[andyl]

nigelk - yes, it think using Package Repos exclusively would be a win for Puppet. Fewer install options to confuse new users, simpler support model for your developers.

BTW I do use your repositories. For me, they have proven to be more reliable than the Gem install.

One of the things I like about Vagrant's installer is that he packages an embedded ruby version and installs it at /opt/vagrant/embedded. Vagrant plugins are installed at /opt/vagrant/embedded/gems. (using 'vagrant gem') This is sweet, because the whole Vagrant environment is isolated from the rest of the system.

By contrast, the Puppet installer depends on a system ruby. It puts ruby 1.8.7 on my path, which I don't want. Then I've got to take special effort not to use it or corrupt it. Yukk.

So if I were King - Puppet would use Package Repos exclusively, and depend on its own isolated/embedded Ruby.

[nigelk]

Thanks for the feedback andyl.

We're thinking very much about the direction of embedding all dependencies, but we're also conscious of the needs of the Linux distros, who don't package software that way.

There is a downside to having all your apps embed their dependencies. It becomes significantly more complicated to update libraries in response to vulnerabilities and bugs.

[andyl]

I've never seen an apt package that embeds ruby like Vagrant does.

But - it works! (my dev platform is Ubuntu 12.04)

Perhaps you don't need to embed all dependencies - just Ruby.

Good luck in thinking this thru!