# Ferret won't load on my mac

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ferret-wont-load-on-my-mac/137546>\
**Category:** Ferret\
**Created:** [May 14, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ferret-wont-load-on-my-mac/137546 "2008-05-14T03:35:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![idahoev](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b5e925/32.png) [@idahoev](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/idahoev)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ferret-wont-load-on-my-mac/137546/1 "2008-05-14T03:35:13Z")

</div>

I’ve installed ferret (11.6) on my mac with gem install ferret, and  
installed acts\_as\_ferret into my rails application. This causes my  
app to crash.

gem _claims_ to have installed ferret successfully. However, every  
attempt to load it produces a bundle load error.

The clearest example of error is when I try to run script/console:  
[18:33:25] EclipticDB$ script/console  
Loading development environment (Rails 2.0.2)  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ferret-0.11.6/lib/ferret\_ext.bundle:  
Failed to load  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ferret-0.11.6/lib/ferret\_ext.bundle  
(LoadError)  
from  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:32:in  
`require’

[snip stack details]

```
    from /usr/local/bin/irb:13

```

I get similar errors when I go to the gem directory and try to run the  
ferret tests.

My suspicion is that ferret is compiling with -arch hardcoded to i386,  
and my mac is a PPC Mac (Dual 2Ghz G5), because I saw similar problems  
with imageMagick a while ago. I am not sure how to confirm this, or  
what to do to fix the problem.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![idahoev](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b5e925/32.png) [@idahoev](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/idahoev)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ferret-wont-load-on-my-mac/137546/2 "2008-05-15T01:41:33Z")

</div>

I’m new to this forum and I haven’t got aaf to work yet, but I’ll try to  
help.

Maybe you can try:

script/plugin install  
svn://projects.jkraemer.net/acts\_as\_ferret/tags/stable/acts\_as\_ferret

At least I don’t get the errors you’re getting, though I have an Intel  
architecture. All my files in the lib directory are pure ruby files, so  
it’s puzzling why you have .bundle files.

Another thing:

Earlier I tried to use the aaf gem, but I couldn’t start the aaf  
server.As a last resort, I uninstalled the gem, and with the plugin  
installed locally, I no longer get an error starting the ferret server.  
So my suggestion is try to just install ferret into your project.

Cheers,

Evan D. wrote:

> I’ve installed ferret (11.6) on my mac with gem install ferret, and  
> installed acts\_as\_ferret into my rails application. This causes my  
> app to crash.
> 
> gem _claims_ to have installed ferret successfully. However, every  
> attempt to load it produces a bundle load error.
> 
> The clearest example of error is when I try to run script/console:  
> [18:33:25] EclipticDB$ script/console  
> Loading development environment (Rails 2.0.2)  
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ferret-0.11.6/lib/ferret\_ext.bundle:  
> Failed to load  
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ferret-0.11.6/lib/ferret\_ext.bundle  
> (LoadError)  
> from  
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:32:in  
> `require’
> 
> [snip stack details]
> 
> ```
> from /usr/local/bin/irb:13
> 
> ```
> 
> I get similar errors when I go to the gem directory and try to run the  
> ferret tests.
> 
> My suspicion is that ferret is compiling with -arch hardcoded to i386,  
> and my mac is a PPC Mac (Dual 2Ghz G5), because I saw similar problems  
> with imageMagick a while ago. I am not sure how to confirm this, or  
> what to do to fix the problem.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![idahoev](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b5e925/32.png) [@idahoev](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/idahoev)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ferret-wont-load-on-my-mac/137546/3 "2008-05-15T01:45:56Z")

</div>

Taro Fu wrote:

> script/plugin install  
> svn://projects.jkraemer.net/acts\_as\_ferret/tags/stable/acts\_as\_ferret
> 
> At least I don’t get the errors you’re getting, though I have an Intel  
> architecture. All my files in the lib directory are pure ruby files, so  
> it’s puzzling why you have .bundle files.

My problem is not with the acts\_as\_ferret plugin (which is all ruby),  
but with the ferret gem, which uses C libraries that must be compiled  
locally into a bundle. Ferret must be installed for acts\_as\_ferret to  
work.

I did eventually manage to get it working by hacking the Makefile in the  
ferret gem to set “-arch ppc” and recompiling the bundle manually.  
It’s pretty annoying that the gem installer assumes i386, though, I  
can’t be the only rails developer out there still using a ppc mac.