Enterprise Astronaut wrote:

> 
> 
> Well, maybe this is the real problem with the Ruby community then? 

You are the community.

Among others, of course.


> Asking for assistance over a number of years to get help on an installer 
> package that I'm sure thousands of people, companies, etc. use daily and 
> coming back with mostly deaf echos is not ideal.  This installer is a 
> fundamental piece of Ruby being accepted by a larger audience (sorry but 
> Windows is still the dominant platform out there).  I know a lot of 
> developers/companies that unless they get a timely pretty installer 
> package they won't bother using it or allow it on a server.  (I hear the 
> argument already "well we don't want those types of developers 
> anyway"... Don't we?  Do we want critical mass or be a niche language?)

I want Ruby.  What other people do or don't think of Ruby is not a big 
issue for me. (Well, there are some exceptions on this list.)

> 
> The point of my post was to eliminate the manual work that has to go 
> into a Ruby installer.  Make it a lot more automated, flick a switch and 
> walk away.  Even under ideal situations the Ruby Windows Installer is at 
> least a few days/weeks turn around time.  Right now the 1.84 release is 
> going on 6 months.  This is the reality right now.  The release of a 
> Ruby installer should not be based on someone's agenda, it should be an 
> automated process.  I appreciate what the team does and the endless work 
> they put into it but at some point the Ruby community will need to 
> mature in this regard.

Does this mean you are offering to help Curt?  Because posts don't 
eliminate manual work.  (Nor, for that matter, does pulling the maturity 
card.)

> 
>>From a company's perspective I have a lot better chance of having this 
> installed on a server based simply off of the organized, tidy webpage:
> http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.4.3/


Interesting. A company picking technology based on Web page design and 
layout.  And these are the people whose opinions should influence Ruby 
packaging?

The list has seen a repeated threads of the form, "If the Ruby doesn't 
offer [this|that|other_thing], then it won't be accepted by 
[BigCo|Mainstream|TheEnterprise]"

It's unpersuasive.


Code, on the other hand ...


:)


-- 
James Britt

"Blanket statements are over-rated"