From: David Masover <ninja@...>
Date: 2009-02-17T08:35:58+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby file  to Executable file -- for all OS

Chad Perrin wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 05:59:39PM +0900, David Masover wrote:
>   
>> Chad Perrin wrote:
>>     
>>> Generally, I think the best way to do it is to provide several different
>>> ways to install stuff, if you want cross-platform easy installs and your
>>> userbase will consist of more than just Ruby programmers.
>>>  
>>>       
>> I suppose that is best for brand-new users. However, it is a lot of 
>> work, and it means there may be some confusion as to which version is 
>> the latest, and how to keep up to date.
>>     
>
> Not just new users -- non-technical users in general.
>   

Non-technical users in general would benefit even more from a good 
package management system. Much easier to run a 'gem update', even if 
you have to use that scary, scary commandline, than it is to go find the 
website, compare the versions, uninstall the old one, download the new 
one, and install it all over again.

>> Generally, even as a user, I find that I would much rather have a few 
>> lines to paste into the terminal -- even better if I understand them -- 
>> than have to download something, find it, doubleclick on it, and maybe 
>> still have to type a few lines in the terminal.
>>     
>
> I agree -- but then, I'm a technically oriented user on an OS that
> basically just installs gems for me.  I'm not a non-technical user on MS
> Windows.
>   

On MS Windows, probably the best advice would be to find a one-click 
application which installs Ruby and Rubygems, and then provide the same 
instructions -- open a terminal and type 'gem install myapp'. Ideally, 
you'd have a script (a batchfile?) which checks for the existence of 
Rubygems, downloads it if needed, and then downloads your app...

I would suggest that the right approach is to fix usability problems 
with Rubygems (or replace it with something better?), rather than having 
each app have to solve these same problems all over again.

And let's not forget, everywhere but Windows, there are a few commands 
that would work for that initial installation. Only on Windows do we 
need anything elaborate.