[ruby-core:121510] [Ruby Feature#14565] Simpler, one-liner, failsafe require in ruby? [Suggested names: require_failsafe, require_safe, require_try, require_add)

2 Apr 2025

      Issue #14565 has been updated by jeromedalbert (Jerome Dalbert).

I like this feature request, a non-failing require would be great for gems that optionally depend on another gem.

For example:

```ruby
begin
  require 'rubocop-rspec'
rescue LoadError
end

if defined?(RuboCop::RSpec)
  # ...
end
```

could be turned into something like this

```ruby
if require('rubocop-rspec', exception: false)
  # ...
end
```

----------------------------------------
Feature #14565: Simpler, one-liner, failsafe require in ruby? [Suggested names: require_failsafe, require_safe, require_try, require_add)
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/14565#change-112532

* Author: shevegen (Robert A. Heiler)
* Status: Open
----------------------------------------
I have quite a bit of code like this:

```ruby
begin
  require 'x/tools/cdrskin.rb'
rescue LoadError; end
```

I also use the longer variant, e.g.,

```ruby
begin
  require 'foobar'
rescue LoadError
  puts 'project foobar is not available - consider '\
    'installing it via gem install foobar'
end
```

Often, I do not need to inform the user about missing gems/projects that are tiny and not very important. In my larger ruby projects, I handle cases where a smaller project is not available or available, so I can proceed either way. It is a bit pointless to notify the user when that is me; that is why I would like to have a one-liner.

I am thinking of an API such as any of the following:

    require_failsafe
    require_safe
    require_try
    require_add

This is for loading with a rescue LoadError without notification. If I need to notify a user then I am fine with the longer variant.

If anyone has better names, feel free to add them! I think people are more likely to remember the require-family, e. g. require 'foo.rb' or require_relative 'bar.rb' and so forth.

---

I also wanted to propose a stronger `require`/`import`, including the possibility to refer to `.rb` files without a hardcoded path (if the .rb file is moved,
all explicit requires to it, in particular from external projects, would have to change; and my vague idea is to replace this with some kind of project-specific way to
"label" files and load these files based on these "labels", but that is for another suggestion; I only want to mention it because Hiroshi Shibata made some suggestion as extension to require, and I think the use case he mentioned may also be useful to see whether ruby may get a stronger "load code in files" functionality for ruby 3.x eventually).

-- 
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