# Can't uninstall gems on Ubuntu **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [May 27, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cant-uninstall-gems-on-ubuntu/168945 "2009-05-27T16:56:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex_2k8)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cant-uninstall-gems-on-ubuntu/168945/1 "2009-05-27T16:56:45Z")
Hello, I installed net-ssh gem from normal account, and got such warnings: $ gem install net-ssh WARNING: Installing to ~/.gem since /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8 and /usr/bin aren’t both writable. WARNING: You don’t have /home/alex/.gem/ruby/1.8/bin in your PATH, gem executables will not run. To make sure the gem installed: $ gem list \*\*\* LOCAL GEMS \*\*\* net-ssh (2.0.11, 2.0.10) Now I try to uninstall it. $ gem uninstall net-ssh ERROR: While executing gem … (Gem::InstallError) Unknown gem net-ssh $ gem list \*\*\* LOCAL GEMS \*\*\* net-ssh (2.0.11, 2.0.10) So I installed a gem, but can’t remove it. What is wrong here? My system is Ubuntu 8.04, $ gem -v 1.3.1 $ ruby -v ruby 1.8.6 (2007-09-24 patchlevel 111) [i486-linux] Thanks, - Alex ---
**Author:** ![alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex_2k8)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cant-uninstall-gems-on-ubuntu/168945/2 "2009-05-27T17:29:13Z")
Well, just a couple of guesses here, but: It installed to your home directory because you don’t have write rights to the system directories. If you have sudo, sudo gem install net-ssh might have worked. The second warning on the install probably also tells you why it won’t uninstall. ---
**Author:** ![alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex_2k8)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cant-uninstall-gems-on-ubuntu/168945/3 "2009-05-27T19:24:14Z")
On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 11:28 AM, Nation, Carey [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Well, just a couple of guesses here, but: > > It installed to your home directory because you don’t have write rights > to the system directories. If you have sudo, sudo gem install net-ssh > might have worked. > > The second warning on the install probably also tells you why it won’t > uninstall. Actually, I think that it’s because gem uninstall defaults to installing from the system gem directory. > WARNING: Installing to ~/.gem since /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8 and > /usr/bin aren’t both writable. I suspect that $gem uninstall -i~/.gem net-ssh might work. – Rick DeNatale Blog: [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/) Twitter: [http://twitter.com/RickDeNatale](http://twitter.com/RickDeNatale) WWR: [http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/9021-rick-denatale](http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/9021-rick-denatale) LinkedIn: [http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenatale](http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenatale) ---
**Author:** ![alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex_2k8)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cant-uninstall-gems-on-ubuntu/168945/4 "2009-05-27T20:52:53Z")
> > Actually, I think that it’s because gem uninstall defaults to > > installing from the system gem directory. > WARNING: Installing to ~/.gem since /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8 and > /usr/bin aren’t both writable. Sorry for being vague. That’s what I meant, actually. That is, since ruby in general couldn’t run the gems there as the location wasn’t in the path, it wouldn’t be able to uninstall them, either. ---
**Author:** ![alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex_2k8)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cant-uninstall-gems-on-ubuntu/168945/5 "2009-05-27T22:19:34Z")
> It installed to your home directory because you don’t have write rights > to the system directories. If you have sudo, sudo gem install net-ssh > might have worked. Yes, if done with sudo it works fine. But I cann’t remove that wrongly instaled gems 🙂 The second warning seems useless, as I have no such folder at all /home/alex/.gem/ruby/1.8/bin ---
**Author:** ![alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex_2k8)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cant-uninstall-gems-on-ubuntu/168945/6 "2009-05-27T22:20:33Z")
> I suspect that > > $gem uninstall -i~/.gem net-ssh > > might work. Unsuccessfully it does not ☹ ---
**Author:** ![alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@alex\_2k8](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex_2k8)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cant-uninstall-gems-on-ubuntu/168945/7 "2009-05-30T17:20:29Z")
On May 27, 2009, at 10:56, Alex 2k8 wrote: > $ gem list > \*\*\* LOCAL GEMS \*\*\* > net-ssh (2.0.11, 2.0.10) > > So I installed a gem, but can’t remove it. What is wrong here? Upgrade to 1.3.4, the bug was fixed in the meantime.