Building Native Extensions - This Could Take A While

Explore the intricacies of building native extensions in Ruby through this 30-minute conference talk from RubyConf 2021. Delve into the techniques and toolchain used for shipping native versions of gems, with a focus on Nokogiri as a case study. Learn about the benefits of "native gems" containing pre-compiled libraries, which lead to faster and more reliable installation experiences. Discover how to build native versions of your own gems as a maintainer, and understand how to effectively use and deploy pre-compiled packages as a developer. Gain insights into common problems, third-party libraries, security updates, and the importance of human trust in the process. Examine the impact of native extensions on installation time, support issues, and user satisfaction. Prepare to enhance your understanding of Ruby gem development and deployment strategies.