# Updating gems for ruby 1.9 **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [August 29, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-gems-for-ruby-1-9/174605 "2009-08-29T16:55:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Space_Ship_T)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-gems-for-ruby-1-9/174605/1 "2009-08-29T16:55:30Z")
Hi, This might have been discussed somewhere else already, if this is the case, I apologize. I publish a significant number of gems. These were all designed for Ruby 1.8. Apart from syntax and functional changes, how to I ensure that it is possible to use these gems with Ruby 1.9? I haven’t really used Ruby 1.9 much, but when I install a gem, it seems like it is installed for a particular version of Ruby… on my Mac: /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8 Does this mean that the gem command that you use will determine where the gems are installed? Is there a different gem command for 1.8 and for 1.9? I use the gem server to publish my gems. Do I need to use the 1.9 version of gem server in order to provide gems for Ruby 1.9? (I’m assuming I probably don’t, but it would be good to clarify). Provided everything is working okay, should I be using Ruby 1.9 gem server for publishing gems to both Ruby 1.8 and Ruby 1.9? When I stand back a little bit, this seems fairly complicated - maybe more so than it needs to be. Any clarification would be most welcome. Kind regards, Samuel ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Space_Ship_T)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-gems-for-ruby-1-9/174605/2 "2009-08-29T20:03:22Z")
2009/8/29 Space Ship T. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > Hi, > > This might have been discussed somewhere else already, if this is the case, > I apologize. > > I publish a significant number of gems. These were all designed for Ruby > 1.8. Apart from syntax and functional changes, how to I ensure that it is > possible to use these gems with Ruby 1.9? you don’t have to do anything special. If your gems (and all dependent gems) work with ruby 1.9 everything is fine. > I haven’t really used Ruby 1.9 much, but when I install a gem, it seems > like it is installed for a particular version of Ruby… on my Mac: > > ``` > /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8 > > ``` > Does this mean that the gem command that you use will determine where the > gems are installed? yes. rubygems use different places to store the gems - depending on your Ruby version. > Is there a different gem command for 1.8 and for 1.9? no. -Thomas – Thomas P. removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > **[Google Sites: Sign-in](https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?dsh=S-989529929%3A1688126168331341&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fsites%2Fsystem%2Ferrors%2FWebspaceNotFound%3Fpath%3D%2Fthopre%2F&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fsites%2Fsystem%2Ferrors%2FWebspaceNotFound%3Fpath%3D%2Fthopre%2F&ifkv=AeDOFXjq2RdqxEQ__k_SWON2D7QoJGJbt49rAtoyLzQMGx7DwPMx_o00b8GFoWlO6iHQ_bTjoNWjgw&passive=1209600&service=jotspot&flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin)** > > Access Google Sites with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use). > **[thopre](https://thopre.wordpress.com/)** > > Entwicklungen für die Bühne des Lebens Pablo Picasso[http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pablo\_picasso.html](http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pablo_picasso.html) - “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Space_Ship_T)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-gems-for-ruby-1-9/174605/3 "2009-08-29T20:12:43Z")
Thanks. If the gem doesn’t need to be changed between versions of ruby, why is it installed into a version dependent sub-directory? Is it possible to install a gem for all versions of ruby? Kind regards, Samuel ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Space_Ship_T)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-gems-for-ruby-1-9/174605/4 "2009-09-01T01:13:50Z")
On Aug 29, 2009, at 11:02, Thomas P. wrote: > > Is there a different gem command for 1.8 and for 1.9? > > no. yes\* - If your ruby 1.9 installation was configured with --program-suffix, this suffix will be used to determine the gem command’s name. For example ./configure --program-suffix=19 gives you ruby19 and gem19. You’ll probably also want to set --format-executable in ~/.gemrc (see gem help env). ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Space_Ship_T)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-gems-for-ruby-1-9/174605/5 "2009-09-03T05:33:47Z")
Out of curiosity, why was this decision made? It seems like it would be easier to have a combined directory for 1.8 and 1.9? Kind regards, Samuel ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Space_Ship_T)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-gems-for-ruby-1-9/174605/6 "2009-09-01T01:15:35Z")
On Aug 29, 2009, at 11:10, Space Ship T. wrote: > Is it possible to install a gem for all versions of ruby? Not by default. You can set GEM\_HOME and GEM\_PATH to force RubyGems to use a common path. See gem help env. ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Space_Ship_T)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-gems-for-ruby-1-9/174605/7 "2009-09-03T07:36:45Z")
Thats a good reason 🙂 maybe? I can understand why it is that way. Thanks for the clarification I appreciate your knowledge. Samuel ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Space\_Ship\_T](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Space_Ship_T)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-gems-for-ruby-1-9/174605/8 "2009-09-03T06:56:54Z")
On Sep 2, 2009, at 20:32, Space Ship T. wrote: > be easier to have a combined directory for 1.8 and 1.9? > C extensions can only be linked against one version.