Local Gem Repository will not work

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hi there,

just to introduce my problem: because I have a bad internet connection I want to create a local repository on one of my PCs here in the office, and install gems from this PC (instead of rubygems).

I looked to a lot of blogs, manuals, etc., but I can not get it working.

This is what I did:

On my PC (which should be my local gem repository) - Linux system

1. mkdir /var/www/localhost/htdocs/gems 2. cp /usr/local/lib64/ruby/gems/1.9.1/cache/*.gem /var/www/localhost/htdocs/gems 3. gem generate_index -d /var/www/localhost/htdocs

This creates the following in /var/www/localhost/htdocs:

Marshal.4.8 Marshal.4.8.Z latest_specs.4.8 latest_specs.4.8.gz prerelease_specs.4.8 prerelease_specs.4.8.gz quick specs.4.8 specs.4.8.gz

4. Starting the server with

   gem server --dir /var/www/localhost/htdocs/

This ends up with the following error message:

ERROR: While executing gem ... (ArgumentError) /var/www/localhost/htdocs does not appear to be a gem repository

When I start gem server (which is linked to /usr/local/lib64/ruby/gems/1.9.1 by default) the gem server starts perfect.

Comparing these directories the /usr/local/lib64/ruby/gems/1.9.1 directory contains bin, cache, doc, gems, specifications

Not so for my "new" directory: /var/www/localhost/htdocs. Also the gemspec files are hold different (in /var/www/localhost/htdocs under quick/Marshal.4.8 they are inflated with gemspec.rz)

So the question is: how can I create a repository like under /usr/local/lib64/ruby/gems/1.9.1 . Is there a special command?

Thanks for any advice,

Holm

2

Hi there,

On my PC (which should be my local gem repository) - Linux system

1. mkdir /var/www/localhost/htdocs/gems 2. cp /usr/local/lib64/ruby/gems/1.9.1/cache/*.gem /var/www/localhost/htdocs/gems 3. gem generate_index -d /var/www/localhost/htdocs

If you use generate_index, you can serve the files directly with Apache.

4. Starting the server with

gem server --dir /var/www/localhost/htdocs/

This ends up with the following error message:

ERROR: While executing gem ... (ArgumentError) /var/www/localhost/htdocs does not appear to be a gem repository

`gem server` is expecting a folder structure like this:

ls -l /path

bin cache doc gems specification

So the question is: how can I create a repository like under /usr/local/lib64/ruby/gems/1.9.1 . Is there a special command?

gem install foo -i /path

Then

gem server --dir /path

PS: If you want to host gems locally, please take a look to stickler [1] or gemfury for hosted/remote one [2]

[1] GitHub - copiousfreetime/stickler: a tool to organize and maintain an internal gem distribution server [2] http://www.gemfury.com/

3

Hi Luis,

cool thanks. It works now. Honestly: I spend about 4 hours and read all stuff with generate_index. But at least you gave me the solution.

Thanks,

Holm

4

It is worth mentioning that Artifactory Pro, starting at version 3.0.3, fully supports RubyGems local, remote and virtual repositories. Remote repositories can eliminate the vulnerabilities caused by bad/slow networking to rubygems.org. Local repositories can be used for hosting in-house gems in a secured and reliable manner. This solution is not free, but might be the best solution for an enterprise environment.