# Automated gem deployment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Deployment\ **Created:** [June 4, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/automated-gem-deployment/105911 "2007-06-04T16:03:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crayz)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/automated-gem-deployment/105911/1 "2007-06-04T16:03:48Z")
Anyone know of a way to automate gem installation/deployment? I’d like to be able to add the installation of required gems to a kickstart %post section, to get deployment down to: 1. kickstart new machine w/ gems 2. cap deploy to it 3. no step 3 Currently there’s a step 1.5 of having to go manually install a bunch of gems, because some gems require you to specify the platform at an interactive prompt - I can’t see any way to specify it via a command line argument A way to either kickstart the appropriate gems or have capistrano deploy them would be amazing. I read about gem\_server, but this doesn’t seem to help the platform selection issue ---
**Author:** ![crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crayz)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/automated-gem-deployment/105911/2 "2007-06-04T16:22:51Z")
Check out this thread: [http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/189276](http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/189276) So it looks like people are changing that. But for now, based on my poor memory, you could do either echo “1” | gem install mongrel or download all the necessary gem files and install them locally. On 6/4/07, crayz [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > interactive prompt - I can’t see any way to specify it via a command > line argument > > A way to either kickstart the appropriate gems or have capistrano > deploy them would be amazing. I read about gem\_server, but this > doesn’t seem to help the platform selection issue > > > – Jeff X. Software Journeyman - [http://gigix.thoughtworkers.org](http://gigix.thoughtworkers.org) Open Source Contributor - [http://rubyworks.rubyforge.org](http://rubyworks.rubyforge.org) Technical Evangelist - [http://www.infoq.com/cn/](http://www.infoq.com/cn/) ---
**Author:** ![crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crayz)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 6:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/automated-gem-deployment/105911/3 "2007-06-05T06:28:38Z")
For non-platform specific gems, we do, and I’d recommend freezing them into your codebase, that way you track them with your code, and they are simply there with your app - you never have to worry about the version on a machine being out of sync with what your app expects, etc. You can use Rick Olsen’s gems plugin to make this easier: [http://agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/gems](http://agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/gems) For platform-specific gems, we haven’t quite got this in yet, but we’re planning to use the same/similar approach as is covered here (see down in the comments about the platform specific dirs): [http://errtheblog.com/post/2120](http://errtheblog.com/post/2120) On 6/4/07, crayz [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > of gems, because some gems require you to specify the platform at an > interactive prompt - I can’t see any way to specify it via a command > line argument > > A way to either kickstart the appropriate gems or have capistrano > deploy them would be amazing. I read about gem\_server, but this > doesn’t seem to help the platform selection issue > > > – Chris B. removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crayz)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/automated-gem-deployment/105911/4 "2007-06-05T17:54:55Z")
Ya, I really see the freezing thing as the ideal, because then you don’t need to do anything else when you deploy - you simply deploy using standard Capistrano, and you are guaranteed to have the right versions of the gems you are using, since they’re right there in your codebase. Otherwise all you’re doing is creating more things for you to maintain, potentially causing pain when Capistrano upgrades come (e.g. if you haven’t moved to Cap 2.0, it could be some re-work you have to do etc.). I’m hoping to create a well documented system for the platform specific gem stuff, and once I do, I will blog/publish/share it… On 6/5/07, James H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > James H. > > > gems plugin to make this easier: > > > > > Currently there’s a step 1.5 of having to go manually install a bunch > > > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > > > – Chris B. removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crayz)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/automated-gem-deployment/105911/5 "2007-06-05T16:23:38Z")
Very interesting. I had been using Capistrano to automatically download and install Gems, aided by the a little tidbit in the VMBuilder plugin. I actually spent a little bit of last nigth laying down the groundwork to re-write the methods I used to do this. That said, I’d really prefer if Piston managed this sort of thing. James H. ---
**Author:** ![crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@crayz](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/crayz)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 5:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/automated-gem-deployment/105911/6 "2007-06-25T05:23:35Z")
Just an update. This got to really nagging me, and I wound up digging into the rubygems code a little to see if there was a quick way to patch the platform-specific gem selection. Turns out there is: [http://pastie.caboo.se/73171](http://pastie.caboo.se/73171) Apply with: patch /root/platform\_gems.patch /usr/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/ remote\_installer.rb Probably not a great way to do it, but it’ll hold us over until rubygems itself has this ability. This hard-codes to ruby as the platform since that’s all we use anyway, but it’d be pretty trivial to change the code to check & select instead - crayz