# Annoying problem: gems tries to build native extension **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [September 16, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/annoying-problem-gems-tries-to-build-native-extension/148692 "2008-09-16T09:06:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/annoying-problem-gems-tries-to-build-native-extension/148692/1 "2008-09-16T09:06:33Z")
Hi All, I have an annoying problem using gems. Yesterday I wanted to update all my gems to their latest version. For hpricot unfortunately I answered the question “Select which gem to install for your platform (i386-mswin32)” with “1” → hpricot-0.6.16 (ruby) I knew immediately this was wrong… It tried to build the native extension but I don’t have any VC compiler installed therefore it stopped updating the gems. I cleaned hpricot-0.6.161 from gems\1.8\cache, gems\1.8\specifications \ & gems\1.8\gems That didn’t help, still the same: C:\ruby\>gem update Updating installed gems Updating hpricot Building native extensions. This could take a while… ERROR: While executing gem … (Gem::Installer::ExtensionBuildError) ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension. c:/ruby/bin/ruby.exe extconf.rb update checking for stdio.h… no \*\*\* extconf.rb failed \*\*\* Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of necessary libraries and/or headers. Check the mkmf.log file for more details. You may need configuration options. Provided configuration options: –with-opt-dir –without-opt-dir –with-opt-include –without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include –with-opt-lib –without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib –with-make-prog –srcdir=. –curdir –ruby=c:/ruby/bin/ruby Gem files will remain installed in c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ hpricot-0.6.16 1 for inspection. Results logged to c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/hpricot-0.6.161/ext/ fast\_xs/gem\_make.out Because it installed not correctly “gem list --local” shows “hpricot (0.6)” and therefore uninstalling doesn’t work: C:\ruby\>gem uninstall hpricot -v ‘0.6.161’ ERROR: While executing gem … (Gem::InstallError) Unknown gem hpricot = 0.6.161 I uninstalled Ruby totally and reinstalled it from scratch - but the problem is still the same! Here is my environment: C:\ruby\>gem environment RubyGems Environment: - RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.2.0 - RUBY VERSION: 1.8.7 (2008-05-31 patchlevel 0) [i386-mswin32] - INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8 - RUBY EXECUTABLE: c:/ruby/bin/ruby.exe - EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: c:/ruby/bin - RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS: - ruby - x86-mswin32-60 - GEM PATHS: - c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8 - GEM CONFIGURATION: - :update\_sources =\> true - :verbose =\> true - :benchmark =\> false - :backtrace =\> false - :bulk\_threshold =\> 1000 - REMOTE SOURCES: - [http://gems.rubyforge.org/](http://gems.rubyforge.org/) Does anybody know why it still tries to install this hpricot-0.6.161 (ruby)? Is there somewhere a cache (outside of the Ruby dir) from which it is loaded? Any help is highly appreciated! Thanks! Marcel ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 9:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/annoying-problem-gems-tries-to-build-native-extension/148692/2 "2008-09-16T09:28:04Z")
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > Hi All, > > I have an annoying problem using gems. ## I too have problem which is probably related. When installing sqlite3-ruby: C:\gem install sqlite3-ruby --no-rdoc --no-ri Building native extensions. This could take a while… ERROR: Error installing sqlite3-ruby: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension. d:/ruby\_186\_287/bin/ruby.exe extconf.rb install sqlite3-ruby --no-rdoc –no-ri checking for fdatasync() in rt.lib… no checking for sqlite3.h… no nmake ‘nmake’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. ## Gem files will remain installed in d:/ruby\_186\_287/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sqlite 3-ruby-1.2.4 for inspection. Results logged to d:/ruby\_186\_287/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sqlite3-ruby-1.2.4/ext/ sqlite3\_api/gem\_make.out I think nmake should’t be used on windows platform since compiler is usually not present and gems are precompiled. ## However: ## c:\gem install --version 1.2.3 sqlite3-ruby --no-rdoc --no-ri Successfully installed sqlite3-ruby-1.2.3-x86-mswin32 1 gem installed RubyGems is 1.2.0 fresh install from One-Click Ruby Installer 186-27 RC1. OS is Windows 2003 R2 SP2. by TheR