I probably should have asked this before I installed.  I unpacked
ruby-1.4.4.tar.gz into ~/tmp, then it installed in /usr/local/lib. 
Should I have unpacked it into /usr/local/lib and let it install on top
of itself?  The directory structure in /usr/local/lib is:

ruby
    1.4
        cgi
        i586-linux
        irb
        net
    site_ruby
        1.4
            i586-linux

I assume that there was a reason for this structure.  What should I do
with the dir/files left behind in ~/tmp? Most specifically
ruby-1.4.4/ext?  I suppose that it depends on how ruby searches for
requires, includes, etc.  Does ruby search recursively down from
/usr/local/lib/ruby?  Does it have a mechanism for searching outside
this tree? (Python utilizes *.pth files in site-packages)
-- 
Small is Beautiful