# Fatal errors in hpricot 0.4

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fatal-errors-in-hpricot-0-4/68527>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [September 13, 2006, 11:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fatal-errors-in-hpricot-0-4/68527 "2006-09-13T11:58:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a4c791/32.png) [@alder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alder)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 11:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fatal-errors-in-hpricot-0-4/68527/1 "2006-09-13T11:58:50Z")

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I’ve been using hpricot 0.4 in Windows XP with no problems. Recently I  
migrated some scripts to Ubuntu Dapper 6.06, running Ruby 1.8.4, and  
encountered a weird fatal problems with hpricot 0.4:

irb(main):001:0\> require ‘hpricot’  
=\> true  
irb(main):002:0\> Hpricot(“

A simple **test** string.

”)  
NoMethodError: private method `scan' called for Hpricot:Module from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/hpricot-0.4/lib/hpricot/parse.rb:19:in`make’  
from  
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/hpricot-0.4/lib/hpricot/parse.rb:11:in  
`parse' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/hpricot-0.4/lib/hpricot/parse.rb:4:in`Hpricot’  
from (irb):2

That error causes all tests in test\_parser.rb to fail upon startup.

Trying to make Hpricot.scan public at runtime pruduced another error:

irb(main):002:0\> class \<\< Hpricot; public :scan; end  
=\> #Class:Hpricot  
irb(main):003:0\> Hpricot(“

A simple **test** string.

”)  
TypeError: $\_ value need to be String (nil given)  
from (irb):2:in `scan' from (irb):2:in`scan’  
from  
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/hpricot-0.4/lib/hpricot/parse.rb:19:in  
`make' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/hpricot-0.4/lib/hpricot/parse.rb:11:in`parse’  
from  
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/hpricot-0.4/lib/hpricot/parse.rb:4:in  
`Hpricot’  
from (irb):3

Any help with this would be appreciated.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a4c791/32.png) [@alder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alder)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fatal-errors-in-hpricot-0-4/68527/2 "2006-09-19T03:35:31Z")

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Hello all,

After changing my OS from Mandriva to Ubuntu Dapper 6.06, I’ve got this  
same error message when running a ruby script that was working fine on  
my Mandriva setup.

Anybody could give me/us some hint ?

Thanks

Yannick

PS. Alder, does your script use Mechanize gem?

Alder G. a écrit :

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a4c791/32.png) [@alder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alder)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 11:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fatal-errors-in-hpricot-0-4/68527/3 "2006-09-19T11:06:27Z")

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On 9/19/06, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Yannick
> 
> PS. Alder, does your script use Mechanize gem?

No, my script only uses Hpricot, and the failure is definitely in the  
Hpricot part.

But if you’re using Mechanize \>= 0.6.0, then you’re depending on  
Hpricot[1]. That would probably be the cause of the identical error  
you’re witnessing.

My best guess so far is that something’s wrong with the compilation of  
the gem on Dapper 6.0.6. My own system is the AMD64 release. What’s  
yours?

I guess the next logical step - assuming we get no answer here - is to  
file a bug report on the Hpricot trac.

–  
-Alder

[1] [http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?forum\_id=8793](http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=8793)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a4c791/32.png) [@alder](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alder)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fatal-errors-in-hpricot-0-4/68527/4 "2006-09-20T00:13:19Z")

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Hello Alder,

Not surprising my script was working fine before my OS move since I’m  
pretty sure Mechanize version I had on Mandriva did not depend on  
Hpricot.

Anyway that’s not important. The bug has already been reported:  
[http://code.whytheluckystiff.net/hpricot/ticket/8](http://code.whytheluckystiff.net/hpricot/ticket/8) I’ll follow this  
closely…

Yannick