gem_server & lingon on os x leopard

hi folks. been gone for a while, but an intercontinental house move followed by a switch of operating systems can take its toll. i hope to be posting a little bit more regularly from now on.

gem_server for those not in the know is a small http server which displays which ruby gems you have installed, as well as their documentation. you may have noticed that gem_server is not installed by default on os x leopard (i'm running 10.5.3). you don't need it though because you can now just write:

$ gem server

to get it to start up automatically when you log in, just download a great little app for writing launchd plists called lingon.

once you have that installed just start'er up and hit the '+' sign at the top left. choose 'my agents' (or one of the other options if you prefer).

then under 'Name' write:

com.yourname.gem_server

and under 'What', write (note the space):

gem server

then make sure that 'Enabled' and 'Run it when it is loaded by the system' are both checked (if you click on the pic above you can see a more detailed screenshot). hit save, give your password, and then log off, back on, and in your browser go to:

http://localhost:8808/

and voila!