Issue #18948 has been updated by okuramasafumi (Masafumi OKURA). I'm convinced by Jeremy's argument. Please someone close this issue. ---------------------------------------- Feature #18948: Add `with_private_method` option to `private_constant` https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/18948#change-106123 * Author: okuramasafumi (Masafumi OKURA) * Status: Open * Priority: Normal ---------------------------------------- ## Problem I have the following code: ```ruby module M1 CONST = 'CONST'.freeze end module M2 def self.included(base) base.include M1 base.include InstanceMethods end module InstanceMethods def const?(value) M1::CONST == value end end end class C include M2 end C.new.const?('CONST') # => true ``` `M2` module "inherits" `M1` module using `included` hook. This code works, but I prefer making constants private. However, when I add `private_constant :CONST` to `M1` then the code doesn't work anymore since we cannot refer `M1::CONST`. ## Workaround One way to solve this is to define method that just returns the private constant. ```ruby # Refined version of M1 with `const` method module M1 CONST = 'CONST'.freeze private_constant :CONST private def const CONST end end # Refined version of M2, using `const` method inherited from M1 module M2 def self.included(base) base.include M1 base.include InstanceMethods end module InstanceMethods def const?(value) const == value end end end ``` This works anyway, but defining private method for every private constant could be cumbersome. ## Solution So my suggestion here is to add `with_private_method` option to `private_constant` method. The auto-generated private method has the same name as the given constant and just returns it. So we can do the following: ```ruby module M1 CONST = 'CONST'.freeze private_constant :CONST, with_private_method: true end ``` Now we can access `CONST` with `const` method. This makes is possible to refer private constants through private methods more easily, that helps some code like my example. -- https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/