gem install failure - probably easy to fix

[Tom Cloyd]

I can get "gem install ..." to execute, but not "sudo gem install...".
I've always had to use the latter, and to my best knowledge still do,
but at present only the former works. I've never seen this problem, and
am baffled by it.

My questions:

1. Why have I had to do "sudo gem install..." up to this point, and now
that suddenly doesn't work, but plain "gem install..." does?

My best guess is that it may have to do with where I installed ruby (I
was following the instructions found at
http://blog.michaelgreenly.com/2009/04/multiple-versions-of-ruby-on-ubuntu-3.html

2. Do I have a problem here, or can I just go forward from this point?

My best guess is that there's no problem. As I write this, all the gems
I'm requesting are installing just fine.

I use the webby gem a lot, and I just got IT to do its thing without a
problem.

3. Finally, my "gem install..." of a dozen or so gem was successful, but
after the ri documentation was installed, it crashed - here's the last
bit of the output:

Installing ri documentation for logging-1.2.2...
Installing ri documentation for loquacious-1.3.0...
Installing ri documentation for webby-0.9.4...
ERROR: While executing gem ... (Errno::EACCES)
Permission denied - /home/tomc/.ri/cache/.doc_dirs

How do I get rdoc to run on all these gems? (There are about 20
installed, counting dependencies). I'd just fire up rdoc in my "home...
gem" dir, but I'm afraid everything will end up in the same doc file.
Don't know what to do here, and my study of the rdoc -h output isn't
helping me.

Thanks for any help offered! (see below for environment details, etc.)

T.



===== Heres some relevant CLI output --

tomc@tomc-desktop:/$ gem install rake
WARNING: Installing to ~/.gem since
/opt/ruby-1.8.7-p160/lib/ruby/gems/1.8 and
/opt/ruby-1.8.7-p160/bin aren't both writable.
Successfully installed rake-0.8.7
1 gem installed
Installing ri documentation for rake-0.8.7...
Installing RDoc documentation for rake-0.8.7...
tomc@tomc-desktop:/$ gem list

*** LOCAL GEMS ***

rake (0.8.7)

tomc@tomc-desktop:/$ rake -v
rake aborted!
No Rakefile found (looking for: rakefile, Rakefile, rakefile.rb,
Rakefile.rb)
/home/tomc/.gem/ruby/1.8/gems/rake-0.8.7/lib/rake.rb:2377:in
`raw_load_rakefile'
(See full trace by running task with --trace)

================
Environment details --

running Kubuntu Linux 9.0.4

I've just installed ruby 1.8.7 from source, and then rubygem 1.3.5, with
the result:

$ gem env
RubyGems Environment:
- RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.3.5
- RUBY VERSION: 1.8.7 (2009-04-08 patchlevel 160) [i686-linux]
- INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /opt/ruby-1.8.7-p160/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
- RUBY EXECUTABLE: /opt/ruby-1.8.7-p160/bin/ruby
- EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: /opt/ruby-1.8.7-p160/bin
- RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS:
- ruby
- x86-linux
- GEM PATHS:
- /opt/ruby-1.8.7-p160/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
- /home/tomc/.gem/ruby/1.8
- GEM CONFIGURATION:
- :update_sources => true
- :verbose => true
- :benchmark => false
- :backtrace => false
- :bulk_threshold => 1000
- REMOTE SOURCES:
- http://gems.rubyforge.org/

$ echo $PATH
/opt/ruby-1.8.7-p160/bin:/home/tomc/.gem/ruby/1.8/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games



--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< (e-mail address removed) >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website)
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health weblog)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Axel Etzold]

Dear Tom,

ERROR: While executing gem ... (Errno::EACCES)
Permission denied - /home/tomc/.ri/cache/.doc_dirs

you don't have sufficient writing rights on that file, probably
because you installed the gems as normal user rather than with sudo
privileges.
There is by default no "root" user in Ubuntu like in other Linuxes,
but you can create one and use "gem install" as root:

sudo passwd root



- and then do all sorts of (potentially dangerous things ..)

(look here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo)


Best regards,

Axel

 

[Tom Cloyd]

Dear Tom,




you don't have sufficient writing rights on that file, probably
because you installed the gems as normal user rather than with sudo
privileges.

Actually, no. I did install rubygems as root user. THEN I discovered
that "sudo gem install..." wouldn't work, but "gem install..." would.

I don't understand what happened.

t.

There is by default no "root" user in Ubuntu like in other Linuxes,
but you can create one and use "gem install" as root:

sudo passwd root



- and then do all sorts of (potentially dangerous things ..)

(look here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo)


Best regards,

Axel

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< (e-mail address removed) >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website)
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health weblog)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Axel Etzold]

-------- Original-Nachricht --------

Datum: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 00:03:12 +0900
Von: Tom Cloyd <[email protected]>
An: (e-mail address removed)
Betreff: Re: gem install failure - probably easy to fix

Actually, no. I did install rubygems as root user. THEN I discovered
that "sudo gem install..." wouldn't work, but "gem install..." would.

I don't understand what happened.

Tom,

then I'd guess that the cache file is locked (maybe by some other
installation process), and that you'd need to unlock it using eg., chown .

Best regards,

Axel

 

[Eric Hodel]

How do I get rdoc to run on all these gems? (There are about 20
installed, counting dependencies). I'd just fire up rdoc in my
"home... .gem" dir, but I'm afraid everything will end up in the
same doc file. Don't know what to do here, and my study of the rdoc -
h output isn't helping me.

gem help rdoc

 

[Tom Cloyd]

gem help rdoc

Wow. Now that's a redirect, folks. Completely solved my problem. Great
response, Eric.

AND...I find that "gem server" no longer works for me. There's some kind
of strangeness in how my gems are installed. I'm looking into it.
Meanwhile, "gem help server" was so very helpful to me that I'm almost
inclined not to bother. Rubygems is an amazing piece of work. I can easy
fix THIS problem by sending the server to where the rdoc stuff actually
is, rather than to where it thinks it is. Cool.

Thanks, Eric.

t.

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< (e-mail address removed) >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website)
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health weblog)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Tom Cloyd]

-------- Original-Nachricht --------


Tom,

then I'd guess that the cache file is locked (maybe by some other
installation process), and that you'd need to unlock it using eg., chown .

Best regards,

Axel

Very interesting. Sometimes the obvious solution is the right solution,
and was in this case. Resetting permissions for the /ri dir fixed
everything.

Thanks!

t.

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< (e-mail address removed) >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website)
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health weblog)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~