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Fion L
Fion L

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How do I make a ruby gem ?

I am starting a new ruby gem creation project, as a challenge to actually be a software developer and not just someone who does apps, and also a chance to contribute to the open source community. Largely this article is looking at the dev ops approach. The purpose of the gem is for a future article.

Firstly, let's get started with a working gem. In a new Ruby file run bundler, hence, gem install bundler. Next run an existing gem, bundle gem its-name.

However, building a gem will be different for everyone. I will be continually updating this thread as the gem progresses, in the meantime, comments are encouraged.

Here's what I have done so far ...

Step 1

Create a new github repository for your gem and download the repo to your local computer:

$ git clone https://github.com/your_github_name/your_gem_name_gem

Step 2

Create an account on https://rubygems.org/sign_up, RubyGems.org
Find the curl command RubyGems has generated,

curl -u your-ruby-gems-name...

When you run the curl command in the bash terminal this command will connect the GitHub repo to RubyGems.

Creation of the Gem

Don't forget the version: as part of http convention, you need a version.

What about Gemfile.lock?

Gemfile.lock is a snapshot of the versions of all gems in the Gemfile at a single point of time. If you studied accounting, then this reference to a balance sheet might help.
It get's automatically generated by bundle install so it's advised not to alter it yourself.

More updates to follow ...

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fion21 profile image
Fion L

Dont forget the versioning!