From: Matt Lawrence <matt@...>
Date: 2003-02-12T06:58:21+09:00
Subject: Ruby module distribution

I've been reading the various messages on how to distribute Ruby modules.  
Well, here's my thoughts.

First, CPAN may have been a good idea to start with, but my last few 
experiences with it have been bad.  I've managed to wind up with a number 
of misconfigured modules and no way to remove them and reinstall them.  In 
theory, CPAN is a wonderful platform independent tool.  In practice, it's 
bad enough that I don't want to do much in Perl anymore (not to mention 
that I'm a major fan of Ruby).

Second, I've played with Gentoo and while it has some great ideas, it 
won't install easily on some of my systems.  It's a great concept and I'm 
looking forward to the time that both the distribution works better and my 
slowest system is fast enough that installation is practical.

Third, I'm running a Debian system as my main server and 5 (sometimes
more) RedHat 7.3 systems for other uses.  I'm using apt-get
(apt.freshrpms.com) to install and upgrade the RedHat boxes.  If Ruby 
modules were available as RPMs, it would make life much easier for me.

I'm a little overwhelmed in my life right now, so I won't have time to 
implement this for quite a while.  Also, I don't really know the RPM 
format or the RAA very well, so it would also be a major learning 
experience.

Just my thoughts on what would work best for me.

-- Matt