# RE: \[ANN\] ActiveRbac 0.3 release - We're now on Engines **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 24, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ann-activerbac-0-3-release-were-now-on-engines/73074 "2006-02-24T23:01:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Christopher_JSMack)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ann-activerbac-0-3-release-were-now-on-engines/73074/1 "2006-02-24T23:01:11Z")
I almost responded to echo James, but figured the key point he made would stand on its own. EZ’s sort-of-agreement with him (while wrenching the conversation back to design patterns 🙂 makes me think that James’s point deserves to be emphasized more explicitly. EZ wrote: > > Documentation is always a good thing. Absolutely. Documentation isn’t just a /good/ thing, it’s an /essential/ thing if someone less-skilled than the creator is going to try to use the product. Where would Rails be without the Agile book? I would argue that the real obstacle to convergence on a few optimal RBAC implementations isn’t agreement on a design pattern, as good an idea as that may be. Instead, the lack of convergence is because /users/ (I mean user-developers, not end-users), and especially newbies (the people most likely to need a plug-in authorization system), find all the available options equally impenetrable, so they scatter among them. The best available authorization-system options make at least some attempt at a tutorial, but none is particularly impressive; most just settle for a couple of code-snippets and assume you know enough about Rails to figure it out. Nobody has yet bothered to document any one of them to a level that would allow a newbie to pick it up, plug it in, fire it up, and make it work. The thing is, even a small difference in initial documentation quality can provoke substantial convergence in an audience of learners. And once users start converging, whatever system has the small initial advantage will get more attention and gain still further advantage. The race is going to go to the first developer who figures out how to attract the users – and the best way to do that is by improving your documentation. Personally, I bet that Chad F.'s Rails Recipe (from the new beta book) becomes the de facto RBAC standard within months after its print-publication. It’s not that his is necessarily better than anyone else’s; it’s that there’s nothing like solid, step-by-step tutorial documentation to attract the attention of someone who’s already overloaded by learning a new framework and (probably) a new language. And if everyone’s using Chad’s, who cares how good the others are? In sum: Convergence is primarily a market phenomenon, not a design or technology phenomenon (anyone still got a Betamax?). As programmers offering design services in a marketplace, we forget that at our peril. –Chris ---
**Author:** ![Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Christopher_JSMack)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ann-activerbac-0-3-release-were-now-on-engines/73074/2 "2006-02-26T20:16:20Z")
> EZ wrote: > > > > Documentation is always a good thing. > > Absolutely. Documentation isn’t just a /good/ thing, it’s an /essential/ > thing if someone less-skilled than the creator is going to try to use > the product. Well, documentation is good, but I think good code is ultimately better. Essential might be going too far. As far as projects I’ve worked on, the more essential documentation’s been, the crappier the project’s been. Better projects have good documentation you can skim. > Where would Rails be without the Agile book? Well, before the Agile book, Rails already had huge momentum. On the other hand, I have to admit I have it, and I’ve read it, and I’ve read bits twice. Documentation is definitely a good thing. > Personally, I bet that Chad F.'s Rails Recipe (from the new beta > book) becomes the de facto RBAC standard within months after its > print-publication. It’s not that his is necessarily better than anyone > else’s; it’s that there’s nothing like solid, step-by-step tutorial > documentation to attract the attention of someone who’s already > overloaded by learning a new framework and (probably) a new language. > And if everyone’s using Chad’s, who cares how good the others are? I could totally see that happening, but I totally hope it doesn’t! I have Chad F.'s “India” book, it’s absolutely great, but maybe this is the downside of having a ton of buzz. Copying stuff from tutorials is pretty lame, and it does happen a lot. Whether copying stuff from tutorials becomes the de facto standard really depends on the Rails community, and the extent to which it leans on tutorials vs. actually learning how to use the framework and the language. Seems to be a pretty healthy culture, so hopefully it can avoid that outcome. Anyway – responding to a different message – on the idea of bad documentation being an insult to the community, if you don’t like the documentation, can’t you just fix it? Isn’t that the whole point of open source? – Giles Goat Boy [http://gilesmakesmusic.blogspot.com](http://gilesmakesmusic.blogspot.com) [http://gileswritescode.blogspot.com](http://gileswritescode.blogspot.com) ---
**Author:** ![Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Christopher_JSMack)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ann-activerbac-0-3-release-were-now-on-engines/73074/3 "2006-03-01T02:39:06Z")
Am 28.02.2006 um 21:12 schrieb Conrad T.: > Hi, has this been added to the gem repository? ActiveRBAC is a Rails Engine (and thus a rails plugin). You can easily install it (to /vendor/plugins) using: ./script/plugin discover ./script/plugin install active\_rbac in a Rails \>= 1.0 project. \*m ---
**Author:** ![Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Christopher_JSMack)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 5:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ann-activerbac-0-3-release-were-now-on-engines/73074/4 "2006-03-01T05:15:17Z")
Hi, it be possible to install this using the following: sudo gem install active\_rbac ? If not, then what directory does one execute the below named commands? Thanks in advance ---
**Author:** ![Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Christopher_JSMack)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ann-activerbac-0-3-release-were-now-on-engines/73074/5 "2006-02-28T21:13:41Z")
Hi, has this been added to the gem repository? Thanks in advance, -Conrad ---
**Author:** ![Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Christopher\_JSMack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Christopher_JSMack)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 11:54am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-ann-activerbac-0-3-release-were-now-on-engines/73074/6 "2006-03-01T11:54:22Z")
Am 01.03.2006 um 05:15 schrieb Conrad T.: > Hi, it be possible to install this using the following: > > sudo gem install active\_rbac > > ? > > If not, then what directory does one execute the below named commands? You have to execute this in your rails project directory: rails my\_project cd my\_project ./script/plugin discover (or ruby script/plugin discover on Windows) ./script/plugin install engines (or ruby script/plugin… on Win) ./script/plugin install active\_rbac (or ruby script/plugin… on Win) ActiveRBAC will then be installed in vendor/plugins of your Rails project. You will have a resulting directory structure like: my\_project app/ config/ | as in all rails public/ | projects … / vendor/ plugins/ engines/ ActiveRBAC depends on the engines plugin. active\_rbac/ ActiveRBAC itself. You can also find these steps in the tutorial available at: [https://activerbac.turingstudio.com/releases/ActiveRbacManual.pdf](https://activerbac.turingstudio.com/releases/ActiveRbacManual.pdf) Our mailing list could also help you: [https://lists.cloudcore.com/mailman/listinfo/rbac-dev](https://lists.cloudcore.com/mailman/listinfo/rbac-dev) Regards, \*m