compile error with Ruby

[Alan DeKok]

A.L.M.Buxey at lboro.ac.uk wrote:
> (ie ruby-devel must be installed (as expected!) but if the system has
> only the Ruby binary installed then configure stage thinks its okay to build
> in Ruby support. 

  Ugh.

> not a show stopper because development has to be flagged on the congigure
> line (?) but a little quirky - i cant recall any other modules that think
> its all okay if just the runtime binary is present (eg openssl)

  The perl module does something similar.  The configure script asks
Perl: What command-line options do I use to build with perl?  It
responds: -lperl.

  Q: Is libperl.so installed on the system?
  A: No, why would it be?  What's wrong with you?

  I've had arguments with the Debian people about this.  They don't see
a problem with Perl lying to you:

  D: But all you need to do is to install the perl-dev package!
  Me: Yes... but why is Perl lying to me?
  D: <mutters incoherently> Install perl-dev!  That's it!
  Me: are you pretending to be dumb, or did you have to work at it?

  Alan DeKok.