# Botched debian install

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/botched-debian-install/134791>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [April 15, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/botched-debian-install/134791 "2008-04-15T06:14:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![labyrinth](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ed8c4c/32.png) [@labyrinth](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/labyrinth)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/botched-debian-install/134791/1 "2008-04-15T06:14:23Z")

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I botched my ruby install to the point where I don’t know how to fix it.  
I used several different guides to get it installed, but I read  
differeing opinions on how to do it in Debian and uninstalled,  
reinstalled several times.

I’ve tried to purge ruby completely, but each time I try to do apt-get  
install ruby etc., I can’t run any ruby, irb or anything–I just get a  
“libruby1.8.so.1.8” no such file error.

I would greatly appreciate help.

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**Author:** ![labyrinth](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ed8c4c/32.png) [@labyrinth](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/labyrinth)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 10:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/botched-debian-install/134791/2 "2008-04-15T10:52:20Z")

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2008/4/15, Du De [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> I botched my ruby install to the point where I don’t know how to fix it.  
> I used several different guides to get it installed, but I read  
> differeing opinions on how to do it in Debian and uninstalled,  
> reinstalled several times.
> 
> I’ve tried to purge ruby completely, but each time I try to do apt-get  
> install ruby etc., I can’t run any ruby, irb or anything–I just get a  
> “libruby1.8.so.1.8” no such file error.

Did you try to run “ruby18” or “ruby1.8” - last time I had a debian  
(quite a while ago) the standard ruby was 1.7 and 1.8 needed the  
version number.

Obviously we do not know what you did to your installation, so it’s  
difficult to suggest something. Last time for me just doing the normal  
apt-get install worked like a charm. Maybe you should flush ruby  
packages from your local cache and start over.

Cheers

robert

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![labyrinth](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ed8c4c/32.png) [@labyrinth](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/labyrinth)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/botched-debian-install/134791/3 "2008-06-23T20:52:30Z")

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I still want to solve this–I just switched over to a different server.

No, clearing the local cache and starting over didn’t work. I knew I  
completely botched this install–I had tried reinstalling several times  
anyway.

Doing apt-get remove --purge ruby ruby1.8 and then doing apt-get clean  
didn’t work. When I reinstall ruby, it still gives me the “libruby no  
such file” error. How can I start from scratch?