Ruby gem install troubleshooting

So, often its the little things that fail. Here is a troubleshooting list.

Simple snafu's

• require "rubygems" #before requiring gem?


• See if gem shows with '$:' command inside Irb. If not, it's not installed.


• If in irb, and installing gems, you must restart it.

Often forgot

• extconf.rb:8:in `require’: no such file to load — mkmf (LoadError)? -- On Debian and Ubuntus installing ruby and gem doesnt install mkmf. Install ruby-dev -package, too (sudo apt-get install ruby1.91.-dev for example)


• On Ubuntus Assert 'sudo gem install blah'. Not as user.


• On Debians, rubygems may need to be installed outside apt (rails, etc).

To be updated.