Gems troubles

[gga]

Ok, I am trying to use gem install after not having touched it for a
while. I am trying to list remote gems, using:

gem list -r

Updating Gem source index for: http://gems.rubyforge.org

Problem is... this is taking an ETERNITY to do so and memory
consumption while getting the index skyrockets (90Mb+), making my
machine swap (*yikes*). I've already started the process twice and
given up on it.
This is on Windows, if it is of any interest, using ruby1.9 from couple
of months ago. Gems version reports to be:

gem -v

0.8.1

Is something screwed up on my 1.9 setup or the index of rubygems is
really wacko (I noticed one of the todo things listed in the rubygems
website is to improve index building, but... it cannot be this bad, can
it?)?

 

[Lothar Scholz]

Hello gga,


g> Problem is... this is taking an ETERNITY to do so and memory
g> consumption while getting the index skyrockets (90Mb+), making my
g> machine swap (*yikes*). I've already started the process twice and
g> given up on it.

Correct the older gem versions where implemented in a lazy way, which
did not any optimizations. It was a proof-of-concept implementation
which only was able to handle a handful of gems.

It changed a little bit with 0.8.10 (maybe a few versions lower, not sure).
I can use it with some patience on a 56k dial up line.

And for the next future there will be more optimizations. Jim Weirich
posted a message on the Rubygems list just today about the
optimizations that will be in 0.8.12.

Even while i still think that the whole concept is wrong (i would prefer
an intelligent server and not a simple download place) this will increase
the download speed even more.

 

[gga]

Yes, that was mainly it. The 0.8.11 version took around 27Mb and about
a minute or so to build the index.
It would still be better to have the listing assembled on the server
side, but this is usable, at least on desktops.