is it desirable to remove Gemfile.lock?

Question

I'm on Ubuntu 10.04, the app that I have to push to Heroku has a Gemfile.lock, this app was developed by another programmer.

When I use bundle install command, this install the necessary gems for run the app with rails s.

Does bundle install take specific gems in my Gemfile or Gemfile.lock?

My Gemfile and Gemfile.lock are not the same.

Do I have to remove Gemfile.lock?

This is my Gemfile:

source 'http://rubygems.org'

#ruby '1.9.3'

gem 'rails', "= 3.1.11"
#gem "rake", "= 0.8.7"
gem 'racc'
# gem 'sqlite3'
#gem 'acts_as_list', '>= 0.1.0'
#gem 'acts_as_tree'
gem 'paperclip'
gem 'aws-s3', :require => 'aws/s3'
gem 'aws-sdk'
gem 'gravatar_image_tag'
gem 'kaminari'
gem 'jquery-rails', '~> 2.1'
gem 'RedCloth', '>= 3.301'
gem 'carmen', :git => 'git://github.com/alvatarc/carmen.git', :branch => '0.2.x'
#gem 'carmen'
gem 'sass-rails'
gem 'http_accept_language'
gem 'right_aws'
gem 'exception_notification'

group :development do
  gem 'sqlite3-ruby', :require => 'sqlite3'
  gem 'rspec-rails', '= 2.7.0'
  gem 'rspec-core', '= 2.7.1'
  gem 'rspec'
  #gem 'annotate-models'
  gem 'faker'
  gem 'therubyracer'
end

group :test do
  gem 'sqlite3-ruby', :require => 'sqlite3'
  gem 'rspec-rails', '= 2.7.0'
  gem 'rspec-core', '= 2.7.1'
  gem 'rspec'
  gem 'webrat'
  gem 'spork', '= 0.9.0.rc9'
  gem 'factory_girl_rails'
end

group :production do
  gem 'pg'
  gem 'uglifier'
end


# To use debugger (ruby-debug for Ruby 1.8.7+, ruby-debug19 for Ruby 1.9.2+)
# gem 'ruby-debug'
# gem 'ruby-debug19', :require => 'ruby-debug'

This is my Gemfile.lock:

GIT
  remote: git://github.com/alvatarc/carmen.git
  revision: af7bcd574e2f0ed6d59b46662a8be939a1e083c0
  branch: 0.2.x
  specs:
    carmen (0.2.13)

GEM
  remote: http://rubygems.org/
  specs:
    RedCloth (4.2.9)
    actionmailer (3.1.11)
      actionpack (= 3.1.11)
      mail (~> 2.3.3)
    actionpack (3.1.11)
      activemodel (= 3.1.11)
      activesupport (= 3.1.11)
      builder (~> 3.0.0)
      erubis (~> 2.7.0)
      i18n (~> 0.6)
      rack (~> 1.3.6)
      rack-cache (~> 1.2)
      rack-mount (~> 0.8.2)
      rack-test (~> 0.6.1)
      sprockets (~> 2.0.4)
    activemodel (3.1.11)
      activesupport (= 3.1.11)
      builder (~> 3.0.0)
      i18n (~> 0.6)
    activerecord (3.1.11)
      activemodel (= 3.1.11)
      activesupport (= 3.1.11)
      arel (~> 2.2.3)
      tzinfo (~> 0.3.29)
    activeresource (3.1.11)
      activemodel (= 3.1.11)
      activesupport (= 3.1.11)
    activesupport (3.1.11)
      multi_json (~> 1.0)
    arel (2.2.3)
    aws-s3 (0.6.3)
      builder
      mime-types
      xml-simple
    aws-sdk (1.9.2)
      json (~> 1.4)
      nokogiri (>= 1.4.4)
      uuidtools (~> 2.1)
    builder (3.0.4)
    climate_control (0.0.3)
      activesupport (>= 3.0)
    cocaine (0.5.1)
      climate_control (>= 0.0.3, < 1.0)
    diff-lcs (1.1.3)
    erubis (2.7.0)
    exception_notification (3.0.1)
      actionmailer (>= 3.0.4)
    execjs (1.4.0)
      multi_json (~> 1.0)
    factory_girl (4.2.0)
      activesupport (>= 3.0.0)
    factory_girl_rails (4.2.1)
      factory_girl (~> 4.2.0)
      railties (>= 3.0.0)
    faker (1.1.2)
      i18n (~> 0.5)
    gravatar_image_tag (1.1.3)
    hike (1.2.2)
    http_accept_language (1.0.2)
    i18n (0.6.4)
    jquery-rails (2.2.1)
      railties (>= 3.0, < 5.0)
      thor (>= 0.14, < 2.0)
    json (1.7.7)
    kaminari (0.14.1)
      actionpack (>= 3.0.0)
      activesupport (>= 3.0.0)
    libv8 (3.11.8.17)
    mail (2.3.3)
      i18n (>= 0.4.0)
      mime-types (~> 1.16)
      treetop (~> 1.4.8)
    mime-types (1.23)
    multi_json (1.7.2)
    nokogiri (1.5.9)
    paperclip (3.4.1)
      activemodel (>= 3.0.0)
      activerecord (>= 3.0.0)
      activesupport (>= 3.0.0)
      cocaine (~> 0.5.0)
      mime-types
    pg (0.15.1)
    polyglot (0.3.3)
    racc (1.4.9)
    rack (1.3.10)
    rack-cache (1.2)
      rack (>= 0.4)
    rack-mount (0.8.3)
      rack (>= 1.0.0)
    rack-ssl (1.3.3)
      rack
    rack-test (0.6.2)
      rack (>= 1.0)
    rails (3.1.11)
      actionmailer (= 3.1.11)
      actionpack (= 3.1.11)
      activerecord (= 3.1.11)
      activeresource (= 3.1.11)
      activesupport (= 3.1.11)
      bundler (~> 1.0)
      railties (= 3.1.11)
    railties (3.1.11)
      actionpack (= 3.1.11)
      activesupport (= 3.1.11)
      rack-ssl (~> 1.3.2)
      rake (>= 0.8.7)
      rdoc (~> 3.4)
      thor (~> 0.14.6)
    rake (10.0.4)
    rdoc (3.12.2)
      json (~> 1.4)
    ref (1.0.4)
    right_aws (3.0.5)
      right_http_connection (>= 1.2.5)
    right_http_connection (1.3.0)
    rspec (2.7.0)
      rspec-core (~> 2.7.0)
      rspec-expectations (~> 2.7.0)
      rspec-mocks (~> 2.7.0)
    rspec-core (2.7.1)
    rspec-expectations (2.7.0)
      diff-lcs (~> 1.1.2)
    rspec-mocks (2.7.0)
    rspec-rails (2.7.0)
      actionpack (~> 3.0)
      activesupport (~> 3.0)
      railties (~> 3.0)
      rspec (~> 2.7.0)
    sass (3.2.8)
    sass-rails (3.1.7)
      actionpack (~> 3.1.0)
      railties (~> 3.1.0)
      sass (>= 3.1.10)
      tilt (~> 1.3.2)
    spork (0.9.0.rc9)
    sprockets (2.0.4)
      hike (~> 1.2)
      rack (~> 1.0)
      tilt (~> 1.1, != 1.3.0)
    sqlite3 (1.3.7)
    sqlite3-ruby (1.3.3)
      sqlite3 (>= 1.3.3)
    therubyracer (0.11.4)
      libv8 (~> 3.11.8.12)
      ref
    thor (0.14.6)
    tilt (1.3.7)
    treetop (1.4.12)
      polyglot
      polyglot (>= 0.3.1)
    tzinfo (0.3.37)
    uglifier (2.0.1)
      execjs (>= 0.3.0)
      multi_json (~> 1.0, >= 1.0.2)
    uuidtools (2.1.3)
    webrat (0.7.3)
      nokogiri (>= 1.2.0)
      rack (>= 1.0)
      rack-test (>= 0.5.3)
    xml-simple (1.1.2)

PLATFORMS
  ruby

DEPENDENCIES
  RedCloth (>= 3.301)
  aws-s3
  aws-sdk
  carmen!
  exception_notification
  factory_girl_rails
  faker
  gravatar_image_tag
  http_accept_language
  jquery-rails (~> 2.1)
  kaminari
  paperclip
  pg
  racc
  rails (= 3.1.11)
  right_aws
  rspec
  rspec-core (= 2.7.1)
  rspec-rails (= 2.7.0)
  sass-rails
  spork (= 0.9.0.rc9)
  sqlite3-ruby
  therubyracer
  uglifier
  webrat

Answer 1

Does bundle install take specific gems in my Gemfile or Gemfile.lock?

bundle install looks first into gemfile.lock, then looks into gemfile to generate a valid gem list, checks, tries to resolve the dependencies, and then install/update the gems.

My Gemfile and Gemfile.lock are not the same.

They don't need to be the same. gemfile.lock is a specific file to keep the gems' state at the time of running bundle install/update.

Do I have to remove Gemfile.lock?

You can, but then bundle install will generate gemfile.lock again. Then, you could really lose and break all gem dependencies, and might need to resolve them manually.

As an investigation procedure, you can copy old gemfile.lock to a secluded place, then regenerate gemfile.lock, and compare both with diff

Answer 2

It is recommended to keep the Gemfile.lock.

Gemfile.lock keeps track of all inter gem dependency, and has exact gem versions to be used.

If you are deploying the same project at multiple locations, it is a definite way of ensuring that all your copies have the same copy of the gems, and hence the environment is identical on each machine.

Without it, bundler will install the latest versions of the gems, and that might break things if a newer version of a gem doesn't support a feature/format you are working in.

For further reading on Gemfile and Gemfile.lock, check out this and this

Answer 3

Gemfile.lock has the exact versions of the gems to be used. Some of them would not be mentioned in your Gemfile and bundler will refer the lock file for specific version.

If you remove the lock file it will either use the local gem if present else download the latest version of the gems.

Answer 4

If you change from OS I would suggest so. I get an code base created on Windows and always that was pushing to Heroku I kept getting warnings since Heroku servers run on Linux so after I removed the file and regenerate it I get rid of all those warnings of possible chrashings. For example on Windows you have to make reference to the gem tzinfo which on Linux it is unnecesary since it is on the OS.