I have opted to chime in only once before, but I follow this list closely. I have built many SDKs and frameworks over the years, and this might provide a good distinction here. MRI (and JRuby) are implementations of the Ruby language. It is always a give-and-take discussion about which features or libraries to ship with a language implementation, but I have to side with the 'lean' approach. This keeps the runtime from becoming too large, and helps avoid building dependencies on libraries that may be superseded in the not too distant future.
It sounds like this would be a great ancillary project to JRuby - building gems or all-in-one distributions that bundle JRuby with Rails and other Java/Ruby libraries (an Eclipse distribution would be a natural as well). There is growing interest in this "value-added" approach to bundling open source projects into "install and run" solutions for developers and end-users alike. My time is somewhat limited, but I would certainly consider initiating and contributing time to a project that creates and distributes bundled JRuby deployments. Especially if I can enlist the support and maybe some time from others on this list. From my reading on this list, the actual mechanics of building is neither terribly difficult nor (relatively) time-consuming. The real trick is coming to agreement on what to offer in terms of bundled solutions. But the Rails package is a no-brainer, and would represent a good way to kick off this project. But I don't want to step on anyone's feet - perhaps Charles/Thomas/Nick would prefer to keep these distros under their control. I would also add that the MS analogy is not a very good one. MS Visual Studio leverages functionality baked into the OS, and there are few willing to take on the daunting task of offering alternatives. The open source approach is about offering choices, and choice is more difficult than one size fits all solutions. A JRuby package that meets one developer's needs will not meet another's needs. But I'm sure it is possible to find some common denominators that -most- people will accept and work from there. -- Michael
