On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 12:55:02AM +0900, Roger Pack wrote:
> >> perhaps you can explain to use what CPAN is/does and its usefulness?
> > 
> > http://www.google.com/search?q=cpan isn't enough?
> 
> Nice.  I do like CPAN in that it gives a directory structure to look for 
> useful gems.
> 
> I suppose theoretically rubyforge has this [it has tags for projects, 
> doesn' it?] but nobody ever uses it or something.
> 
> The RAA does something similar to what RPAN does currently, though 
> they're distinct.
> 
> So a few thoughts:
> 1) might be nice to add a directory like structure (like CPAN) and then 
> make it user editable, so people can add their (and others') gems in 
> "where they belong."

Rubyforge has this information already.  I might be able to pull the
information from RF.  We could use the software categories, although I
doubt many people fill those out.

> 2) might be nice to generate [and host] rdocs for all the various gems.
> 2a) should that occur, might be nice to allow users to add comments on 
> the different doc pages :)
> 
> 3) You can do more with the gem lists--you could create a link to the 
> README or source or docs.
> ex:
> http://ruby-roger-useful-functions.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/gem_rdocs_indexer/all_gems_rdocs_index.html
> generated from: 
> http://code.google.com/p/ruby-roger-useful-functions/source/browse/trunk/gem_rdocs_indexer/gem_rdoc_indexer.rb
> 
> 4) some of the links (viz: http://rubypan.org/search?q=eventmachine) are 
> broken--might be nice to double check them.

Yes, because some people don't know how to fill out their gem specs.

> 5) re: source viewing--I think this would be good.  The ideal would be 
> to fix rdoc so that it can point directly into the "full files" and then 
> just have the rdocs--but that's just me.
> 
> Thanks much--has tons of potential.  Let me know if need hosting space 
> :)

Thanks.  I've already got hosting.  What I would *really* like is for
people who want features like these to fork my repository and send in
patches (with tests of course):

  http://github.com/tenderlove/rubypan/tree/master

-- 
Aaron Patterson
http://tenderlovemaking.com/