Directory structure of a Ruby installation, including the paths that should be set, etc

ruby-talk
1

Restart:

For a variety of reasons, I'm trying to get a better understanding of how a
Ruby installation is laid out on disk. Maybe the best way to explain what I
mean is by giving some of the specific questions I have. (Maybe these are
not so much Ruby specific, but maybe generic to a typical language install.)

BTW, this is for a Linux installation.

Statements and questions intermixed:

   * I installed Ruby 1.8.4 by compiling from the source tarball, and started
by untar-ing it in, essentially, my home directory.

      * Was that an appropriate place to untar? Does it matter much, or at
all? (I mean, as long as I have the necessary permissions to untar and
access the files.)

   * The ruby executable is installed in /usr/local/bin/ruby, and a bunch
of .rb files are installed in /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/. I didn't have any
choice in the matter, so I assume that's a good location.

   * Many, maybe all, of those same .rb files are in what I'll call my install
directory (tree) (in my home directory). Now that ruby is installed can I
delete all that stuff in my home directory (that came from untar-ing the
tarball)?

   * If I go to install another "library" (is that the right word for
those .rb files), specifically for the tkHTML widget, I presume I should
install that in the /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/ directory (or a subdirectory)?

   * When I do a require, like require 'tk', the tk.rb file is looked for
in /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/?

   * If tk.rb were in some subdirectory of /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/ (say sub,
for example), then the require statement to have it loaded would be require
'sub/tk'?

   * As long as all of my library .rbs are in the /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/
tree, I don't have to set the RUBYLIB environment variable?

Well, actually, going through the questions like that, I suspect I understand
more than I thought (assuming all or most of the answers above are yes (or
somehow positive)).

If I'm grossly wrong, maybe it would help me to have a link to an explanation
of how all the above should work/fit together.

Thanks,
Randy Kramer

2

Restart:

For a variety of reasons, I'm trying to get a better understanding of how a
Ruby installation is laid out on disk. Maybe the best way to explain what I
mean is by giving some of the specific questions I have. (Maybe these are
not so much Ruby specific, but maybe generic to a typical language install.)

I think Ruby generally follows the standard Linux/FHS layout, together
with layout used by other languages (I know Perl has site_perl, for
example).

BTW, this is for a Linux installation.

Statements and questions intermixed:

   * I installed Ruby 1.8.4 by compiling from the source tarball, and started
by untar-ing it in, essentially, my home directory.

      * Was that an appropriate place to untar? Does it matter much, or at
all? (I mean, as long as I have the necessary permissions to untar and
access the files.)

I don't think it really matters, but if I'm installing something
system-wide I tend to keep the source in /usr/local/src , while if I'm
installing for just me I keep it in ~/src.

   * The ruby executable is installed in /usr/local/bin/ruby, and a bunch
of .rb files are installed in /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/. I didn't have any
choice in the matter, so I assume that's a good location.

It's the default (and standard) location. For a systemwide install I'd
call it 'the right location', but bear in mind that you can change it
during the configure step (try passing --help to the ruby configure
script). I (and I guess many others) have a site-wide Ruby 1.8 install,
and a 1.9 snapshot installed in my home directory, also with a different
program suffix (ruby9, irb9, ri9, etc) which is handled with options to
the configure script.

   * Many, maybe all, of those same .rb files are in what I'll call my install
directory (tree) (in my home directory). Now that ruby is installed can I
delete all that stuff in my home directory (that came from untar-ing the
tarball)?

I guess so, but I wouldn't. I guess if you're absolutely sure you won't
want to do a quick rebuild, or look something up in the source, then you
could delete them if you wished.

   * If I go to install another "library" (is that the right word for
those .rb files), specifically for the tkHTML widget, I presume I should
install that in the /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/ directory (or a subdirectory)?

That's not recommended practice - that directory holds ruby and the
standard library, additional stuff is usually placed
in /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8 I think. Most libraries come with a
setup.rb that'll install there automatically.

   * When I do a require, like require 'tk', the tk.rb file is looked for
in /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/?

$ ruby -e 'p $LOAD_PATH'
["/usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8",
"/usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/i686-linux",
"/usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby",
"/usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8",
"/usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/i686-linux",
"."]

   * If tk.rb were in some subdirectory of /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/ (say sub,
for example), then the require statement to have it loaded would be require
'sub/tk'?

Yes. I think 'require' paths are tried relative to the paths in
$LOAD_PATH, in order.

   * As long as all of my library .rbs are in the /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/
tree, I don't have to set the RUBYLIB environment variable?

Not as far as I'm aware, I don't think I ever have.

Hope that helps,

···

On Fri, 2006-03-24 at 05:31 +0900, Randy Kramer wrote:
--
Ross Bamford - rosco@roscopeco.REMOVE.co.uk

3

> For a variety of reasons, I'm trying to get a better understanding of how
> a Ruby installation is laid out on disk. Maybe the best way to explain
> what I mean is by giving some of the specific questions I have. (Maybe
> these are not so much Ruby specific, but maybe generic to a typical
> language install.)

---<good stuff snipped>---

Hope that helps,

Yes, very much, thanks! (It may take me a little while to "internalize"
everything, but most of it is pretty clear and close to what I expected.)

After sending the original email, I began to wonder about the location of the
ri/rdoc documentation (that is, for example, the stuff generated by the =make
install-doc= step), i.e., being concerned that it might be in the "install
directory", and thus, a reason not to delete that directory (not that I'm all
that worried or intent on deleting that directory, it's just part of
understanding where things have to be.

Anyway, I found that in /usr/local/share/ri/1.8, so again, no worries about
deleting the tarball/install directory.

I do have more questions, they're focused on getting the TkHTML widget to
work--but I'll try to get my head screwed on straight and then ask those in a
new thread.

Thanks again!
Randy Kramer

···

On Thursday 23 March 2006 04:03 pm, Ross Bamford wrote:

On Fri, 2006-03-24 at 05:31 +0900, Randy Kramer wrote: