Great Day for Ruby Programming (and Our Test Team)

While reviewing some Ruby blogs and forums, I found

http://www.beginnerruby.com/ruby-executables/package-ruby-scripts-as-executables-with-ocra/

This information on the ocra Ruby gem is breathing new life into our scripting program.  Using Ocra, we can package our Ruby scripts into executables that we can distribute easily.  Ocra creates .exe files that include references to all the related files and Ruby gems used in a script.  These executables can be run on machines without worrying about any dependencies -- you don't even need to install ruby on a machine.  This is one of the most liberating things I have seen in a while.

Since we started with our Ruby study on the test team, we have developed utilities ranging from a services testing framework to a utility for updating expected results for automated tests to another utility for releasing locks in our QC/QPT tests.  These utilities are great, but they suffered because it is a bother to install ruby, all the associated gems, and referenced files on each machine.  Because it is a bother (we are sort of lazy), we often didn't do it, and the great work we did gathered dust.

Using Ocra today, we created executables, and this great work from the past year came back to life.  After we verified that this gem works (thanks Josh), it is hard not to get excited about the possibilities.  We developed libraries in our bigger projects (the services test framework, most noteably) that we have referenced in other projects.  Now, I am thinking of other places we can use these resources.

It is all coming together.  The test team with the biggest tool kit wins.  Death to boring work.