Packaging Policy

[TRANS <transfire@gmail.com>]

Hi,

I'm workng on library/package related systems for Ruby and Debian's
packaging policy puts a bit of a kink in things. According to the
packaging policy 3rd-party packages are installed directly into
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/, right along side all the standard ruby
distribution libs. I realize that the Ruby distribution itself is
split into multiple packages for Debian, but it still would be better
if 3rd-party packages where stored in their own space.

In my particular usecase, being able to distinguish between what is
standard  to Ruby from 3rd-party is helpful because I know that the
standard libs are all tied to the Ruby version (i.e they are all
"1.8"), whereas 3rd party libraries will have their own specific
versions. If I can't distinguish between the two in the file system
then I am forced to pretend that each standard lib also has it's own
specific version although it does not.

When installing packages manually they are placed in
/usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/, so I would think the appropriate place
for 3rd-party Debian Ruby packages would be in
/usr/lib/site_ruby/1.8/.

Thanks,
T.