I am making a rubygem and the binary library I need to call is found in a folder under a user-determined directory. Due to this, should I include this 6MB file into my rubygem’s bin directory or is there a better approach to this?
Currently I am doing this for osx. If I want to port this to windows, I wil have the same issue and the binary file will also be of a different file type.
Is the library available form other sources? If not: Include it, because you need it and it is required.
If the library may be available: Why not create two (or more) gems?
See for example rmagick. There is a standard gem and a win32-specific binary gem.
Disclaimer: If it is not your own binary: Please check the license of the binary before you add it (this belongs not only for binaries, but to all stuff you add to your gem)