Ruby – Ideal Ruby project structure

project-structureruby

I'm after an overview/clarification of the ideal project structure for a ruby (non-rails/merb/etc) project. I'm guessing it follows

app/
  bin/                  #Files for command-line execution
  lib/
    appname.rb
    appname/            #Classes and so on
  Rakefile              #Running tests
  README
  test,spec,features/   #Whichever means of testing you go for
  appname.gemspec       #If it's a gem

Have I got something wrong? What parts have I missed out?

Best Solution

I think that is pretty much spot on. By default, Rubygems will add the lib directory to the loadpath, but you can push any directory you want onto that using the $: variable. i.e.

$:.push File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../surfcompstuff')

That means when you have say, surfer.rb in that dir, you can require "surfer" anywhere and the file will be found.

Also, as a convention, classes and singletons get a file and modules get a directory. For instance, if you had the LolCatz module and the LolCatz::Moar class that would look like:

lib/
  appname.rb
  lolcatz/
    moar.rb

That is why there is an lib/appname folder because most libraries are in the appname namespace.

Additionally, if you try running the command newgem --simple [projectname] that'll quickly generate a scaffold for you with just the bare essentials for a Ruby project (and by extension a Ruby Gem). There are other tools which do this, I know, but newgem is pretty common. I usually get rid of the TODO file and all the script stuff.

Related Solutions

Ruby – How to call shell commands from Ruby

This explanation is based on a commented Ruby script from a friend of mine. If you want to improve the script, feel free to update it at the link.

First, note that when Ruby calls out to a shell, it typically calls /bin/sh, not Bash. Some Bash syntax is not supported by /bin/sh on all systems.

Here are ways to execute a shell script:

cmd = "echo 'hi'" # Sample string that can be used

Kernel#` , commonly called backticks – `cmd`

This is like many other languages, including Bash, PHP, and Perl.

Returns the result (i.e. standard output) of the shell command.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-60
```
value = `echo 'hi'`
value = `#{cmd}`
```
Built-in syntax, %x( cmd )

Following the x character is a delimiter, which can be any character. If the delimiter is one of the characters (, [, {, or <, the literal consists of the characters up to the matching closing delimiter, taking account of nested delimiter pairs. For all other delimiters, the literal comprises the characters up to the next occurrence of the delimiter character. String interpolation #{ ... } is allowed.

Returns the result (i.e. standard output) of the shell command, just like the backticks.

Docs: https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/master/syntax/literals_rdoc.html#label-Percent+Strings
```
value = %x( echo 'hi' )
value = %x[ #{cmd} ]
```
Kernel#system

Executes the given command in a subshell.

Returns true if the command was found and run successfully, false otherwise.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-system
```
wasGood = system( "echo 'hi'" )
wasGood = system( cmd )
```
Kernel#exec

Replaces the current process by running the given external command.

Returns none, the current process is replaced and never continues.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-exec
```
exec( "echo 'hi'" )
exec( cmd ) # Note: this will never be reached because of the line above
```

Here's some extra advice: $?, which is the same as $CHILD_STATUS, accesses the status of the last system executed command if you use the backticks, system() or %x{}. You can then access the exitstatus and pid properties:

$?.exitstatus

For more reading see:

Ruby – How to run a single test/spec file in RSpec

Or you can skip rake and use the 'rspec' command:

rspec path/to/spec/file.rb

In your case I think as long as your ./spec/db_spec.rb file includes the appropriate helpers, it should work fine.

If you're using an older version of rspec it is:

spec path/to/spec/file.rb

Best Solution

Related Solutions

Ruby – How to call shell commands from Ruby

Ruby – How to run a single test/spec file in RSpec

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