[DRE-maint] Bug#448639: Bug#448639: rubygems: please install gems in /usr/local/lib/gems/1.8

[Gunnar Wolf]

Daigo Moriwaki dijo [Sat, Nov 03, 2007 at 02:07:41PM +0900]:
> /usr/lib is a preserved directory for Debian system where only official Debian
> packages that are maintained by Debian developers are expected to put and update
> their files. That's my understanding. Since gems that are installed by the gem
> command are not Debian's, they should not go to /usr/lib.

Completely agree here; /usr/lib is 0wn3d by dpkg.

> Moreover, some gems may be packaged as Debian package (.deb) by Debian
> developers. For example, you can get rake by both apt-get and gem. If gems are
> installed to /usr/lib, files of which may conflict with ones of Debian packages.

Gems which are packaged in .deb format stop being gems and become
handled just as Ruby... modules? Just like all of the packages we are
currently handling, so they should be in /usr/lib.

> /usr/local is a preserved directory for Debian user. I think that Debian
> packages should not install any files there. Since the gem command from the
> rubygems package belongs to Debian package, it installs nothing in /usr/local.

Umh... I don't like your logic - If we stuck to it, we would end up
with not being able to touch /usr/local with tar, cp or cat because
they are provided by Debian packages ;-) 

/usr/local is the area where the local system administrator should
unroll his mess. By using non-packaged Gems, the user is accepting
full responsability for this - he is installing a second package
management system inside his clean Debian system. So, the mess should
be unrolled inside /usr/local.

> That's why I've selected /var/lib.

In any case, /var is meant for variable data - things which are prone
to change by themselves (such as all kinds of databases). 

Of course, /var is to some extent a dumping ground for everything
which does not fit somewhere else, but... I still do not feel very
warm with this ;-)

Greetings,

-- 
Gunnar Wolf - gwolf at gwolf.org - (+52-55)5623-0154 / 1451-2244
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