Rails - Jun 2005 - What's the best way to get access to class_inheritable_*?

I''m working on Lucas Carlson''s Payment module and thought that
some
class_inheritable attributes would be handy for setting defaults for  
the various gateways.  But the payment module won''t always be used in  
conjunction with Rails--it should be able to stand on its own for  
anyone to use in any project.

What would you suggest is the best way to gain access to the  
class_inheritable_hash (and other) methods in a way that neither  
conflicts with nor requires Rails?  And preferably DRY, if I can have  
my cake and eat it too :)

I can think of three options (none of which is perfectly satisfactory):
1. Duplicate the ClassInheritableAttributes code and add it to the  
payment module (conflicts?)
2. Make ClassInheritableAttributes its own gem that can be depended on
3. Include ClassInheritableAttributes if and only if it exists,  
making any functionality that depends on it optional.

oh, or,

4. Get ClassInheritableAttributes included in to the Ruby core :)

Thanks for your feedback,

Duane Johnson
(canadaduane)