On Wed, 25 Apr 2001  02:09:51 +0900, Dave Thomas wrote:
> matz / zetabits.com (Yukihiro Matsumoto) writes:
> 
> > Hmm, both loading from zip archive and versioning are intersting.
> > I'd like to see bit more detailed proposal to start up active
> > discussion.
> 
> OK, just to get the ball rolling.
> 
> Let's have a new class, RubyLoader:
> 
>   class RubyLoader

I'd propose to create a top-level Ruby module for this, so we have
a Ruby::Loader class (and Ruby::Version, see later on)

[snip]
> In terms of versioning, I'd like to see some conventions appear.
> 
> Every library file could implement some standard local
> variables. These won't pollute the user's name space, as they
> disappear during a load.
> 
>   version = '1.2.3a'
>   author  = 'dave / thomases.com'
>   needs   = [ 'xmlparser >=1.2', 'soap ==2.0', 'errmsg <3.14']
> 
>   module DemoModule
> 
>      # ...
>   end

I'd like to point out earlier work on this subject, see
[ruby-talk:5613] (Please disregard section 2.1, it's dainbramaged).
The thread also discusses versioning of .so's (with predefined
functions). It also mentions the issue of having multiple versions of
libraries on the loadpath, which still needs to be dealt with.

IIRC it was Aleksi who suggested to put all version info in a class,
which seems like a sound idea.

	Michel

BTW: did anyone hear anything from Aleksi since he moved to Finland?