Gem

Gem:

Type:

Module

Constants:

VERSION : '2.0.14'

RUBYGEMS_DIR : File.dirname File.expand_path(__FILE__)

WIN_PATTERNS : [ /bccwin/i, /cygwin/i, /djgpp/i, /mingw/i, /mswin/i, /wince/i, ]

An Array of Regexps that match windows ruby platforms.

GEM_DEP_FILES : %w[ gem.deps.rb Gemfile Isolate ]

REPOSITORY_SUBDIRECTORIES : %w[ build_info cache doc gems specifications ]

Subdirectories in a gem repository

MARSHAL_SPEC_DIR : "quick/Marshal.#{Gem.marshal_version}/"

Location of Marshal quick gemspecs on remote repositories

DEFAULT_HOST : "https://rubygems.org"

RDoc : RDoc::RubygemsHook

Gem::RDoc provides methods to generate RDoc and ri data for installed gems upon gem installation.

This file is automatically required by RubyGems 1.9 and newer.

RubyGems is the Ruby standard for publishing and managing third party libraries.

For user documentation, see:

gem help and gem help [command]
RubyGems User Guide
Frequently Asked Questions

For gem developer documentation see:

Creating Gems
Gem::Specification
Gem::Version for version dependency notes

Further RubyGems documentation can be found at:

RubyGems Guides
RubyGems API (also available from gem server)

RubyGems Plugins

As of RubyGems 1.3.2, RubyGems will load plugins installed in gems or $LOAD_PATH. Plugins must be named 'rubygems_plugin' (.rb, .so, etc) and placed at the root of your gem's require_path. Plugins are discovered via ::find_files then loaded. Take care when implementing a plugin as your plugin file may be loaded multiple times if multiple versions of your gem are installed.

For an example plugin, see the graph gem which adds a `gem graph` command.

RubyGems Defaults, Packaging

RubyGems defaults are stored in rubygems/defaults.rb. If you're packaging RubyGems or implementing Ruby you can change RubyGems' defaults.

For RubyGems packagers, provide lib/rubygems/operating_system.rb and override any defaults from lib/rubygems/defaults.rb.

For Ruby implementers, provide lib/rubygems/defaults/#{RUBY_ENGINE}.rb and override any defaults from lib/rubygems/defaults.rb.

If you need RubyGems to perform extra work on install or uninstall, your defaults override file can set pre and post install and uninstall hooks. See ::pre_install, ::pre_uninstall, ::post_install, ::post_uninstall.