# Unpack \*.gem **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [May 3, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/unpack-gem/94422 "2006-05-03T19:05:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![victor123789](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/f0a364/32.png) [@victor123789](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/victor123789)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/unpack-gem/94422/1 "2006-05-03T19:05:51Z")
Hi all. Some good and interesting library at rubyforge can be downloaded only as \*.gem The question is: is there method for unpack library and view its source and docs _without_ installing it? I need such functionality very oftenly (in my local HDD repository there are 93 libraries I’ve downloaded to study their code and docs, and only ~10-20 of them I currently use; so I don’t want unused libraries to be installed at all). Thanks. Victor. ---
**Author:** ![victor123789](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/f0a364/32.png) [@victor123789](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/victor123789)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/unpack-gem/94422/2 "2006-05-03T19:06:18Z")
On May 2, 2006, at 8:54 PM, Victor S. wrote: > I need such functionality very oftenly (in my local HDD repository Gems are just tar files. You can use tar -xvf some.gem to extract them. ---
**Author:** ![victor123789](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/f0a364/32.png) [@victor123789](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/victor123789)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/unpack-gem/94422/3 "2006-05-03T19:06:19Z")
> > I need such functionality very oftenly (in my local HDD repository > > Gems are just tar files. You can use tar -xvf some.gem to extract them. Thanks Logan. I should guess it by myself 🙂 V.