# Gems installation into custom directory

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-installation-into-custom-directory/58498>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [April 22, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-installation-into-custom-directory/58498 "2006-04-22T06:04:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zven](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/77aa72/32.png) [@zven](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/zven)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-installation-into-custom-directory/58498/1 "2006-04-22T06:04:35Z")

</div>

I it possible to install gems into custom directory (user dir)? There no  
any specific parameters in setup.rm I don’t wanna see unpackaged  
binaries into my Debian system 😉 Or maybe someone can send me a link  
with .deb’s?

Thanks in advance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zven](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/77aa72/32.png) [@zven](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/zven)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-installation-into-custom-directory/58498/2 "2006-04-22T06:23:09Z")

</div>

hey, they are packaged, but with gem and not with dpkg …

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zven](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/77aa72/32.png) [@zven](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/zven)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-installation-into-custom-directory/58498/3 "2006-04-22T16:00:28Z")

</div>

zven wrote:

> I it possible to install gems into custom directory (user dir)? There no  
> any specific parameters in setup.rm I don’t wanna see unpackaged  
> binaries into my Debian system 😉 Or maybe someone can send me a link  
> with .deb’s?
> 
> Thanks in advance.

My prefered approach has been to build ruby from scratch in /usr/local  
and install gems there. It keeps all the locally installed componenets  
completely seperate from the distribution but still works exactly like  
everyone elses ruby install.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zven](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/z/77aa72/32.png) [@zven](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/zven)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-installation-into-custom-directory/58498/4 "2006-04-22T16:02:55Z")

</div>

Michael G. wrote:

> My prefered approach has been to build ruby from scratch in /usr/local  
> and install gems there. It keeps all the locally installed componenets  
> completely seperate from the distribution but still works exactly like  
> everyone elses ruby install.

Here’s a howto I wrote for myself on my last Ubuntu install… it should  
be the same for debian. [http://mgreenly.metaspot.net/?p=37](http://mgreenly.metaspot.net/?p=37)