Shopify, Ruby Central, and the RubyGems/Bundler Takeover Date: 23 September 2025 Author: Joel Drapper --- Overview Ruby Central, a nonprofit operating key Ruby infrastructure, forcefully took control over RubyGems GitHub repositories and bundled Ruby gems from their longtime community maintainers without consent. This move was heavily influenced by Shopify's financial pressure, leading to a controversial board decision despite clear objections and alternative proposals from maintainers. --- Key Points Ruby Central was financially strained following the loss of a $250,000/year sponsorship by Sidekiq, who withdrew support due to Ruby Central platforming DHH at RailsConf 2025. Shopify demanded Ruby Central assume full control of: RubyGems GitHub repositories, Bundler, rubygems-update gems, threatening to pull funding otherwise. HSBT (Hiroshi Shibata), a Ruby core member, prematurely implemented the takeover by altering repository ownership and limiting maintainer permissions, adding Marty Haught as an owner without consultation. Maintainers were removed from access, including André Arko — a decade-long contributor and founder of Ruby Together. Despite warnings from Marty and maintainers about the takeover's community harm and ownership rights, the Ruby Central board voted to proceed. The takeover occurred on 9 September with key events continuing through mid-September including a Zoom meeting clarifying distinctions between RubyGems the open source project and the RubyGems Service hosted by Ruby Central. --- Distinction Between RubyGems Open Source and Service RubyGems (Source Code): Community-owned repositories maintained over decades. RubyGems Service: Production infrastructure running RubyGems code, operated and funded by Ruby Central. Ruby Central's financial and operational control over the service does not equate to ownership of the source code, which remains community stewarded. --- Events Timeline 9 September: Ownership changes made by HSBT, rejected by maintainers. 15 September: Partial rollback by HSBT after discussions. 17 September: Meeting between RubyGems maintainers and Marty Haught focusing on operational plans and risk concerns. 18 September: Maintainers removed from GitHub and gem ownership; André Arko’s access revoked while on call. 19 September: Ellen broke the news of the takeover publicly. 21 September: Ruby Central board member Freedom Dumlao publicly supports the decision citing financial pressures. 23 September: Ruby Central releases official statements and a video message from Executive Director Shan Cureton. --- Financial and Political Pressure Shopify became Ruby Central's dominant funder after Sidekiq's sponsorship withdrawal. Shopify pressured Ruby Central with a hard ultimatum tying financial survival to taking control of the RubyGems codebase. Shopify requested exclusion of specific maintainers, particularly André Arko. Ruby Central board members describe the decision as necessary to avoid shutdown without explicitly naming Shopify's role in public statements. --- Community Response and Misrepresentations Ruby Central's public communications mix the RubyGems project and RubyGems Service, blurring true ownership. DHH retweeted Ruby Central’s official stance supporting the takeover. Some Ruby Central and Shopify employees publicly defended the takeover as securing the "supply chain," despite this not being a documented risk by maintainers. Board members mischaracterized community discontent and ignored the voluntary nature of maintainers' contributions. --- Alternative Developments: Spinel and rv André Arko and Samuel Giddins co-founded Spinel, a cooperative developing rv, a new Ruby version and dependency manager tool designed to modernize and replace existing tooling (rvm, rbenv, bundler, rubygems, etc.). Shopify and some Rails core