# Gem question which is better

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-question-which-is-better/124836>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [January 3, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-question-which-is-better/124836 "2008-01-03T00:01:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Junkone](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@Junkone](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Junkone)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-question-which-is-better/124836/1 "2008-01-03T00:01:03Z")

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I manytimes see win and ruby edition of gems and have to decide which  
one to install. i dont know how to choose and which one is better  
for eg  
Select which gem to install for your platform (i386-mswin32)

1. win32-api 1.0.5 (ruby)
2. win32-api 1.0.5 (x86-mswin32-60)
3. win32-api 1.0.4 (mswin32)
4. win32-api 1.0.4 (ruby)
5. Skip this gem
6. Cancel installation

---

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**Author:** ![Junkone](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@Junkone](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Junkone)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-question-which-is-better/124836/2 "2008-01-03T00:22:44Z")

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On Thursday 03 January 2008 00:00:14 Junkone wrote:

> I manytimes see win and ruby edition of gems and have to decide which  
> one to install. i dont know how to choose and which one is better  
> for eg

Assuming the gem in question needs compilation, ‘ruby’ is source code  
gem, ‘mswin32’ and others are prebuilt binaries for the specific  
platform/compiler

Jan