# Broken Console **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [May 4, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/broken-console/94475 "2006-05-04T13:22:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/898d66/32.png) [@idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/idlefingers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/broken-console/94475/1 "2006-05-04T13:22:23Z")
I just tried to boot up my app’s console and it seems either something is broken or I’ve done something wrong? Here’s what I’m doing… First i cd to my project then run the command ‘script/console development’ only to get the following error: Loading development environment. /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/completion.rb:10:in `require': No such file to load -- readline (LoadError) from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/completion.rb:10 from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:218:in`require’ from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:218:in `load_modules' from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:216:in`each’ from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:216:in `load_modules' from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:21:in`setup’ from /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb.rb:54:in `start’ from /usr/bin/irb:13 Does anyone know what’s going wrong and what could be done to fix it? Thanks for any help, Damien ---
**Author:** ![idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/898d66/32.png) [@idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/idlefingers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/broken-console/94475/2 "2006-05-04T14:00:58Z")
On 5/4/06, Damien T. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/completion.rb:10:in `require’: No such file to > Does anyone know what’s going wrong and what could be done to fix it? > Looks like you are missing the readline library. My Debian box has this package in Apt: libreadline-ruby1.8 - Readline interface for Ruby 1.8 The Windows installer seems to include readline by default. L ---
**Author:** ![idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/898d66/32.png) [@idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/idlefingers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/broken-console/94475/3 "2006-05-04T15:02:58Z")
Leslie V. wrote: > Looks like you are missing the readline library. > > My Debian box has this package in Apt: > libreadline-ruby1.8 - Readline interface for Ruby 1.8 > > The Windows installer seems to include readline by default. Im on OS X and when I was installing everything, readline was one of the first. I tried installing it again, but it seems to make no difference. I think somethings gone wrong with my install because i also installed lighttpd which has stopped working also. I can find anything online about un-installing everything and starting fresh and Im scarred that it’s starting to look like doing a fresh install of my OS is going to be the only fix… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/898d66/32.png) [@idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/idlefingers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/broken-console/94475/4 "2006-05-04T15:11:40Z")
Sorry. I meant Darwin Ports. Not fink. ---
**Author:** ![idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/898d66/32.png) [@idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/idlefingers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/broken-console/94475/5 "2006-05-04T15:08:36Z")
You may consider installing ruby via fink or compiling from source. That would give you a new ruby environment to work with, without stressing about an OS rebuild. ---
**Author:** ![idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/898d66/32.png) [@idlefingers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/idlefingers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/broken-console/94475/6 "2006-05-04T22:24:24Z")
On 5/4/06, Michael G. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > You may consider installing ruby via fink or compiling from source. That > would give you a new ruby environment to work with, without stressing > about > an OS rebuild. If you have a bit of time you should try and figure out what happened before you reload in case it happens again. Sorry, I don’t have an apple, so you may have to extrapolate what I do here. Can you start irb apart from the Rails console? If so, or if you can run another Ruby program, try a “puts $LOAD\_PATH” and see where Ruby is searching. Here’s how I search for the library in the filesystem on Linux: lesliev@mel:/usr/lib/ruby$ find -iname readline\* ./1.8/i486-linux/readline.so So Ruby can load /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/i486-linux/readline.so because /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/i486-linux is in the $LOAD\_PATH You can see what has actually been loaded with $LOADED\_FEATURES - and you can get a list list of all these useful variables by calling “global\_variables” - which I in turn found with “private\_methods”. Gotta love irb! (or I’m sure you could also read a good Ruby reference)