# Gem installation oddity **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [August 18, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-installation-oddity/173951 "2009-08-18T17:43:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pitosalas)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-installation-oddity/173951/1 "2009-08-18T17:43:55Z")
I have been totally puzzled by what I think is a misconfiguration of my gem environment. I’ve read and looked and experimented and tried to solve this. Maybe you can help… Here’s the top level symptom. I install a gem, and then do a ‘which’ and gem says it can’t find it: sudo gem install wxruby Successfully installed wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9 1 gem installed Installing ri documentation for wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9… Installing RDoc documentation for wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9… /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ gem which wxruby Can’t find ruby library file or shared library wxruby /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ This is not a peculiarity with this particular gem. There are others in this odd state too. Here’s some more context: # GEM ENVIRONMENT /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ gem environment RubyGems Environment: - RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.3.5 - RUBY VERSION: 1.8.7 (2009-06-12 patchlevel 174) [i686-darwin9] - INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8 - RUBY EXECUTABLE: /opt/local/bin/ruby - EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: /opt/local/bin - RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS: - ruby - x86-darwin-9 - GEM PATHS: - /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8 - /Users/pito/.gem/ruby/1.8 - GEM CONFIGURATION: - :update\_sources =\> true - :verbose =\> true - :benchmark =\> false - :backtrace =\> false - :bulk\_threshold =\> 1000 - :sources =\> [“[http://gems.rubyforge.org/](http://gems.rubyforge.org/)”, “[http://gems.github.com](http://gems.github.com)”] - REMOTE SOURCES: - [http://gems.rubyforge.org/](http://gems.rubyforge.org/) - [http://gems.github.com](http://gems.github.com) /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ # GEM SPECIFICATION FOR THE GEM IN QUESTION /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ gem specification wxruby — !ruby/object:Gem::Specification name: wxruby version: !ruby/object:Gem::Version version: 2.0.0 platform: universal-darwin-9 authors: - wxRuby development team autorequire: bindir: bin cert\_chain: [] date: 2009-02-26 00:00:00 -05:00 default\_executable: dependencies: [] … much more … # OTHER SHELL ENV /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ echo $PATH /opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ echo $GEMPATH /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8 /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ ---
**Author:** ![pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pitosalas)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-installation-oddity/173951/2 "2009-08-18T17:56:32Z")
> /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ gem which wxruby > Can’t find ruby library file or shared library wxruby > /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ Might be a bug. [GitHub - Pistos/ruby-which: Like the UNIX "which" tool, but for Ruby libraries.](http://github.com/Pistos/ruby-which/tree/master) might help temporarily. -r ---
**Author:** ![pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pitosalas)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-installation-oddity/173951/3 "2009-08-18T20:22:56Z")
On Aug 18, 2009, at 08:43, Pito S. wrote: > Installing ri documentation for wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9… > Installing RDoc documentation for wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9… > /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ gem which wxruby > Can’t find ruby library file or shared library wxruby > /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8$ > > This is not a peculiarity with this particular gem. There are others > in > this odd state too. Is there even a wxruby in the gem? gem contents -l wxruby will tell you if you’ve got the gem installed You can also check from the .gem file without installing: $ gem fetch wxruby Downloaded wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9 $ gem spec wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9.gem files | grep lib - lib/wx […] - lib/wx.rb […] Nope. Try: require ‘wx’ instead. Hey look! It’s even described right in the Getting Started tutorial: [http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl?Getting\_Started](http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl?Getting_Started) Which is linked off the homepage! $ gem list -dr wxruby \*\*\* REMOTE GEMS \*\*\* wxruby (2.0.0, 1.9.7, 1.9.3, 1.9.2) Platforms: 1.9.2: i686-darwin8.8.2, powerpc-darwin8.10.0 1.9.3: universal-darwin 1.9.7: i386-mswin32 2.0.0: universal-darwin-9, x86-linux, x86-mingw32, x86- mswin32-60, x86\_64-linux Author: wxRuby development team Rubyforge: [http://rubyforge.org/projects/wxruby](http://rubyforge.org/projects/wxruby) Homepage: [http://wxruby.org/](http://wxruby.org/) ``` Ruby interface to the wxWidgets GUI library ``` ---
**Author:** ![pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pitosalas)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-installation-oddity/173951/4 "2009-08-18T21:15:03Z")
On Aug 18, 2009, at 11:47, Pito S. wrote: > Which, the way I was running it, led it to look at the ruby that comes > with OSX rather than the one I have designated as primary, which is > actually in /opt/local/… Designate /opt/local/ruby as your primary ruby by setting your PATH, then /usr/bin/env can work as designed. > My gem install is going into the primary ruby > install so when the sample app runs, it’s not finding it. So removing > that first line makes the thing work. > $ gem which wxruby > Can’t find ruby library file or shared library wxruby > $ I told you that wxruby doesn’t exist already. You can use gem contents -l as in my previous mail to see which files are in a gem to make a guess at what to use. Of course, you should go read the documentation first if you can’t immediately figure out how to use the gem. > require ‘rubygems’ > rescue LoadError > end > require ‘wx’ Why are you still trying to require a file that doesn’t exist (wxruby) and that the documentation says doesn’t exist (linked-to from my previous mail)? The documentation tells you which file to require. You even found a file that uses the wxruby gem and you’re still looking for the wrong file… Not every gem name has a 1:1 mapping to the file you need to require. When require name\_of\_gem doesn’t work, you can use the various tools from my previous email to find the file you need to require. Of course the first spot you should check is the documentation for the gem you’re using. ---
**Author:** ![pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pitosalas)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-installation-oddity/173951/5 "2009-08-18T20:47:57Z")
Eric H. wrote: I don’t think I exactly followed this. But in the meanwhile I think I have figured out what was tripping me up. The sample apps that come with wxruby begin with a line that looks like this: #!/usr/bin/env ruby # wxRuby2 Sample Code. Copyright © 2004-2008 wxRuby development team # Freely reusable code: see SAMPLES-LICENSE.TXT for details Which, the way I was running it, led it to look at the ruby that comes with OSX rather than the one I have designated as primary, which is actually in /opt/local/… My gem install is going into the primary ruby install so when the sample app runs, it’s not finding it. So removing that first line makes the thing work. It still doesn’t explain to me why this is happening, but it might be, as the first response said, a bug in “gem which”. It’s a bit worrysome, but for the moment it’s not holding me up: $ sudo gem install wxruby Successfully installed wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9 1 gem installed Installing ri documentation for wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9… Installing RDoc documentation for wxruby-2.0.0-universal-darwin-9… $ gem which wxruby Can’t find ruby library file or shared library wxruby $ By the way, you asked: > Is there even a wxruby in the gem? The code doesn’t look for it; here’s what it looks like: #!/usr/bin/env ruby # wxRuby2 Sample Code. Copyright © 2004-2008 wxRuby development team # Freely reusable code: see SAMPLES-LICENSE.TXT for details begin require ‘rubygems’ rescue LoadError end require ‘wx’ ---
**Author:** ![pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@pitosalas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pitosalas)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-installation-oddity/173951/6 "2009-08-18T21:39:16Z")
Eric H. wrote: > On Aug 18, 2009, at 11:47, Pito S. wrote: > > > Which, the way I was running it, led it to look at the ruby that comes > > with OSX rather than the one I have designated as primary, which is > > actually in /opt/local/… > > Designate /opt/local/ruby as your primary ruby by setting your PATH, > then /usr/bin/env can work as designed. I think that’s how I have it: $ echo $PATH /opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin ~$ echo $GEMPATH /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ ~$ > > My gem install is going into the primary ruby > > install so when the sample app runs, it’s not finding it. So removing > > that first line makes the thing work. > > > $ gem which wxruby > > Can’t find ruby library file or shared library wxruby > > $ > > I told you that wxruby doesn’t exist already. > > You can use gem contents -l as in my previous mail to see which files > are in a gem to make a guess at what to use. Of course, you should go > read the documentation first if you can’t immediately figure out how > to use the gem. > > > require ‘rubygems’ > > rescue LoadError > > end > > require ‘wx’ > > Why are you still trying to require a file that doesn’t exist (wxruby) > and that the documentation says doesn’t exist (linked-to from my > previous mail)? The documentation tells you which file to require. > You even found a file that uses the wxruby gem and you’re still > looking for the wrong file… Hm, I thought I was requiring wx.rb which in does exist. I agree that wxruby does not exist. Am I missing it totally? However, your reply has helped me also uncover another misunderstanding, which may be what you were trying to say all along, that is that: $gem which ‘xxx’ looks for a file called xxx.rb in a gem, rather than a gem called xxx. That’s why my $gem which wxruby Keeps saying that it can’t find it, but now I tried $gem which wx and that succeeds. > Not every gem name has a 1:1 mapping to the file you need to require. > When require name\_of\_gem doesn’t work, you can use the various tools > from my previous email to find the file you need to require. Of > course the first spot you should check is the documentation for the > gem you’re using. Yeah, that’s a key bit of the puzzle that I hadn’t understood. Thanks!