Rubygems 1.8.24 install using --prefix

[Razzell]

When packaging ruby 1.8.x with rubygems, it's necessary to specify "ruby setup.rb --prefix=dir" so that the packaging takes place within dir rather than the default install directory.

In earlier version of rubygems, for example 1.6.2, the --prefix option was not present. Instead the directory was inferred from ruby. Rubygems libraries would install correctly into ruby-dir/lib/ruby/site_ruby/abi, and gem would install correctly into ruby-dir/bin, though with an incorrect hashbang.

Now, whenever the new --prefix option is set, for example to ruby-dir so that gem will install correctly into ruby-dir/bin, the libraries are installed not under ruby-dir/lib/ruby/site_ruby/abi but directly under ruby-dir/lib, which is not in the ruby LOAD_PATH. Thus, the use of --prefix causes a broken rubygems install.

This behavior is determined by lib/rubygems/commands/setup_command.rb in method generate_default_dirs(install_destdir). If the --prefix option is unspecified, then lib_dir is set from the config map, producing a path correctly containing lib/ruby/site_ruby/abi . Otherwise, it's incorrectly concatenated from dir/lib.

[rb2k]

I see the same behavior. From what I can see, this is also true for 1.8.23

[drbrain]

This is not how --prefix is intended to work. Perhaps you are looking for --destdir?

I don't know how the setup options for packagers are supposed to work, though. You may need to provide me with a patch that must include tests. Without tests I will not apply it as it may break again.

[duckinator]

Is this issue still applicable, or can it be closed?

[copiousfreetime]

Yes, closing. I have vague recollections of being involved in the original discussion of adding --destdir to rubygems setup because of packaging. This also doesn't apply because rubygems is internally packaged with ruby itself now. That wasn't the case back in the 1.8.x days.