Initializer should load files in parent directories before subdirectories to minimize dependency pain

The problem

I have the following files:

app/models/zoo.rb

class Zoo < ActiveRecord::Base
  include HippoManangement
end

app/models/zoo/hippo_management.rb

module Zoo::HippoManagement
end

What happens

On starting the application up in some modes (but not all), I get a dependencies error, similar to 'Expected app/models/zoo/hippo_management.rb to define Zoo::HippoManagement'. This is cause by require_dependency being called on app/models/zoo/hippo_management.rb before app/models/zoo.rb.

The code calling require_dependency is in Rails::Initializer#load_application_classes:

def load_application_classes
  if configuration.cache_classes
    configuration.eager_load_paths.each do |load_path|
      matcher = /\A#{Regexp.escape(load_path)}(.*)\.rb\Z/
      Dir.glob("#{load_path}/**/*.rb").each do |file|
        require_dependency file.sub(matcher, '\1')
      end
    end
  end
end

The problem is that the Dir.glob enumerates app/models/zoo/hippo_mangement.rb before app/models/zoo.rb.

The solution?

One way to get around this would be to sort the globbed files before requiring them. Another (far more involved) solution would be to fix the dependencies code so it doesn't fall over in this situation.