rails: Getting started steps don't work on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Steps to reproduce

I’m new to both Ruby and Rails so I just wanted to try it out. I’m following the steps on https://github.com/basecamp/rails#getting-started

First I got

$ gem install rails
Fetching: concurrent-ruby-1.1.9.gem (100%)
ERROR:  While executing gem ... (Gem::FilePermissionError)
    You don't have write permissions for the /var/lib/gems/2.5.0 directory.

Since it’s a permission issue, I thought maybe I should run as root so I try with sudo

$ sudo gem install rails
[sudo] password for dskloet: 
Fetching: concurrent-ruby-1.1.9.gem (100%)
Successfully installed concurrent-ruby-1.1.9
Fetching: i18n-1.8.10.gem (100%)
Successfully installed i18n-1.8.10
Fetching: tzinfo-2.0.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed tzinfo-2.0.4
Fetching: zeitwerk-2.4.2.gem (100%)
Successfully installed zeitwerk-2.4.2
Fetching: activesupport-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed activesupport-6.1.4
Fetching: rack-2.2.3.gem (100%)
Successfully installed rack-2.2.3
Fetching: rack-test-1.1.0.gem (100%)
Successfully installed rack-test-1.1.0
Fetching: racc-1.5.2.gem (100%)
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing rails:
	ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    current directory: /var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/racc-1.5.2/ext/racc/cparse
/usr/bin/ruby2.5 -r ./siteconf20210706-6968-airftl.rb extconf.rb
mkmf.rb can't find header files for ruby at /usr/lib/ruby/include/ruby.h

extconf failed, exit code 1

Gem files will remain installed in /var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/racc-1.5.2 for inspection.
Results logged to /var/lib/gems/2.5.0/extensions/x86_64-linux/2.5.0/racc-1.5.2/gem_make.out

Since it still doesn’t work, I copy the error message “ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension” into Google and find this so I try

sudo apt-get install ruby-dev

and once again

$ gem install rails
ERROR:  While executing gem ... (Gem::FilePermissionError)
    You don't have write permissions for the /var/lib/gems/2.5.0 directory.

and once again with sudo

$ sudo gem install rails
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
Successfully installed racc-1.5.2
Fetching: nokogiri-1.11.7-x86_64-linux.gem (100%)
Successfully installed nokogiri-1.11.7-x86_64-linux
Fetching: crass-1.0.6.gem (100%)
Successfully installed crass-1.0.6
Fetching: loofah-2.10.0.gem (100%)
Successfully installed loofah-2.10.0
Fetching: rails-html-sanitizer-1.3.0.gem (100%)
Successfully installed rails-html-sanitizer-1.3.0
Fetching: rails-dom-testing-2.0.3.gem (100%)
Successfully installed rails-dom-testing-2.0.3
Fetching: builder-3.2.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed builder-3.2.4
Fetching: erubi-1.10.0.gem (100%)
Successfully installed erubi-1.10.0
Fetching: actionview-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed actionview-6.1.4
Fetching: actionpack-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed actionpack-6.1.4
Fetching: activemodel-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed activemodel-6.1.4
Fetching: activerecord-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed activerecord-6.1.4
Fetching: globalid-0.4.2.gem (100%)
Successfully installed globalid-0.4.2
Fetching: activejob-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed activejob-6.1.4
Fetching: mini_mime-1.1.0.gem (100%)
Successfully installed mini_mime-1.1.0
Fetching: mail-2.7.1.gem (100%)
Successfully installed mail-2.7.1
Fetching: actionmailer-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed actionmailer-6.1.4
Fetching: nio4r-2.5.7.gem (100%)
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
Successfully installed nio4r-2.5.7
Fetching: websocket-extensions-0.1.5.gem (100%)
Successfully installed websocket-extensions-0.1.5
Fetching: websocket-driver-0.7.5.gem (100%)
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
Successfully installed websocket-driver-0.7.5
Fetching: actioncable-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed actioncable-6.1.4
Fetching: marcel-1.0.1.gem (100%)
Successfully installed marcel-1.0.1
Fetching: activestorage-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed activestorage-6.1.4
Fetching: actionmailbox-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed actionmailbox-6.1.4
Fetching: actiontext-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed actiontext-6.1.4
Fetching: thor-1.1.0.gem (100%)
Successfully installed thor-1.1.0
Fetching: method_source-1.0.0.gem (100%)
Successfully installed method_source-1.0.0
Fetching: railties-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed railties-6.1.4
Fetching: bundler-2.2.21.gem (100%)
Successfully installed bundler-2.2.21
Fetching: sprockets-4.0.2.gem (100%)
Successfully installed sprockets-4.0.2
Fetching: sprockets-rails-3.2.2.gem (100%)
Successfully installed sprockets-rails-3.2.2
Fetching: rails-6.1.4.gem (100%)
Successfully installed rails-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for racc-1.5.2
Installing ri documentation for racc-1.5.2
Parsing documentation for nokogiri-1.11.7-x86_64-linux
Installing ri documentation for nokogiri-1.11.7-x86_64-linux
Parsing documentation for crass-1.0.6
Installing ri documentation for crass-1.0.6
Parsing documentation for loofah-2.10.0
Installing ri documentation for loofah-2.10.0
Parsing documentation for rails-html-sanitizer-1.3.0
Installing ri documentation for rails-html-sanitizer-1.3.0
Parsing documentation for rails-dom-testing-2.0.3
Installing ri documentation for rails-dom-testing-2.0.3
Parsing documentation for builder-3.2.4
Installing ri documentation for builder-3.2.4
Parsing documentation for erubi-1.10.0
Installing ri documentation for erubi-1.10.0
Parsing documentation for actionview-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for actionview-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for actionpack-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for actionpack-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for activemodel-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for activemodel-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for activerecord-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for activerecord-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for globalid-0.4.2
Installing ri documentation for globalid-0.4.2
Parsing documentation for activejob-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for activejob-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for mini_mime-1.1.0
Installing ri documentation for mini_mime-1.1.0
Parsing documentation for mail-2.7.1
Installing ri documentation for mail-2.7.1
Parsing documentation for actionmailer-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for actionmailer-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for nio4r-2.5.7
Installing ri documentation for nio4r-2.5.7
Parsing documentation for websocket-extensions-0.1.5
Installing ri documentation for websocket-extensions-0.1.5
Parsing documentation for websocket-driver-0.7.5
Installing ri documentation for websocket-driver-0.7.5
Parsing documentation for actioncable-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for actioncable-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for marcel-1.0.1
Installing ri documentation for marcel-1.0.1
Parsing documentation for activestorage-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for activestorage-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for actionmailbox-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for actionmailbox-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for actiontext-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for actiontext-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for thor-1.1.0
Installing ri documentation for thor-1.1.0
Parsing documentation for method_source-1.0.0
Installing ri documentation for method_source-1.0.0
Parsing documentation for railties-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for railties-6.1.4
Parsing documentation for bundler-2.2.21
Installing ri documentation for bundler-2.2.21
Parsing documentation for sprockets-4.0.2
Installing ri documentation for sprockets-4.0.2
Parsing documentation for sprockets-rails-3.2.2
Installing ri documentation for sprockets-rails-3.2.2
Parsing documentation for rails-6.1.4
Installing ri documentation for rails-6.1.4
Done installing documentation for racc, nokogiri, crass, loofah, rails-html-sanitizer, rails-dom-testing, builder, erubi, actionview, actionpack, activemodel, activerecord, globalid, activejob, mini_mime, mail, actionmailer, nio4r, websocket-extensions, websocket-driver, actioncable, marcel, activestorage, actionmailbox, actiontext, thor, method_source, railties, bundler, sprockets, sprockets-rails, rails after 40 seconds
32 gems installed

OK, this appears to have done something. So I continue the guide:

$ rails new myapp
-bash: /usr/local/bin/rails: Permission denied

So I check the permission:

$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/rails
-rwx------ 1 root root 604 Jul  6 12:44 /usr/local/bin/rails

OK, that’s weird. So I fix the permissions and try again:

$ sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/rails
$ rails new myapp
Traceback (most recent call last):
	2: from /usr/local/bin/rails:23:in `<main>'
	1: from /usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/rubygems.rb:308:in `activate_bin_path'
/usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/rubygems.rb:289:in `find_spec_for_exe': can't find gem railties (>= 0.a) with executable rails (Gem::GemNotFoundException)

I tried searching for the error message but found very few results.

I’m not sure how to continue.

System configuration

Rails version: 6.1.4

Ruby version: 2.5.1p57

OS: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 3 years ago
Comments: 22 (13 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

@dskloet I suggest you to avoid the use of default ruby from so (/usr/bin/ruby). Use a version manager (like rvm, rbenv, asdf…) or even docker to keep your application dependencies/environment isolated and portable.

This is ultimately not about tech support for @dskloet, but about how we recommend that beginning Rails devs install Ruby and Rails on Ubuntu and other linux distros. I believe that instead of linking to ruby-lang.org or saying “there are so many options, apt, yum, from source, rvm, rbenv etc. do whatever works for you”, the Rails community should pick one method, explain it in detail, in the Rails guides without delegating to other sites, and then in a footnote mention the other installation methods and why you’d want to use them.

mdemare on Jul 9, 2021

After running rvm reset it seems to work.

dskloet on Jul 10, 2021

I agree. While I certainly appreciate the tech support, the reason for reporting the issue is to get the documentation improved. And hopefully my struggles can help guide the improvements.

Thanks, with the askubuntu.com link I was able to remove a bad Ubuntu 18 package and then successfully apt install. But after the gem install step, the rails new step failed.

$ gem install --user-install --no-document rails
Fetching rack-2.2.3.gem
Fetching tzinfo-2.0.4.gem
Fetching concurrent-ruby-1.1.9.gem
Fetching sprockets-4.0.2.gem
Fetching i18n-1.8.10.gem
Fetching activesupport-6.1.4.gem
Fetching nokogiri-1.11.7-x86_64-linux.gem
Fetching zeitwerk-2.4.2.gem
Fetching crass-1.0.6.gem
Fetching loofah-2.10.0.gem
Fetching rails-html-sanitizer-1.3.0.gem
Fetching rails-dom-testing-2.0.3.gem
Fetching rack-test-1.1.0.gem
Fetching erubi-1.10.0.gem
Fetching builder-3.2.4.gem
Fetching actionview-6.1.4.gem
Fetching actionpack-6.1.4.gem
Fetching sprockets-rails-3.2.2.gem
Fetching thor-1.1.0.gem
Fetching method_source-1.0.0.gem
Fetching railties-6.1.4.gem
Fetching mini_mime-1.1.0.gem
Fetching marcel-1.0.1.gem
Fetching activemodel-6.1.4.gem
Fetching activerecord-6.1.4.gem
Fetching globalid-0.4.2.gem
Fetching activejob-6.1.4.gem
Fetching activestorage-6.1.4.gem
Fetching actiontext-6.1.4.gem
Fetching mail-2.7.1.gem
Fetching actionmailer-6.1.4.gem
Fetching actionmailbox-6.1.4.gem
Fetching websocket-extensions-0.1.5.gem
Fetching rails-6.1.4.gem
Fetching websocket-driver-0.7.5.gem
Fetching nio4r-2.5.7.gem
Fetching actioncable-6.1.4.gem
WARNING:  You don't have /home/dskloet/.gem/ruby/3.0.0/bin in your PATH,
	  gem executables will not run.
GemWrappers: Can not wrap not executable file: /usr/local/bin/rackup
Successfully installed rack-2.2.3
Successfully installed concurrent-ruby-1.1.9
GemWrappers: Can not wrap not executable file: /usr/local/bin/sprockets
Successfully installed sprockets-4.0.2
Successfully installed zeitwerk-2.4.2
Successfully installed tzinfo-2.0.4
Successfully installed i18n-1.8.10
Successfully installed activesupport-6.1.4
GemWrappers: Can not wrap not executable file: /usr/local/bin/nokogiri
Successfully installed nokogiri-1.11.7-x86_64-linux
Successfully installed crass-1.0.6
Successfully installed loofah-2.10.0
Successfully installed rails-html-sanitizer-1.3.0
Successfully installed rails-dom-testing-2.0.3
Successfully installed rack-test-1.1.0
Successfully installed erubi-1.10.0
Successfully installed builder-3.2.4
Successfully installed actionview-6.1.4
Successfully installed actionpack-6.1.4
Successfully installed sprockets-rails-3.2.2
GemWrappers: Can not wrap not executable file: /usr/local/bin/thor
Successfully installed thor-1.1.0
Successfully installed method_source-1.0.0
Successfully installed railties-6.1.4
Successfully installed mini_mime-1.1.0
Successfully installed marcel-1.0.1
Successfully installed activemodel-6.1.4
Successfully installed activerecord-6.1.4
Successfully installed globalid-0.4.2
Successfully installed activejob-6.1.4
Successfully installed activestorage-6.1.4
Successfully installed actiontext-6.1.4
Successfully installed mail-2.7.1
Successfully installed actionmailer-6.1.4
Successfully installed actionmailbox-6.1.4
Successfully installed websocket-extensions-0.1.5
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
Successfully installed websocket-driver-0.7.5
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
Successfully installed nio4r-2.5.7
Successfully installed actioncable-6.1.4
Successfully installed rails-6.1.4
37 gems installed

$ rails new hello ----minimal --skip-javascript --skip-sprockets
-bash: /usr/local/bin/rails: /usr/bin/ruby2.5: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

$ type rails
rails is hashed (/usr/local/bin/rails)
 head -1 /usr/local/bin/rails
#!/usr/bin/ruby2.5

$ ls -l /usr/bin/ruby*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     7 Apr  3  2020 /usr/bin/ruby -> ruby2.7
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14488 Apr 15 16:38 /usr/bin/ruby2.7

There seems to be some kind of version mismatch where it expects me to have version 2.5 where I only have version 2.7?

dskloet on Jul 9, 2021