Rails - Apr 2006 - pre compiled gnu scientific library for win one-click-installer

hi all-

after a but of hacking with msys and mingw i think i''ve compiled an
easy to
install version of the rb-gsl bindings.  for those of you who don''t
know what
these are, the gnu scientific library (gsl) is by far the best collection of
open source algorithms for scientific computing available.  you can read about
the gsl and ruby bindings to it here

   http://www.gnu.org/software/gsl/manual/html_node/
   http://rb-gsl.rubyforge.org/

the installer also installs the amazing narray package, which integrates
nicely with the gsl

   http://narray.rubyforge.org/index.html.en


this is the first thing i''ve compiled using the msys/mingw approach so
i''m not
100% certain that my approach -- which i''ll be writing up on the
sciruby wiki
(http://sciruby.codeforpeople.com) in a few days and which applies to
compiling any posix package under windows in a way that''s one-click
compatible
-- is the best one.

because of this please consider this pre-release experimental.  the purpose of
my releasing it now is to uncover any gotchas before writing up the process
for others to follow.


here are the steps to install

   - download this tar ball

       http://codeforpeople.com/lib/ruby/rb-gsl-win/rb-gsl-1.7.0.tgz

   - unpack using winzip, etc.  if using winzip be aware that you need to tweak
     your options as the defaults will destroy valid tar balls.  this is a
     ''feature'' of winzip.

       http://www.humboldt.edu/~salab/dem_winzip.html

   - cd do the directory you just unpacked and run

       ruby install.rb

that''s it.


you should now be able to run something like this from the dos prompt


   > set RUBYOPT

   > c:\ruby\bin\ruby -r gsl -e''  p GSL::Rng.new.uniform  ''


which print out a random numder.  it''s important to unset the RUBYOPT
environment variable as the gsl and rubygems have a naming conflict with the
Rational class that i''ve not yet found a resolution too.

i''m in uncharted territory here so any and all comments are welcome.

enjoy.

-a
-- 
be kind whenever possible... it is always possible.
- h.h. the 14th dali lama