Does gem isolate like pipsi?

Question

pipsi allows you to install Python apps with isolated dependencies. It doesn't just isolate the dependencies (like virtualenv), the apps are also immediately executable (like pip). For example:

pipsi install foo # has strict dependency on Xv1.0
pipsi install bar # has strict dependency on Xv2.0
foo --version # works immediately
bar --help # works immediately

I need to install some Ruby tools using gem. Does gem offer similar isolation? In other words:

gem install foo # has strict dependency on Xv1.0
gem install bar # has strict dependency on Xv2.0
foo --version # works immediately
bar --help # works immediately

Questions asking us to recommend or find an software tool are generally off-topic for Stack Overflow as they tend to attract opinionated answers and spam. With that being said, about all Rubyists use [bundler](https://bundler.io/) which can be instructed to install any dependencies to a separate directory instead of the global gemset. — Holger Just, Aug 08 '18 at 16:39
Possible duplicate of [Ruby equivalent of virtualenv?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/486995/ruby-equivalent-of-virtualenv) — phd, Aug 08 '18 at 16:40
@holger thanks for your comment, I'm asking for a direct comparison between pipsi and gem, not a recommendation, is there an error in my ruby terminology? it sounds like the answer to my question is simply "no" (but the hint about a possible solution is welcome ) — lofidevops, Aug 09 '18 at 07:24

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 09 '18 at 08:43

1

No, gem does not isolate packages like pipsi. It simply installs gem dependencies, the Ruby equivalent of Python's pip.

Like pip, anything you install with gem is immediately executable (if applicable). So you can:

gem install foo
foo --help

...but dependencies between foo and bar are not isolated.

answered Aug 09 '18 at 08:43

lofidevops

15,528
14
79
119

You might be interested in [bundler](https://bundler.io) for isolation (as suggested by Holger in the comments above), but that works more like `pipenv` than `pipsi` – lofidevops Aug 09 '18 at 08:47

Does gem isolate like pipsi?

1 Answers1