warbler Gemfile path option not supported

Question

Is there a recommended workaround for warbler not supporting the path options in a Gemfile? Is there a fundamental reason why path is not supported (and I couldn't just implement it)?

Answer 1

The path option is not portable. Bundler expects to be able to find the code at that path, which sort of defeats the purpose of a self-contained war file.

A workaround would be to run "git init; git commit -a" in the directory of the path-based gem and treat it like a git-based gem instead. Then Bundler can check out a copy of the code and Warbler can store the copy in the war file.

Answer 2

I (unfortunately) can't post code for this (yet...), but I have successfully done the following:

1. Hack warbler (basically replace the whole bundler gem packaging code) to copy gems specified with :path into vendor/gems (normal gem location is gems/gems). This copying was done nearly identically to how warbler copies gems from a :git specification.

2. Monkeypatch bundler so when it loads a Gemfile with :path specs, they are rewritten to point into vendor/gems.

It's not pretty, but I have been very happy with this solution.

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Another option I have seen is to create a vendor/gems directory which contains symlinks to all the gems that use :path in the Gemfile. Warbler will complain about not supporting :path gems, but they will be copied in the WAR file via the symlinks. I do not like this solution because you've got to maintain the :path in the Gemfile and the symlink, but it is easier to implement than the above.

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Also, I agree with Nick Siger that supporting :path as-is (without any of the above hacks) does defeat the purpose of a self-contained WAR file, but a self-contained WAR file is not always desirable. There are tradeoffs to a not-self-contained WAR file of course, but one advantage is being smaller in size, quicker to copy, unzip, etc. Of course, supporting this would require changes to JRuby-Rack as well as to Warbler.