From: Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@...>
Date: 2003-11-27T08:02:53+09:00
Subject: Re: Library directory structure on windows

On Thursday, November 27, 2003, 5:42:29 AM, Gavri wrote:

> hi everyone,

> i'm trying to understand the significance of the subdirectories of
> lib, but i don't understand what each of them are for

> lib/
>      ruby/
>                   1.8/

Ruby "standard libraries" go here.  benchmark, cgi, test/unit, ...

>                   site_ruby/

Some packages will install here but it's not recommended.

>                                      1.8/

Packages you download should install here.


> the current problem is that i've downloaded 'iowa' and i don't
> understand where i should place it in this directory structure.

It should come with an installer.  See if there are installation
instructions in a README or INSTALL.

> another query: none of the libraries with the standard distribution
> are in directories with names ending in version numbers. however,
> any library i download from the internet has a version number
> appended to the directory in which it is packaged. this probably
> sounds silly, but i want to know what the convention is. do i strip
> out the version number from the directory name before placing it
> under the ruby/lib directory?

As above, you don't place it in the lib area manually.  Let the
installer do the work.  It will decide where to put the files (almost
certainly under lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/iowa/).

The things you download should be versioned so you can have them
sitting side by side.  The runtime files aren't versioned as you can
only have one version installed at a time.

> thank you

No worries.

Cheers,
Gavin