Gemsmith

A command line interface for smithing new Ruby gems.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Screencasts
• Requirements
• Setup
• Usage
  • Command Line Interface (CLI)
  • Rake
• Tests
• Security
  • Git Signing Key
  • Gem Certificates
• Private Gem Servers
  • Gem Specification Metadata
  • RubyGems Credentials
  • Generating Credentials
• Promotion
• Versioning
• Code of Conduct
• Contributions
• License
• History
• Credits

Features

• Builds a gem skeleton with enhanced Bundler functionality.
• Uses Milestoner for consistent project/gem versioning.
• Uses Tocer for README table of contents generation.
• Uses common settings and a structured layout for building new gems.
• Supports Thor.
• Supports Ruby on Rails.
• Supports Pry.
• Supports Guard.
• Supports RSpec.
• Supports Rubocop.
• Supports GitHub.
• Supports Code Climate.
• Supports Gemnasium.
• Supports Travis CI.
• Supports Patreon.
• Adds commonly needed README, CHANGELOG, CONTRIBUTING, CODE OF CONDUCT, LICENSE, etc. documentation.
• Provides the ability to open the source code of any gem within your favorite editor.
• Provides the ability to read the documentation of any gem within your default browser.

Screencasts

Requirements

1. A UNIX-based system.
2. Ruby 2.3.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

...using the following settings (as a simple example):

:author:
  :name: "Joe Smith"
  :email: "joe@example.com"
  :url: "https://www.example.com"
:organization:
  :name: "ExampleSoft"
  :url: "https://www.example.com"

The following defaults are used when no options are configured:

:year: <current year>
:github_user: <git config GitHub user>
:gem:
  :platform: "Gem::Platform::RUBY"
  :home_url: ""
  :license: "MIT"
  :private_key: "~/.ssh/gem-private.pem"
  :public_key: "~/.ssh/gem-public.pem"
:author:
  :name: <git config user name>
  :email: <git config user email>
  :url: ""
:organization:
  :name: ""
  :url: ""
:versions:
  :ruby: <current Ruby version>
  :rails: "4.2"
:create:
  :cli: false
  :rails: false
  :security: true
  :pry: true
  :guard: true
  :rspec: true
  :rubocop: true
  :code_climate: true
  :gemnasium: true
  :travis: true
  :patreon: true

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, [--create=CREATE]  # Create new gem.
gemsmith -e, [--edit]           # Edit Gemsmith settings in default editor.
gemsmith -h, [--help=HELP]      # Show this message or get help for a command.
gemsmith -o, [--open=OPEN]      # Open a gem in default editor.
gemsmith -r, [--read=READ]      # Open a gem in default browser.
gemsmith -v, [--version]        # Show Gemsmith version.

For more gem creation options, type: gemsmith --help --create

-c, [--cli], [--no-cli]                    # Add CLI support.
-r, [--rails], [--no-rails]                # Add Rails support.
-S, [--security], [--no-security]          # Add security support.
                                           # Default: true
-p, [--pry], [--no-pry]                    # Add Pry support.
                                           # Default: true
-g, [--guard], [--no-guard]                # Add Guard support.
                                           # Default: true
-s, [--rspec], [--no-rspec]                # Add RSpec support.
                                           # Default: true
-R, [--rubocop], [--no-rubocop]            # Add Rubocop support.
                                           # Default: true
-H, [--git-hub], [--no-git-hub]            # Add GitHub support.
-C, [--code-climate], [--no-code-climate]  # Add Code Climate support.
                                           # Default: true
-G, [--gemnasium], [--no-gemnasium]        # Add Gemnasium support.
                                           # Default: true
-t, [--travis], [--no-travis]              # Add Travis CI support.
                                           # Default: true
-P, [--patreon], [--no-patreon]            # Add Patreon support.
                                           # Default: true

Rake

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

rake build                 # Build example-0.1.0.gem into the pkg directory
rake clean                 # Remove any temporary products / Clean gem artifacts
rake clobber               # Remove any generated files
rake console               # Open IRB console for gem development environment
rake doc                   # Update README (table of contents)
rake install               # Build and install example-0.1.0.gem into system gems
rake install:local         # Build and install example-0.1.0.gem into system gems without network access
rake publish               # Build, tag v0.1.0 (signed), and push example-0.1.0.gem to RubyGems
rake release[remote]       # Build, tag v0.1.0 (unsigned), and push example-0.1.0.gem to RubyGems
rake rubocop               # Run RuboCop
rake rubocop:auto_correct  # Auto-correct RuboCop offenses
rake spec                  # Run RSpec code examples

Out of all Rake tasks listed above, the following are provided by Bundler and enhanced by Gemsmith:

rake build - Cleans and regenerates the README table of contents in addition to building the gem.
rake install - Inherits the `build` modifications mentioned above.
rake install:local - Inherits the `build` modifications mentioned above.
rake release - Identical to the `publish` tasks but does not securely sign the Git tag.

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

1. gem uninstall <your gem name>
2. bundle exec rake install
3. Test your gem locally.
4. Repeat until satisfied.

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

bundle exec rake publish

Alternatively, you can run bundle exec rake release if you don't wish to sign your gem releases (i.e default Bundler behavior) but the added security that publish provides is strongly recommended.

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 you@example.com
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:

• RubyGems
• A Practical Guide to Using Signed Ruby Gems - Part 1: Bundler
• A Practical Guide to Using Signed Ruby Gems - Part 2: Heroku

Private Gem Servers

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

rake release
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.metadata = {
    "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.

RubyGems Credentials

The "example_key" defined within the gem specification, mentioned above, must be defined withing your ~/.gem/credentials file and should look like this:

---
:example_key: "Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA=="

The "example_key" must be a symbol (hence the double colons) due to RubyGems requirements.

Generating Credentials

RubyGems uses an Authorization HTTP header when pushing a gem to a remote server. This can be an API key, HTTP Basic Auth, etc. When pushing a gem to RubyGems, you'll want to use the API key associated with your account. If that is the case, you're credentials would contain the following:

---
:rubygems_api_key: 2a0b460650e67d9b85a60e183defa376

For a server that might use HTTP Basic auth, you can generate the key value by launching IRB and running the following:

require "net/http"
Net::HTTP::Get.new("http://gems.example.com").basic_auth "user", "password"

The URL is arbitrary but the user and password should be your account credentials. The output, from running the code above, should look like the following:

["Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA=="]

You can then add this value to your credentials file like so:

---
:example_key: "Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA=="

You can add multiple accounts to your RubyGems credentials (there is no limit to the number of accounts you might need to have access to). Example:

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

Promotion

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

• How to Spread the Word About Your Code
• RubyFlow

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 and/or bug 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 the LICENSE for details.

History

Read the CHANGELOG for details.

Credits

Developed by Brooke Kuhlmann at Alchemists.