RubyGems question: Knowing the correct name for add_dependency

[James Britt]

I'm trying to write a gemspec file. My code depends on Austin Ziegler's
Mime::Types library. I want to call to add_dependency, but I do not
know what to pass as the first argument.

In my code, I call

require 'mime/types'

So, in my gemspec file, would it be

add_dependency( 'mime/types', "> 1.12" )

Or do need to use a more abstract package name:

add_dependency( 'MIME::Types', "> 1.12" )

or maybe

add_dependency( 'mime-types', "> 1.12" )

There's a gem for the MIME::Types lib; can one use add_dependency even
when there is no gem for the dependency?

In general, how does one know how to refer to the dependency?

Thanks!

James

 

[Jim Weirich]

I'm trying to write a gemspec file. My code depends on Austin Ziegler's
Mime::Types library. I want to call to add_dependency, but I do not
know what to pass as the first argument.

The first argument should be the base name of the gem without version or
platform information ... E.g.

spec = Gem::Specification.new do |s|
...
s.add_dependency('rake', ">0.4.0")
...
end

There's a gem for the MIME::Types lib; can one use add_dependency even
when there is no gem for the dependency?

Ahh, if there is no gem for the library, then you can't list it as an
explicit dependency. However, you can document it by including it in
the requirements field (which is a list of strings) ... E.g.

s.requirements << "Needs Mime::Types library"

Perhaps Austin can be persuaded to offer MIME::Types as a gem, our
perhaps you could package it yourself.

 

[Austin Ziegler]

Perhaps Austin can be persuaded to offer MIME::Types as a gem, our
perhaps you could package it yourself.

MIME::Types does have a gem ... it just wasn't on the RubyForge
project. It's there now, which means it will be in the repository
soon.

I have other code for which I created RubyForge projects in the last
little while, but there have been no updates so there are no gems or
releases there -- they're still at my HaloStatue webpage.

-austin

 

[James Britt]

The first argument should be the base name of the gem without version or
platform information ... E.g.

spec = Gem::Specification.new do |s|
...
s.add_dependency('rake', ">0.4.0")
...
end

What is the "base name" of a gem? Given "FooBar.gem", is it "FooBar" ?

Is it something defined in that gem's gemspec file?

I looked into the gemspec for MIME::Types, but couldn't tell if I should
use

add_dependency( 'MIME::Types', "> 1.12" )

or

add_dependency( 'mime-types', "> 1.12" )

Thanks,

James

 

[Jim Weirich]

What is the "base name" of a gem? Given "FooBar.gem", is it "FooBar" ?

Given foobar-1.2.0.gem, it would be foobar. Sorry, I should have been
more explicity.

If you do a gem list command, the name is displayed followed by all the
available versions in parenthesis.

add_dependency( 'mime-types', "> 1.12" )

This is the one you want.