From: Phillip Gawlowski <pg@...>
Date: 2009-12-29T10:40:51+09:00
Subject: A Ruby appliance: What would you include?

Hello, list!

This is, of sorts, a cross post of an idea that lodged itself in my head 
pretty firmly. ;)

As part of scratching an itch (gain access to a *NIX environment for my 
Ruby work), I've setup an Ubuntu VM.

So, I got thinking: Why not offer this to the community as a tool, and 
why not include the community in creating the best possible Ruby 
environment?

================= cut at this line ====================================
A Ruby Appliance

What is an "Appliance"?

In this context, an appliance is a ready-to-run virtual machine. No set 
up to speak of required.


But why? Isn�t it easy to install Ruby wherever you like?

That is very true.

However, the Ruby ecosystem is very *NIX centric. Not everyone has the 
luxury, or time or ability, to setup and maintain a UNIX-like operating 
system.

Virtualization and thus appliances turn operating systems into just 
another kind of program. They reduce the risk of using a different 
operating system. Further, not everyone using Ruby wants to, or can, dig 
through C extensions to make them work on their operating system of 
choice. The hurdles as a Windows user are too high in most cases.

An appliance makes it easier to setup test environments, so they are 
great for seasoned developers, as well!

You can start with a clean slate, only Ruby, RubyGems, and a compiler 
tool chain are installed, and you can easily revert to this blank slate 
at the push of a button. With the different networking tools in today�s 
VM tools, you can even test network deployment of Rails applications.

So here is my proposal:

To create the best possible Ruby appliance and experience, I want to 
know which Gems and tools the Ruby community sees as essential to make 
life as a Rubyist easier.

Submit your ideas, and the Ruby Appliance will benefit and with that, 
all of the Ruby community.