Re: [Help-smalltalk] RubyGems-like tool for gnu-smalltalk?

[Paolo Bonzini]

> I'm new to gnu-smalltalk. I would like to know if there is something
> similar to ruby gems (http://www.rubygems.org/) for gnu-smalltalk.
> I know there are star packages and the package loader, with
> dependencies. What I meant is a tool to load those package remotely from
> a server.

No, there's no tool to download packages.  There is no such need for
now, since all packages existing are distributed with GNU Smalltalk
except one (Stephen Compall's Presource).  If you want a repository for
your own .star packages I suggest using smalltalk.gnu.org or at least
publishing your project there.

I was putting together a couple of notes on gst-load and gst-package as
a reply to your first message;
http://smalltalk.gnu.org/wiki/creating-and-distributing-packages covers
the complicated case which involves the Autotools but you may prefer
something simpler if you do not have C source code.  It then goes like
this...

Suppose your package is contained in a single TestPack.st file:

   Object subclass: TestPack [
      TestPack class >> greet: aString [
         ('hello %1!' % {aString}) printNl
      ]
   ]

package.xml should look like this:

   <package>
      <name>TestPack</name>
      <file>TestPack.st</file>
      <filein>TestPack.st</filein>
   </package>

You can make a TestPack.star file and install it to the system-wide
package directory (usually /usr/share/smalltalk) using simply

   gst-package package.xml

but you usually need root access for that.  You can also install it just
for you:

   gst-package -t ~/.st package.xml

(-t is short for --target-directory) and use it normally:

   $ gst
   GNU Smalltalk ready

   st> PackageLoader fileInPackage: 'TestPack'
   Loading package TestPack
   PackageLoader
   st> TestPack greet: 'world'
   'hello world!'
   TestPack
   st>

If you want to distribute the .star file, just create it in the current
directory:

   gst-package -t. package.xml

Then, you or other people will be able to do any of

   gst-package TestPack.star
   gst-package -t ~/.st TestPack.star

to install it (either globally or locally).

It should be clear from the lack of activity here that I have very
limited time for GNU Smalltalk, so if anyone with the copyright papers
signed would like to integrate into the wiki page that would be great.
If you have no copyright papers you can do that too, but please notify me.

Paolo