>>>>> "R" == Richard Hensh <hensh / math.msu.edu> writes:

R> 1. Does anyone know what will happen to the 'hacked' version on dir.c in
R> future releases of ruby? Or do I need to keep track of that file myself?
R> (This question may not even be correctly phrased but I'm not a C/C++
R> programmer.)

 The future releases of ruby will have the patch.

R> 2. On a related issue, as far as ruby extensions go, I've noticed 3
R> approaches. The distributions come with either 'setup.rb', 'extconf.rb', or
R> a 'makefile'. I can't tell why one method is chosen over another. Can anyone
R> help me out here?

 The best methods is perhaps to use one of 'setup.rb', 'extconf.rb'

 You can always generate a Makefile with these 2 scripts. If you give a
 Makefile it will be probably system dependant and work only for your
 configuration. 


Guy Decoux