Use require instead

lib/rubocop/shopify/gem_version_string_comparable_backport.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# This is true for Ruby 3.2+, so once support for 3.1 is dropped, we can remove this.
+# Until then, some installations may have a recent enough version of RubyGems, but it is not guaranteed.
+return if Gem::Version.new(Gem::VERSION) >= Gem::Version.new("3.5.6")
+
+module RuboCop
+  module Shopify
+    # Backport rubygems/rubygems#5275, so we can compare `Gem::Version`s directly against `String`s.
+    #
+    #     Gem::Version.new("1.2.3") > "1.2"
+    #
+    # Without this, to support Ruby < 3.2, we would have to create a new `Gem::Version` instance ourselves.
+    #
+    #     Gem::Version.new("1.2.3") > Gem::Version.new("1.2")
+    #
+    # This would get very verbose in our RuboCop config files.
+    module GemVersionStringComparableBackport
+      def <=>(other)
+        return self <=> self.class.new(other) if (String === other) && self.class.correct?(other)
+
+        super
+      end
+
+      Gem::Version.prepend(self)
+    end
+  end
+end

rubocop.yml

@@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
 <%
-  module GemVersionComparableToStringBackport # Backport rubygems#5275
-    def <=>(other)
-      return self <=> self.class.new(other) if (String === other) && self.class.correct?(other)
-      super
-    end
-    Gem::Version.prepend(self)
-  end if Gem::Version.new(Gem::VERSION) < Gem::Version.new("3.5.6") # Until Ruby 3.1 support is dropped.
+  require "rubocop/shopify/gem_version_string_comparable_backport"
 
   rubocop_version = Gem.loaded_specs.fetch("rubocop").version
 %>