# Load unless requires - what are the ramifications

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-unless-requires-what-are-the-ramifications/60827>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [May 17, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-unless-requires-what-are-the-ramifications/60827 "2006-05-17T20:33:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![todd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/fbc32d/32.png) [@todd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/todd)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-unless-requires-what-are-the-ramifications/60827/1 "2006-05-17T20:33:37Z")

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I very new to Ruby (this is my second week), so excuse the “newbieness”  
of my question.

I downloaded a project from RubyForge and I’m playing around with the  
scripts. I’m having trouble getting the tests to pass - some pass if  
run from the main directory, others I have to be in the main/test  
directory for them to work. When the tests fail, it’s because a  
“require” statement failed - usually for a file that was already  
encountered in a require statement in another file. Changing the  
“require” to a “load” statement fixes the problem - in some situations.

My solution (remember, I’m a Ruby-Newbie so don’t laugh) was to try  
changing the require statements to something like:

load File.dirname( **FILE** ) + “/filename.rb” unless  
require File.dirname( **FILE** ) + ‘filename’

With this, I’m able to run the test from any directory (even from “/”).  
So, this seems like a really good solution. I only use “load” if  
“require” fails and I ensure that Ruby can always find the files it  
needs.

My question is whether using this “load unless require” approach will  
lead to other problems? Would making this change result in some bad  
mojo somewhere down the line?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![todd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/fbc32d/32.png) [@todd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/todd)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-unless-requires-what-are-the-ramifications/60827/2 "2006-05-17T20:48:58Z")

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todd wrote:

> My solution (remember, I’m a Ruby-Newbie so don’t laugh) was to try  
> changing the require statements to something like:
> 
> load File.dirname( **FILE** ) + “/filename.rb” unless  
> require File.dirname( **FILE** ) + ‘filename’

Oops. Require will return false if the file is already loaded, not if  
the require fails. So this is probaby NOT what you want.

One solution is to run your tests via rake. Rake will always run its  
tasks from the directory that contains the Rakefile. This means you  
invoke rake from any project directory and be assured that the run is  
consistent.

The project you are working might already have a Rakefile setup. If so,  
you might be able to say “rake test” to run the tests.

Otherwise, just create a Rakefile with something along the following  
lines:

task :test do  
ruby %{-Ilib test/test\_file\_name.rb}  
end

Where “lib” is the local directory containing the project files. By  
using -I, we make sure that the project local files are used instead of  
whatever might be installed on the machine.

For more sophisticated tasks, rake has a built-in test task that you can  
configure according to your needs.

See: [http://docs.rubyrake.org/](http://docs.rubyrake.org/)

– Jim W.

> With this, I’m able to run the test from any directory (even from “/”).  
> So, this seems like a really good solution. I only use “load” if  
> “require” fails and I ensure that Ruby can always find the files it  
> needs.
> 
> My question is whether using this “load unless require” approach will  
> lead to other problems? Would making this change result in some bad  
> mojo somewhere down the line?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![todd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/fbc32d/32.png) [@todd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/todd)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-unless-requires-what-are-the-ramifications/60827/3 "2006-05-17T21:13:50Z")

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Jim W. wrote:

> Oops. Require will return false if the file is already loaded, not if  
> the require fails. So this is probaby NOT what you want.

You’re correct! Definately not what I want!

Thanks - I’ll use the rake approach.

Todd