Question

I’m trying to create an application that will primarily consist of ruby scripts that will be run from the command-line (cron, specifically). I want to have a libs folder, so I can put encapsulated, reusable classes/modules in there, and be able to access them from any script.

I want to be able to put my scripts into a “bin” folder.

What is the best way to give them access to the libs folder? I know I can add to the load path via command-line argument, or at the top of each command-line script. In PHP, it sometimes made more sense to create a custom .ini file and point the cli to the ini file, so you got them all in one pop.

Anything similar for ruby? Based on your experience, what’s the best way to go here?

Answer 1

At the top of each bin/executable, you can put this at the top

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

$:.unshift(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'lib')
require 'libfile'

[etc.]

Were you looking for something different?

If you turn your application into a Ruby gem and install the gem on your system, you don’t even need to put this stuff at the top. The require statement would suffice in that case.