From: Ammar Ali <ammarabuali@...>
Date: 2010-10-07T21:11:08+09:00
Subject: Re: "Load" Works, But "Require" Doesn't?

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 1:37 PM, Tom Wardrop <tom@tomwardrop.com> wrote:
> I'm on 1.9.2. This now raises a number of questions...
>
> 1) How come the load() method isn't affected by this?

I'm not sure, but I guess (hope someone else will chime in) it is
because load needs a full file name, while require tries different
extensions (.rb, .o, .so, .dl, .dyld, maybe others) potentially
loading something you did not intend.


> 2) What is the logic behind not allowing files to be referenced with a
> relative path?

Only via require, as you discovered. It's a security measure. Please
see: http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/1733


> 3) What is the correct way for referencing files relatively?

The link above mentions two possible ways which are useful on the
command line or from scripts (-I and RUBYLIB). You can also use
__FILE__ in combination File.expand_path to require files relatively
from a given file:

  require File.expand_path( 'some/file', __FILE__)


Regards,
Ammar