# Difficulty updating Ruby Gems in a non-standard location **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [October 8, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/difficulty-updating-ruby-gems-in-a-non-standard-location/176949 "2009-10-08T19:54:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/David_Brodbeck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/difficulty-updating-ruby-gems-in-a-non-standard-location/176949/1 "2009-10-08T19:54:55Z")
I have Ruby Gems installed in a non-standard location. Both $GEM\_PREFIX and $GEM\_HOME are set. I’m attempting to update from 0.9.4 to 1.3.5, without success. First attempt: I tried “gem update --system”. This didn’t work because it ignored $GEM\_PREFIX and installed in the wrong location. Second attempt: I tried the instructions here: [http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/243916](http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/243916) This completely broke gem; every time I tried to do something with it I got this error: /opt/ruby-gems/bin/gem:14: undefined method `ruby\_version’ for Gem:Module (NoMethodError) Third attempt: I restored my gem directory from backup and tried “gem install rubygems-update && update\_rubygems”. This gave the following error: Error: Cannot find RubyGems Update Path! ``` RubyGems has already been updated. The rubygems-update gem may now be uninstalled. E.g. gem uninstall rubygems-update ``` So, now I’m stumped. How do I update Ruby Gems if it’s not installed in the standard location? – David Brodbeck System A., Linguistics University of Washington ---
**Author:** ![David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/David_Brodbeck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/difficulty-updating-ruby-gems-in-a-non-standard-location/176949/2 "2009-10-08T20:31:48Z")
On Oct 8, 2009, at 10:53 AM, David Brodbeck wrote: > /opt/ruby-gems/bin/gem:14: undefined method `ruby\_version’ for > > So, now I’m stumped. How do I update Ruby Gems if it’s not > installed in the standard location? I would suggest downloading the tar.gz and running setup.rb (making sure GEM\_PREFIX and GEM\_HOME are set). That might clear up your problems. You can grab the tar.gz file here: ``` http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=126 ``` * * * Aaron P. [http://tenderlovemaking.com](http://tenderlovemaking.com) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/David_Brodbeck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/difficulty-updating-ruby-gems-in-a-non-standard-location/176949/3 "2009-10-08T22:52:21Z")
On Oct 8, 2009, at 11:28 AM, Aaron P. wrote: > > This completely broke gem; every time I tried to do something with > > The rubygems-update gem may now be uninstalled. > > [http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group\_id=126](http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=126) Unfortunately, that failed in the same way “gem update --system” did – it ignored $GEM\_PREFIX and tried to install gem under /usr/bin/ gem. The gem installation in /opt/ruby-gems was left untouched. – David Brodbeck System A., Linguistics University of Washington ---
**Author:** ![David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/David_Brodbeck)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/difficulty-updating-ruby-gems-in-a-non-standard-location/176949/4 "2009-10-10T00:18:26Z")
On Oct 8, 2009, at 3:39 PM, David Brodbeck wrote: > > ruby setup.rb --prefix=/opt/ruby-gems > > That went to the right place, but now gem is broken: > > $ gem > /opt/ruby-gems/bin/gem:14: undefined method `ruby\_version’ for > Gem:Module (NoMethodError) I finally figured it out. I had two copies under ruby-gems, a new one in /opt/ruby-gems/lib and an old one in /opt/ruby-gems/lib/site\_ruby/ 1.8. I deleted the latter and it seems to be working now. Thanks to everyone for their help. – David Brodbeck System A., Linguistics University of Washington ---
**Author:** ![David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/David_Brodbeck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/difficulty-updating-ruby-gems-in-a-non-standard-location/176949/5 "2009-10-08T23:44:27Z")
On Thursday 08 October 2009 01:51:33 pm David Brodbeck wrote: > > > [http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/243916](http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/243916) This > > > RubyGems has already been updated. > > > You can grab the tar.gz file here: > > > > [http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group\_id=126](http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=126) > > Unfortunately, that failed in the same way “gem update --system” did > – it ignored $GEM\_PREFIX and tried to install gem under /usr/bin/ > gem. The gem installation in /opt/ruby-gems was left untouched. Using the source you downloaded, make sure that GEM\_HOME is exported, then run setup with the prefix to the install location: ruby setup.rb --prefix=/opt/ruby-gems - spox ---
**Author:** ![David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@David\_Brodbeck](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/David_Brodbeck)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/difficulty-updating-ruby-gems-in-a-non-standard-location/176949/6 "2009-10-09T00:42:59Z")
On Oct 8, 2009, at 2:43 PM, spox wrote: > > Unfortunately, that failed in the same way “gem update --system” did > > – it ignored $GEM\_PREFIX and tried to install gem under /usr/bin/ > > gem. The gem installation in /opt/ruby-gems was left untouched. > > Using the source you downloaded, make sure that GEM\_HOME is > exported, then run > setup with the prefix to the install location: > > ruby setup.rb --prefix=/opt/ruby-gems That went to the right place, but now gem is broken: $ gem /opt/ruby-gems/bin/gem:14: undefined method `ruby\_version’ for Gem:Module (NoMethodError) – David Brodbeck System A., Linguistics University of Washington