JFrog has announced an augmentation to its Artifactory binary repository management solution so that the product now supports RubyGems programming language packages.
If you accept that programmers have a hard time trying to properly store, manage, and share gems using source control systems, then there could be good reason for this development to arrive if users have been previously relying on RubyGems.org for all their needs.
Developers need a place to host gems that are not available in RubyGems, says JFrog. Artifactory is built to serve as a resource for hosting and management on the basis that gems themselves are binaries.
Benefits include a proxy of remote RubyGems to host gems from RubyGems.org along with local hosting so that Artifactory can act as a local repository — in this way it is able to host gems developers don't want to put on RubyGems.org, for any reason.
Also featured is virtual management to aggregate any number of remote, local and virtual repositories under a single URL. Authentication and authorization controls are included to help create schemes that allow controlling permissions on repositories per users and/or group, including integration with external authorization services.
"We're happy to give the millions of Artifactory users additional support for RubyGems and also give niche Ruby developers a repository more suited to their programming needs," said Ron Mamo, senior developer at JFrog. "There's something the Ruby community can borrow from the 'dark Java Enterprise' side — the proper binary repository. And we have one that fits that need perfectly."
NOTE: Artifactory is a repository manager for downloadable software artifacts; it enables fast searches; workflow management of build artifacts; advanced REST API and pluggability; enhanced integration with ecosystem tools for release management; and a user experience designed to make it easy for developers to create, share/manage content, and collaborate within their ecosystem.
