Changes/SplitRubyBuild

Split ruby-build

Summary

The ruby-build package will be split into a main package and several subpackages (ruby-build-jruby, ruby-build-truffleruby, ...). This allows users to install only the build dependencies required for their specific Ruby implementation, significantly reducing the default installation size and dependency footprint.

Owner

• Name: Mikel Olasagasti
• Email: mikel@olasagasti.info

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 44
• Last updated: 2026-01-13
• Announced
• Discussion thread
• FESCo issue: #3527
• Tracker bug: #2429151
• Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

Motivation

Currently, the ruby-build spec file utilizes a comprehensive list of Recommends to ensure all possible Ruby implementations can be built. This monolithic approach forces the package manager to pull in a massive dependency chain by default.

For example, a default installation of ruby-build (which is a 323 KiB package) currently results in a transaction of 146 packages, requiring 404 MiB of downloads and occupying 2 GiB of disk space.

# dnf install ruby-build
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Package                             Arch      Version                             Repository              Size
Installing:
 ruby-build                         x86_64    0:20251023-1.fc44                   rawhide            323.4 KiB
Installing dependencies:
 alsa-lib                           x86_64    0:1.2.15-4.fc44                     rawhide              1.5 MiB
 avahi-libs                         x86_64    0:0.9~rc2-6.fc43                    rawhide            171.6 KiB
 binutils                           x86_64    0:2.45.50-9.fc44                    rawhide             27.0 MiB
 clang-libs                         x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide            114.9 MiB
 clang-resource-filesystem          x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide             15.3 KiB
 cmake-filesystem                   x86_64    0:3.31.10-3.fc44                    rawhide              0.0   B
 cpp                                x86_64    0:15.2.1-5.fc44                     rawhide             38.0 MiB
 cups-filesystem                    noarch    1:2.4.16-4.fc44                     rawhide              0.0   B
 cups-libs                          x86_64    1:2.4.16-4.fc44                     rawhide            618.4 KiB
 dbus-libs                          x86_64    1:1.16.0-4.fc43                     rawhide            345.5 KiB
 ed                                 x86_64    0:1.22.3-1.fc44                     rawhide            148.9 KiB
 elfutils-debuginfod-client         x86_64    0:0.194-2.fc44                      rawhide             84.0 KiB
 expat                              x86_64    0:2.7.3-1.fc44                      rawhide            301.1 KiB
 gcc                                x86_64    0:15.2.1-5.fc44                     rawhide            111.9 MiB
 gcc-c++                            x86_64    0:15.2.1-5.fc44                     rawhide             41.4 MiB
 glibc-devel                        x86_64    0:2.42.9000-16.fc44                 rawhide              2.3 MiB
 groff-base                         x86_64    0:1.23.0-11.fc44                    rawhide              3.8 MiB
 info                               x86_64    0:7.2-7.fc44                        rawhide            357.9 KiB
 jansson                            x86_64    0:2.14-3.fc43                       rawhide             89.1 KiB
 javapackages-filesystem            noarch    0:6.4.1-4.fc44                      rawhide              2.0 KiB
 kernel-headers                     x86_64    0:6.19.0-0.rc1.15.fc44              rawhide              6.9 MiB
 libedit                            x86_64    0:3.1-57.20251016cvs.fc44           rawhide            240.2 KiB
 libedit-devel                      x86_64    0:3.1-57.20251016cvs.fc44           rawhide             59.4 KiB
 libmpc                             x86_64    0:1.3.1-8.fc43                      rawhide            160.6 KiB
 libpkgconf                         x86_64    0:2.3.0-3.fc43                      rawhide             78.1 KiB
 libstdc++-devel                    x86_64    0:15.2.1-5.fc44                     rawhide             37.2 MiB
 libxcrypt-devel                    x86_64    0:4.5.2-2.fc44                      rawhide             31.0 KiB
 libzstd-devel                      x86_64    0:1.5.7-3.fc44                      rawhide            217.6 KiB
 lksctp-tools                       x86_64    0:1.0.21-2.fc44                     rawhide            251.0 KiB
 llvm                               x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide             89.3 MiB
 llvm-filesystem                    x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide              0.0   B
 llvm-googletest                    x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide              2.4 MiB
 llvm-libs                          x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide            138.6 MiB
 llvm-static                        x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide            377.5 MiB
 llvm-test                          x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide              2.3 MiB
 make                               x86_64    1:4.4.1-11.fc43                     rawhide              1.8 MiB
 mpdecimal                          x86_64    0:4.0.1-2.fc43                      rawhide            217.2 KiB
 ncurses                            x86_64    0:6.5-8.20250614.fc44               rawhide            609.8 KiB
 ncurses-c++-libs                   x86_64    0:6.5-8.20250614.fc44               rawhide            153.6 KiB
 nspr                               x86_64    0:4.38.2-1.fc44                     rawhide            315.5 KiB
 nss                                x86_64    0:3.119.0-1.fc44                    rawhide              1.9 MiB
 nss-softokn                        x86_64    0:3.119.0-1.fc44                    rawhide              2.0 MiB
 nss-softokn-freebl                 x86_64    0:3.119.0-1.fc44                    rawhide            990.8 KiB
 nss-sysinit                        x86_64    0:3.119.0-1.fc44                    rawhide             18.1 KiB
 nss-util                           x86_64    0:3.119.0-1.fc44                    rawhide            204.8 KiB
 perl-AutoLoader                    noarch    0:5.74-520.fc43                     rawhide             20.6 KiB
 perl-B                             x86_64    0:1.89-520.fc43                     rawhide            501.3 KiB
 perl-Carp                          noarch    0:1.54-520.fc43                     rawhide             46.6 KiB
 perl-Class-Struct                  noarch    0:0.68-520.fc43                     rawhide             25.4 KiB
 perl-Data-Dumper                   x86_64    0:2.191-521.fc43                    rawhide            115.6 KiB
 perl-Digest                        noarch    0:1.20-520.fc43                     rawhide             35.3 KiB
 perl-Digest-MD5                    x86_64    0:2.59-520.fc43                     rawhide             59.7 KiB
 perl-DynaLoader                    x86_64    0:1.57-520.fc43                     rawhide             32.1 KiB
 perl-Encode                        x86_64    4:3.21-520.fc43                     rawhide              4.7 MiB
 perl-Errno                         x86_64    0:1.38-520.fc43                     rawhide              8.4 KiB
 perl-Exporter                      noarch    0:5.79-520.fc43                     rawhide             54.3 KiB
 perl-Fcntl                         x86_64    0:1.20-520.fc43                     rawhide             48.8 KiB
 perl-File-Basename                 noarch    0:2.86-520.fc43                     rawhide             14.0 KiB
 perl-File-Path                     noarch    0:2.18-521.fc44                     rawhide             63.5 KiB
 perl-File-Temp                     noarch    1:0.231.200-1.fc44                  rawhide            163.7 KiB
 perl-File-stat                     noarch    0:1.14-520.fc43                     rawhide             12.5 KiB
 perl-FileHandle                    noarch    0:2.05-520.fc43                     rawhide              9.4 KiB
 perl-Getopt-Long                   noarch    1:2.58-520.fc43                     rawhide            144.5 KiB
 perl-Getopt-Std                    noarch    0:1.14-520.fc43                     rawhide             11.2 KiB
 perl-HTTP-Tiny                     noarch    0:0.090-521.fc43                    rawhide            154.4 KiB
 perl-IO                            x86_64    0:1.55-520.fc43                     rawhide            147.4 KiB
 perl-IO-Socket-IP                  noarch    0:0.43-521.fc43                     rawhide            100.3 KiB
 perl-IO-Socket-SSL                 noarch    0:2.095-2.fc43                      rawhide            714.5 KiB
 perl-IPC-Open3                     noarch    0:1.24-520.fc43                     rawhide             27.7 KiB
 perl-MIME-Base32                   noarch    0:1.303-24.fc43                     rawhide             30.7 KiB
 perl-MIME-Base64                   x86_64    0:3.16-520.fc43                     rawhide             42.0 KiB
 perl-Net-SSLeay                    x86_64    0:1.94-11.fc43                      rawhide              1.3 MiB
 perl-POSIX                         x86_64    0:2.23-520.fc43                     rawhide            231.4 KiB
 perl-PathTools                     x86_64    0:3.94-520.fc43                     rawhide            180.0 KiB
 perl-Pod-Escapes                   noarch    1:1.07-520.fc43                     rawhide             24.9 KiB
 perl-Pod-Perldoc                   noarch    0:3.28.01-521.fc43                  rawhide            163.7 KiB
 perl-Pod-Simple                    noarch    1:3.47-3.fc43                       rawhide            565.3 KiB
 perl-Pod-Usage                     noarch    4:2.05-520.fc43                     rawhide             86.3 KiB
 perl-Scalar-List-Utils             x86_64    5:1.70-1.fc43                       rawhide            144.9 KiB
 perl-SelectSaver                   noarch    0:1.02-520.fc43                     rawhide              2.2 KiB
 perl-Socket                        x86_64    4:2.040-2.fc43                      rawhide            120.3 KiB
 perl-Storable                      x86_64    1:3.37-521.fc43                     rawhide            231.2 KiB
 perl-Symbol                        noarch    0:1.09-520.fc43                     rawhide              6.8 KiB
 perl-Term-ANSIColor                noarch    0:5.01-521.fc43                     rawhide             97.5 KiB
 perl-Term-Cap                      noarch    0:1.18-520.fc43                     rawhide             29.3 KiB
 perl-Text-ParseWords               noarch    0:3.31-520.fc43                     rawhide             13.6 KiB
 perl-Text-Tabs+Wrap                noarch    0:2024.001-520.fc43                 rawhide             22.6 KiB
 perl-Time-Local                    noarch    2:1.350-520.fc43                    rawhide             69.0 KiB
 perl-URI                           noarch    0:5.34-2.fc44                       rawhide            268.0 KiB
 perl-base                          noarch    0:2.27-520.fc43                     rawhide             12.6 KiB
 perl-constant                      noarch    0:1.33-521.fc43                     rawhide             26.2 KiB
 perl-if                            noarch    0:0.61.000-520.fc43                 rawhide              5.8 KiB
 perl-interpreter                   x86_64    4:5.42.0-520.fc43                   rawhide            118.6 KiB
 perl-libnet                        noarch    0:3.15-521.fc43                     rawhide            289.4 KiB
 perl-libs                          x86_64    4:5.42.0-520.fc43                   rawhide             11.5 MiB
 perl-locale                        noarch    0:1.13-520.fc43                     rawhide              6.1 KiB
 perl-mro                           x86_64    0:1.29-520.fc43                     rawhide             41.6 KiB
 perl-overload                      noarch    0:1.40-520.fc43                     rawhide             71.6 KiB
 perl-overloading                   noarch    0:0.02-520.fc43                     rawhide              4.9 KiB
 perl-parent                        noarch    1:0.244-520.fc43                    rawhide             10.3 KiB
 perl-podlators                     noarch    1:6.0.2-520.fc43                    rawhide            317.5 KiB
 perl-vars                          noarch    0:1.05-520.fc43                     rawhide              3.9 KiB
 pkgconf                            x86_64    0:2.3.0-3.fc43                      rawhide             88.5 KiB
 pkgconf-m4                         noarch    0:2.3.0-3.fc43                      rawhide             14.4 KiB
 pkgconf-pkg-config                 x86_64    0:2.3.0-3.fc43                      rawhide            989.0   B
 python-pip-wheel                   noarch    0:25.3-1.fc44                       rawhide              1.2 MiB
 python3                            x86_64    0:3.14.2-1.fc44                     rawhide             28.9 KiB
 python3-libs                       x86_64    0:3.14.2-1.fc44                     rawhide             43.1 MiB
 ruby-default-gems                  noarch    0:3.4.7-28.fc44                     rawhide             66.1 KiB
 ruby-libs                          x86_64    0:3.4.7-28.fc44                     rawhide             15.1 MiB
 rubygem-io-console                 x86_64    0:0.8.1-28.fc44                     rawhide             33.2 KiB
 rubygem-irb                        noarch    0:1.14.3-28.fc44                    rawhide            290.3 KiB
 rubygem-json                       x86_64    0:2.15.1-1.fc44                     rawhide            222.3 KiB
 rubygem-psych                      x86_64    0:5.2.2-28.fc44                     rawhide            132.6 KiB
 rubygem-rbs                        x86_64    0:3.8.0-28.fc44                     rawhide              5.0 MiB
 rubygem-rdoc                       noarch    0:6.14.2-201.fc44                   rawhide              1.9 MiB
 rubygems                           noarch    0:3.6.9-28.fc44                     rawhide              1.4 MiB
 rubypick                           noarch    0:1.1.1-23.fc43                     rawhide              4.4 KiB
 rust-std-static                    x86_64    0:1.92.0-1.fc44                     rawhide            165.6 MiB
 tzdata-java                        noarch    0:2025c-1.fc44                      rawhide            100.2 KiB
Installing weak dependencies:
 clang                              x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide             65.5 MiB
 compiler-rt                        x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide             41.0 MiB
 gdbm-devel                         x86_64    1:1.23-10.fc43                      rawhide             82.0 KiB
 java-25-openjdk-headless           x86_64    1:25.0.1.0.8-1.fc44                 rawhide            236.3 MiB
 libatomic                          x86_64    0:15.2.1-5.fc44                     rawhide             36.7 KiB
 libffi-devel                       x86_64    0:3.5.2-1.fc44                      rawhide             33.9 KiB
 libomp                             x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide              2.8 MiB
 libomp-devel                       x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide              1.5 MiB
 libyaml-devel                      x86_64    0:0.2.5-17.fc43                     rawhide              1.1 MiB
 llvm-devel                         x86_64    0:21.1.7-1.fc44                     rawhide             33.5 MiB
 ncurses-devel                      x86_64    0:6.5-8.20250614.fc44               rawhide            893.4 KiB
 openssl-devel                      x86_64    1:3.5.4-1.fc44                      rawhide              4.6 MiB
 patch                              x86_64    0:2.8-3.fc44                        rawhide            226.6 KiB
 perl-File-Compare                  noarch    0:1.100.800-520.fc43                rawhide              5.6 KiB
 perl-FindBin                       noarch    0:1.54-520.fc43                     rawhide              6.8 KiB
 perl-NDBM_File                     x86_64    0:1.18-520.fc43                     rawhide             28.5 KiB
 python-unversioned-command         noarch    0:3.14.2-1.fc44                     rawhide             23.0   B
 readline-devel                     x86_64    0:8.3-2.fc43                        rawhide            595.8 KiB
 ruby                               x86_64    0:3.4.7-28.fc44                     rawhide             85.5 KiB
 ruby-bundled-gems                  x86_64    0:3.4.7-28.fc44                     rawhide              2.2 MiB
 rubygem-bigdecimal                 x86_64    0:3.1.8-28.fc44                     rawhide            134.7 KiB
 rubygem-bundler                    noarch    0:2.6.9-28.fc44                     rawhide              1.5 MiB
 rubygem-rake                       noarch    0:13.3.0-101.fc43                   rawhide            134.1 KiB
 rust                               x86_64    0:1.92.0-1.fc44                     rawhide             93.5 MiB
 zlib-ng-compat-devel               x86_64    0:2.3.2-2.fc44                      rawhide            107.0 KiB

Transaction Summary:
 Installing:       146 packages

Total size of inbound packages is 404 MiB. Need to download 404 MiB.
After this operation, 2 GiB extra will be used (install 2 GiB, remove 0 B).

This includes heavy dependencies like java-headless, rust, llvm, and clang, even if the user only intends to build a standard MRI Ruby version.

This is the content of the spec that pulls all those dependencies:

# ruby-build can build various ruby interpreters from source, which in turn can
# require additional dependencies
Recommends:     bzip2
Recommends:     clang
Recommends:     gdbm-devel
Recommends:     java-headless
Recommends:     libffi-devel
Recommends:     libyaml-devel
Recommends:     llvm-devel
Recommends:     make
Recommends:     ncurses-devel
Recommends:     openssl-devel
Recommends:     patch
Recommends:     perl-File-Compare
Recommends:     perl-FindBin
Recommends:     readline-devel
Recommends:     ruby
Recommends:     rubygem-rake
Recommends:     rust
Recommends:     zlib-devel

Proposed Solution

The ruby-build package works by providing a collection of build definition files (simple text files) located in /usr/share/ruby-build. Each file defines how to download and compile a specific version of a Ruby interpreter like 3.2.2, jruby-9.4.0.0 or truffleruby-22.3.

This proposal changes the packaging structure to split ruby-build into modular subpackages based on these definition types. Each subpackage will provide the necessary build dependencies for a specific subset of definition files, matched by naming patterns. This ensures that if a user only intends to build standard MRI Ruby, they are not forced to install the build chain for JRuby or TruffleRuby.

The new package structure will be as follows:

• ruby-build (Main Package)
  • Would be a meta-package requiring ruby-build-core and recommending ruby-build-ruby.

• ruby-build-core
  • Contains the core binary (/usr/bin/ruby-build) and the man page.
  • All target subpackages require this package and not ruby-build meta-package to avoid pulling ruby-build-ruby and its dependencies as recommended package.

• ruby-build-ruby
  • Targets standard MRI/CRuby versions (definitions matching ^[0-9]*).
  • Requires: gcc, perl-interpreter, perl(FindBin), perl(lib), perl(IPC::Cmd), perl(File::Compare), perl(File::Copy), zlib-ng-compat-devel, libffi-devel, libyaml-devel.

• ruby-build-jruby
  • Targets JRuby versions (definitions matching ^jruby).
  • Requires: java-latest-openjdk-headless, make, gcc-c++.

• ruby-build-mruby
  • Targets mruby versions (definitions matching ^mruby).
  • Requires: ruby, rubygem-rake.

• ruby-build-picoruby
  • Targets PicoRuby versions (definitions matching ^pico).
  • Requires: ruby, rubygem-rake, gcc, git-core.

• ruby-build-truffleruby
  • Targets TruffleRuby versions (definitions matching ^truffle).
  • Requires: gcc, libyaml-devel.

• ruby-build-others
  • Targets less common implementations available via rbenv install -L (such as rbx, ree, etc.).
  • Keeps the main dependency set clean.

• ruby-build-all
  • Metapackage to install all subpackages

• ruby-build-rbenv
  • Already exists
  • Contains the ruby-build plugin for rbenv

The dependency lists are optimized for modern releases of these Ruby implementations.

Benefit to Fedora

• Bloat Reduction: A default installation of ruby-build will drop from ~2 GiB to a few megabytes, respecting user resources.
• Modularity: Users and CI/CD systems can install exactly what they need without pulling in the entire Java ecosystem or Rust toolchain unnecessarily.
• Security: Reduces the attack surface on systems that do not need the JVM or legacy build tools.

Scope

• Proposal owners: Change the spec to create the subpackages.

• Other developers: Nothing

• Release engineering: Nothing

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Alignment with the Fedora Strategy:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

• The new package ruby-build-ruby would be installed and multiple dependencies could be removed from the system automatically as nothing else may depend on them.
• For users wanting to build a Ruby implementation other than CRuby would need to install the required subpackage to get the definitions.

Early Testing (Optional)

Test package available in Copr at https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/mikelo2/split-ruby-build/ and code at https://src.fedoraproject.org/fork/mikelo2/rpms/ruby-build/commits/split-rubybuild

How To Test

1. Install the package:

  dnf copr enable mikelo2/split-ruby-build
  dnf install ruby-build
  *Verify that it does NOT pull in java-headless or rust by default.*

2. Test Standard Ruby:

  dnf install rbenv
  rbenv install 3.4.8
  *This should work out of the box (via ruby-build-ruby).*

3. Test JRuby (Optional):

  rbenv install jruby-9.4.0.0
  *This should fail initially.*
  dnf install ruby-build-jruby
  rbenv install jruby-9.4.0.0
  *This should now succeed.*

User Experience

- Users will notice a significantly faster and smaller installation process for ruby-build. - Advanced users may need to manually install specific subpackages (like ruby-build-truffleruby) if they are working with non-standard Ruby implementations, but the vast majority of users (MRI Ruby) will see no change in workflow, only in disk savings.

Dependencies

N/A

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: Revert the changes to the spec file to the monolithic dependency list
• Contingency deadline: Beta Freeze
• Blocks release? No

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)