or the wording, so take this with a
grain of salt:

Cygwin provides an environment where posix-compliant programs can
compile and run. This means that any library used by this program must
be compiled for cygwin as well.

Windows users (at least those I know) do not have a compiler installed
so most gem-authors provide a gem with compiled libraries that fit to a
windows-ruby.

If you select the mswin32-gem the precompiled libraries get installed,
which are not compatible to cygwin.

So, if on cygwin - always select ruby-versions of gem.

Some time ago I had problems with a parallel install of a windows-ruby
(via one-click-installer) and the cygwin one - something to do with
environment variables. So be careful when mixing.

Stefan

P.S.: There was a poll (via gem) some time ago about which platforms
ruby is used on - http://tattle.rubygarden.org/