# ~/.gem ambiguity

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-ambiguity/159730>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [February 7, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-ambiguity/159730 "2009-02-07T18:20:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rogerdpack)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-ambiguity/159730/1 "2009-02-07T18:20:03Z")

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Seems to me that defaulting to installing gems in ~/.gem could cause  
some ambiguity within ~/.gem/bin if you’re using multiple versions of  
ruby simultaneously.  
ex:  
ruby187 puts its ‘mongrel’ executable there  
ruby19 puts its ‘mongrel’ executable there and overwrites it.

I realize you can append a prefix to executables for versioning, but  
would another good suggestion be to default to ~/.gem\_ruby\_version ?  
Thoughts?  
-=r

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**Author:** ![rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rogerdpack)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-ambiguity/159730/2 "2009-02-07T19:30:29Z")

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On Feb 7, 3:19 pm, Roger P. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> -=r  
> 1.8.6 and 1.8.7 are supposed to be compatible.

1.9.1, on the other hand, get gems installed in ~/.gem/ruby/1.9.1

Regards,

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**Author:** ![rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rogerdpack)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-ambiguity/159730/3 "2009-02-07T19:40:17Z")

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> 1.9.1, on the other hand, get gems installed in ~/.gem/ruby/1.9.1

Oh gotcha thanks for pointing it out. I thought for some reason that  
they shared a bin directory.

> 1.8.6 and 1.8.7 are supposed to be compatible.

For me they have been all except ruby inline, whose generated .so files  
aren’t compatible [and live in ~/.ruby\_inline for all versions of ruby].  
Also I’m not sure if rev binaries are compatible with both  
simultaneously.

But anyway I’m only using one version of 1.8 so we’re ok there 🙂

Thanks!  
-=r

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rogerdpack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rogerdpack)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-ambiguity/159730/4 "2009-02-07T20:43:31Z")

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On Feb 7, 4:39 pm, Roger P. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> simultaneously.  
> I should have highlighted “supposed” in my previous sentence, but that  
> something most of the users are aware of 😉

RubyInline needs to be fixed to workaround that, definitely.

> But anyway I’m only using one version of 1.8 so we’re ok there 🙂

I have multiple 1.8.6 versions installed, but zero for 1.8.7 😉

Regards,