Nani!?

Yes, your approach should work, as Ruby's gem resolution system will prefer a locally vendored gem if it is available before falling back to fetching and installing the remote version. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to accomplish this:

Step 1: Create an Empty Gem

You can create an empty gem with the same name as the gem you want to "erase." Here's how to do it:

1. Generate the empty gem:

   bash bundle gem erased_gem_name --skip-test --skip-git --skip-coc --skip-ci

   Replace erased_gem_name with the name of the gem you want to override.

2. Update the gemspec file:

   • Edit erased_gem_name.gemspec to have only the minimal requirements.

   ruby Gem::Specification.new do |spec| spec.name = "erased_gem_name" spec.version = "0.0.1" spec.summary = "An empty gem to override the real one." spec.authors = ["Your Name"] spec.email = ["you@example.com"] spec.files = [] spec.license = "MIT" end

3. Build the gem:

   bash gem build erased_gem_name.gemspec

4. Vendor the gem into your project:

   • Create a vendor/gems directory (or similar) in your project, and copy the generated gem file into this directory.

Step 2: Modify the Gemfile

Update your Gemfile to point to your vendored gem:

ruby gem 'erased_gem_name', path: 'vendor/gems/erased_gem_name-0.0.1.gem'

Step 3: Override the Dependency

In your Gemfile, specify your "erased" gem as a direct dependency so it satisfies the constraints of the transitive dependency.

For example, if you have a gem expensive_gem which is included as a transitive dependency and has a constraint like >= 1.0, make sure your vendored erased_gem_name meets that constraint. You can adjust the version number in the gemspec if necessary.

ruby gem 'expensive_gem', '>= 1.0', path: 'vendor/gems/erased_gem_name-0.0.1.gem'

Step 4: Install and Test

Run bundle install to make sure the dependency is correctly overridden:

bash bundle install

Then verify that bundle show or bundle list points to your vendored gem instead of the remote gem.

Important Considerations

• Dependency Version Conflicts: Ensure that your "erased" gem’s version satisfies all the constraints of its dependents. If not, Bundler may still try to install the remote gem.
• Name Clashes: Be cautious if there are other gems or parts of your application that depend on the original gem’s functionality. Your empty gem won’t provide any methods or modules, which might cause LoadError or NoMethodError exceptions in such cases.

This approach is suitable if the goal is simply to skip installing the remote gem and its dependencies while avoiding breaking the dependency graph.