```ruby
raise("twitter-text requires the $KCODE variable be set to 'UTF8' or 'u'") unless ['u','UTF8'].include?($KCODE) || ''.respond_to?(:codepoints)

require 'rubygems'

# Needed for auto-linking
require 'action_view'

require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'regex')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'autolink')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'extractor')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'unicode')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'validation')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'hithighlighter')
```

Make the version check more epxlicit
user
```ruby

major, minor, patch = RUBY_VERSION.split('.')

if major == 1 && minor < 9
  # Ruby 1.8 KCODE check. Not needed on 1.9 and later.
  raise("twitter-text requires the $KCODE variable be set to 'UTF8' or 'u'") unless ['u','UTF8'].include?($KCODE)
end

require 'rubygems'

# Needed for auto-linking
require 'action_view'

require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'regex')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'autolink')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'extractor')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'unicode')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'validation')
require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'hithighlighter')
```
assistant