1 files changed, 12 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/lib/rubygems/util.rb b/lib/rubygems/util.rb
index 9642839cfc..daa9775b08 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/util.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/util.rb
@@ -66,15 +66,26 @@ module Gem::Util
     end
   end
 
+  NULL_DEVICE = defined?(IO::NULL) ? IO::NULL : Gem.win_platform? ? 'NUL' : '/dev/null'
+
   ##
   # Invokes system, but silences all output.
 
   def self.silent_system *command
+    opt = {:out => NULL_DEVICE, :err => [:child, :out]}
+    if Hash === command.last
+      opt.update(command.last)
+      cmds = command[0...-1]
+    else
+      cmds = command.dup
+    end
+    return system(*(cmds << opt))
+  rescue TypeError => e
     require 'thread'
 
     @silent_mutex ||= Mutex.new
 
-    null_device = Gem.win_platform? ? 'NUL' : '/dev/null'
+    null_device = NULL_DEVICE
 
     @silent_mutex.synchronize do
       begin