Gemsmith

Gem Version Code Climate GPA Code Climate Coverage Gemnasium Status Travis CI Status Patreon

A command line interface for smithing new Ruby gems.

Table of Contents

Features

Screencasts

asciicast

Requirements

  1. A UNIX-based system.
  2. Ruby 2.4.x.
  3. RubyGems.
  4. Bundler.

Setup

For a secure install, type the following from the command line (recommended):

gem cert --add <(curl --location --silent https://www.alchemists.io/gem-public.pem)
gem install gemsmith --trust-policy MediumSecurity

NOTE: A HighSecurity trust policy would be best but MediumSecurity enables signed gem verification while allowing the installation of unsigned dependencies since they are beyond the scope of this gem.

For an insecure install, type the following (not recommended):

gem install gemsmith

You can configure common settings for future gem builds by creating the following file:

~/.gemsmithrc

The following defaults are used when no options are configured:

:year: <current year>
:github_user: "<Git config GitHub user>",
:gem:
  :name: "undefined"
  :path: "undefined"
  :class: "Undefined"
  :platform: "Gem::Platform::RUBY"
  :url: "https://github.com/<author>/<gem name>"
  :license: "MIT"
:author:
  :name: "<Git config user name>"
  :email: "<Git config user email>"
  :url: ""
:organization:
  :name: ""
  :url: ""
:versions:
  :ruby: "<current Ruby version>"
  :rails: "5.0"
:generate:
  :cli: false
  :rails: false
  :security: true
  :pry: true
  :guard: true
  :rspec: true
  :reek: true
  :rubocop: true
  :scss_lint: false
  :git_hub: false
  :code_climate: false
  :gemnasium: false
  :travis: false
  :patreon: false
:publish:
  :sign: false

While Gemsmith is fully customizable, please keep in mind that these are global settings and, once set, will affect all future gem creations. Further customization is also provided via the CLI for a customizable experience per gem if necessary.

Usage

Command Line Interface (CLI)

From the command line, type: gemsmith --help

gemsmith -c, [--config]        # Manage gem configuration.
gemsmith -g, [--generate=GEM]  # Generate new gem.
gemsmith -h, [--help=COMMAND]  # Show this message or get help for a command.
gemsmith -o, [--open=GEM]      # Open a gem in default editor.
gemsmith -r, [--read=GEM]      # Open a gem in default browser.
gemsmith -v, [--version]       # Show gem version.

For more gem generation options, type: gemsmith --help --generate

[--cli], [--no-cli]                    # Add CLI support.
[--rails], [--no-rails]                # Add Rails support.
[--security], [--no-security]          # Add security support.
                                       # Default: true
[--pry], [--no-pry]                    # Add Pry support.
                                       # Default: true
[--guard], [--no-guard]                # Add Guard support.
                                       # Default: true
[--rspec], [--no-rspec]                # Add RSpec support.
                                       # Default: true
[--reek], [--no-reek]                  # Add Reek support.
                                       # Default: true
[--rubocop], [--no-rubocop]            # Add Rubocop support.
                                       # Default: true
[--scss-lint], [--no-scss-lint]        # Add SCSS Lint support.
[--git-hub], [--no-git-hub]            # Add GitHub support.
[--code-climate], [--no-code-climate]  # Add Code Climate support.
[--gemnasium], [--no-gemnasium]        # Add Gemnasium support.
[--travis], [--no-travis]              # Add Travis CI support.
[--patreon], [--no-patreon]            # Add Patreon support.

Rake

Once a gem skeleton has been created, the following tasks are available (i.e. bundle exec rake -T):

rake build                 # Build gemsmith-8.0.0.gem package
rake clean                 # Clean gem artifacts
rake doc                   # Update README (table of contents)
rake install               # Install gemsmith-8.0.0.gem package
rake publish               # Build, tag as v8.0.0 (unsigned), and push gemsmith-8.0.0.gem to RubyGems

When building/testing your gem locally, a typical workflow is:

  1. bundle exec rake install
  2. Test your gem locally.
  3. Repeat until satisfied.

When satified with your gem, builds are green, and ready to publish, run:

bundle exec rake publish

Tests

To test, run:

bundle exec rake

Security

Git Signing Key

To securely sign your Git tags, install and configure GPG:

brew install gpg
gpg --gen-key

When creating your GPG key, choose these settings:

  • Key kind: RSA and RSA (default)
  • Key size: 4096
  • Key validity: 0
  • Real Name: <your name>
  • Email: <your email>
  • Passphrase: <your passphrase>

To obtain your key, run the following and take the part after the forward slash:

gpg --list-keys | grep pub

Add your key to your global Git configuration in the [user] section. Example:

[user]
  signingkey = <your GPG key>

Now, when publishing your gems with Gemsmith (i.e. bundle exec rake publish), signing of your Git tag will happen automatically. You will be prompted for the GPG Passphrase each time but that is to be expected.

Gem Certificates

To create a certificate for your gems, run the following:

cd ~/.ssh
gem cert --build [email protected]
chmod 600 gem-*.pem

The resulting *.pem key files can be referenced via the :private_key: and :public_key: keys within the ~/.gemsmithrc file.

To learn more about gem certificates, read the following:

Private Gem Servers

By default, the following Rake task will publish your gem to RubyGems:

bundle exec rake publish

You can change this behavior by adding metadata to your gemspec that will allow the Rake tasks, mentioned above, to publish your gem to an alternate/private gem server instead. This can be done by updating your gem specification and RubyGems credentials.

Gem Specification Metadata

Add the following metadata to your gemspec:

Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
  spec. = {
    "allowed_push_key" => "example_key",
    "allowed_push_host" => "https://gems.example.com"
  }
end

The gemspec metadata keys and values must be strings per the RubyGems Specification. Each key represents the following:

  • allowed_push_key: Provides a reference (look up) to the key defined the RubyGems credentials file so that sensitive credentials are not used within your gemspec.
  • allowed_push_host: Provides the URL of the private gem server to push your gem to.

Gem Credentials

With your gem specification metadata established, you are ready to publish your gem to a public or private server. If this is your first time publishing a gem and no gem credentials have been configured, you'll be prompted for them. Gem credentials are stored in the RubyGems ~/.gem/credentials file. From this point forward, future gem publishing will use your stored credentials instead. Multiple credentials can be stored in the ~/.gem/credentials file. Example:

---
:rubygems_api_key: 2a0b460650e67d9b85a60e183defa376
:example_key: "Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA=="

Should you need to delete a credential (due to a bad login/password for example), you can open the ~/.gem/credentials in your default editor and remove the line(s) you don't need. Upon next publish of your gem, you'll be prompted for the missing credentials.

Promotion

Once your gem is released, you might want to let the world know about your accomplishment:

Troubleshooting

When running bundle exec rake install or bundle exec rake publish with modified, staged, or uncommitted Git changes, the rake task will throw an error to this effect. When this occurs, it is recommended that you commit your changes or stash them before proceeding.

Versioning

Read Semantic Versioning for details. Briefly, it means:

  • Patch (x.y.Z) - Incremented for small, backwards compatible, bug fixes.
  • Minor (x.Y.z) - Incremented for new, backwards compatible, public API enhancements/fixes.
  • Major (X.y.z) - Incremented for any backwards incompatible public API changes.

Code of Conduct

Please note that this project is released with a CODE OF CONDUCT. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.

Contributions

Read CONTRIBUTING for details.

License

Copyright (c) 2011 Alchemists. Read LICENSE for details.

History

Read CHANGES for details.

Credits

Developed by Brooke Kuhlmann at Alchemists.