When you need to zip up files in Ruby, use zipruby.

sudo gem install zipruby

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You can add existing files, add files from strings and even add directories.
Example usage:

require 'zipruby'
cars = %w[audi bmw mercedes]

zipfile = Tempfile.new('my.zip', 'tmp')
Zip::Archive.open(zipfile.path, Zip::CREATE) do |zip|
  zip.add_file '/tmp/me.txt'
  zip.add_dir 'cars' 

  cars.each do |car|
    zip.add_buffer "cars/#{car}.txt", "This #{car} is mine!" 
  end
end

Credits go to winebarrel for the Ruby bindings and to Baron & Klausner for libzip. More examples at the attached link.