Using Ruby to install/manage something from source - Features?

Ruby
1

Hi,

Since some time, as a hobby, I am working on an umbrella project
in Ruby - anything that aids in installing software. Basically
its main feature right now is to do something like this:

compile http://dfn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/htop/htop-0.9.tar.gz

And htop will be downloaded, extracted, compiled, installed.

Ok, that’s nothing breathtaking. You just have ruby download it, extract
it, compile it, and perhaps register it. Every advanced Rubyista can
write that in like less than 1 hour … :slight_smile:

The instruction:

compile htop

Would be synonymous (but of course it has to find the URL, which
usually is stored in some yaml files, the current “database” for
this project). One can however generate standalone shell scripts
as well or generate i.e. PKGBUILD files or debian .deb packages
(though both is not completely bug free right now, I myself prefer
to use the source, so that’s where my attention usually is first.)

Basic dependency management works too, somewhat.

However, the point of this mail/post actually is that I am asking
of people what they would expect of a set of scripts that help
in installing/compiling anything? I would like to check against
the current featuresets and look to extend the project.

For example, would people find a replacement for cmake or GNU
autoconfigure (and m4) in Ruby and C useful?

What would YOU expect of any “Package” manager in Ruby?

2

Marc H. wrote in post #1031582:

Since some time, as a hobby, I am working on an umbrella project
in Ruby - anything that aids in installing software. Basically
its main feature right now is to do something like this:

compile http://dfn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/htop/htop-0.9.tar.gz

And htop will be downloaded, extracted, compiled, installed.

http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/

The instruction:

compile htop

brew install htop

What would YOU expect of any “Package” manager in Ruby?

Pretty much exactly what Homebrew does :slight_smile:

Of course Homebrew is sold as something for OSX users, but the scripts
(‘formula’) are just small ruby scripts which do download - compile -
make - install, with a bunch of useful helper scripts:

With minor tweaks you could use them anywhere. Of course, the
dependencies on platform X won’t be exactly the same as the dependencies
on platform Y, since there is an assumption about what already exists in
the system, and any existing patches they carry are likely to be
specific to OSX.

3

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Brian C. [mailto:[email protected]]
Inviato: sabato 12 novembre 2011 22:34
A: ruby-talk ML
Oggetto: Re: Using Ruby to install/manage something from source -
Features?

Marc H. wrote in post #1031582:

Since some time, as a hobby, I am working on an umbrella project in
Ruby - anything that aids in installing software. Basically its main
feature right now is to do something like this:

compile
http://dfn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/htop/htop-0.9.tar.gz

And htop will be downloaded, extracted, compiled, installed.

http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/

The instruction:

compile htop

brew install htop

What would YOU expect of any “Package” manager in Ruby?

Pretty much exactly what Homebrew does :slight_smile:

Of course Homebrew is sold as something for OSX users, but the scripts
(‘formula’) are just small ruby scripts which do download - compile -
make -
install, with a bunch of useful helper scripts:

With minor tweaks you could use them anywhere. Of course, the
dependencies
on platform X won’t be exactly the same as the dependencies on platform
Y,
since there is an assumption about what already exists in the system,
and
any existing patches they carry are likely to be specific to OSX.

–
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

–
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4

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Marc H. [mailto:[email protected]]
Inviato: sabato 12 novembre 2011 20:02
A: ruby-talk ML
Oggetto: Using Ruby to install/manage something from source - Features?

Hi,

Since some time, as a hobby, I am working on an umbrella project in Ruby

anything that aids in installing software. Basically its main feature
right
now is to do something like this:

compile http://dfn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/htop/htop-0.9.tar.gz

And htop will be downloaded, extracted, compiled, installed.

Ok, that’s nothing breathtaking. You just have ruby download it, extract
it,
compile it, and perhaps register it. Every advanced Rubyista can write
that
in like less than 1 hour … :slight_smile:

The instruction:

compile htop

Would be synonymous (but of course it has to find the URL, which usually
is
stored in some yaml files, the current “database” for this project). One
can
however generate standalone shell scripts as well or generate i.e.
PKGBUILD
files or debian .deb packages (though both is not completely bug free
right
now, I myself prefer to use the source, so that’s where my attention
usually
is first.)

Basic dependency management works too, somewhat.

However, the point of this mail/post actually is that I am asking of
people
what they would expect of a set of scripts that help in
installing/compiling
anything? I would like to check against the current featuresets and look
to
extend the project.

For example, would people find a replacement for cmake or GNU
autoconfigure
(and m4) in Ruby and C useful?

What would YOU expect of any “Package” manager in Ruby?

–
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

–
Caselle da 1GB, trasmetti allegati fino a 3GB e in piu’ IMAP, POP3 e
SMTP autenticato? GRATIS solo con Email.it http://www.email.it/f

Sponsor:
Conto Arancio al 4,20%. Soldi sempre disponibili, zero spese, aprilo in
due minuti!
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