I have found that most modules are straigtforward to build.

Typically download the source and:

ruby extconf.rb
make
make install

Even on windows:

ruby extconf.rb
nmake
nmake install

Assuming you have libraries needed for extension.

-rich

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lyle Johnson [mailto:lyle / knology.net] 
> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 9:56 PM
> To: ruby-talk ML
> Subject: Re: proper upgrade to 1.7.3
> 
> 
> 
> "Tom Sawyer" <transami / transami.net> wrote in message 
> news:1030755047.543.36.camel / silver...
> 
> > and, one more thing. i don't think these version directories under 
> > site-ruby are a good idea. why have them? most packages 
> will work just 
> > fine from one update to another. and if one does not, shouldn't the 
> > package maintainer take care of the versioning within the package 
> > itself? just some thoughts that may make life a easier.
> 
> Extension modules built for Ruby 1.6 are almost guaranteed 
> not to work for Ruby 1.7.
> 
> 
>