# Gem list -r -d \*\*\* generates Error\*\*\* on http://gems.github.com

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-list-r-d-generates-error-on-http-gems-github-com/173042>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [July 31, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-list-r-d-generates-error-on-http-gems-github-com/173042 "2009-07-31T21:02:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/john_old)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-list-r-d-generates-error-on-http-gems-github-com/173042/1 "2009-07-31T21:02:13Z")

</div>

I’m using ruby 1.8.6 & gem 1.3.5 :

I receive and error trying to list the details of

C:\Users\spanton\>gem source  
\*\*\* CURRENT SOURCES \*\*\*

[http://gems.github.com](http://gems.github.com)

C:\Users\spanton\>gem list -r -d

\*\*\* REMOTE GEMS \*\*\*

ERROR: While executing gem … (ArgumentError)  
comparison of String with 3 failed

Error also occurs, when using gem list -r -d a

Yet it works ok, when using gem list -r -d b

Any ideas or workaround?

Thanks for the help.  
John

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/john_old)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-list-r-d-generates-error-on-http-gems-github-com/173042/2 "2009-07-31T22:00:45Z")

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On Jul 31, 3:57 pm, John [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> 

Please provide the output of gem with --debug and -V options enabled  
for us to be able to help you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/john_old)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-list-r-d-generates-error-on-http-gems-github-com/173042/3 "2009-08-02T17:45:50Z")

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On Jul 31, 3:49 pm, Eric H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> > C:\Users\spanton\>gem source
> 
> $ gem list -r -d --sourcehttp://gems.github.com-V andreasronge-neo4j
> 
> comparison of String with 3 failed (ArgumentError)  
> end; Marshal.load File.read(“neo4j.gemspec”)’  
> 286 # Load custom marshal format, re-initializing defaults as  
> → 296 field\_count = if spec.specification\_version \>  
> 305 raise TypeError, "invalid Gem::Specification format  
> array[3]  
> commit 0e10242e2ef63addf3ac294bb2e932202fa900fc
> 
> ```
> released as 0.0.3. Updated documentation
> 
> ```
> 
> s.bindir = “bin”  
> s.name = “neo4j”  
> require\_paths.  
> value = spec.instance\_variable\_get(ivar)  
> result \<\< " s.#{name} = #{value}\n"  
> of Gem::Specification#to\_ruby which had RDoc all the way back to 0.8.11!
> 
> So if you own one of these, please delete that code!
> 
> Fortunately, I now have new things to protect gem repositories from!  
> (Ryan hit me for not protecting RubyGems enough)
> 
> And again, a gemspec is not something that you just dump something on.  
> It’s not a big truck.- Hide quoted text -
> 
> - Show quoted text -

Is there a workaround to this problem, which would allow me to  
obtain the name & description for gems starting with “a”.

Thanks,  
John

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/john_old)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-list-r-d-generates-error-on-http-gems-github-com/173042/4 "2009-08-01T01:18:36Z")

</div>

On Jul 31, 2009, at 12:00, John wrote:

> \*\*\* REMOTE GEMS \*\*\*
> 
> ERROR: While executing gem … (ArgumentError)  
> comparison of String with 3 failed
> 
> Error also occurs, when using gem list -r -d a
> 
> Yet it works ok, when using gem list -r -d b
> 
> Any ideas or workaround?

$ rm -r ~/.gem/specs/gems.github.com%80/

# I did this with just a as the search first and hit this gem:

$ gem list -r -d --source [http://gems.github.com](http://gems.github.com) -V andreasronge-neo4j

\*\*\* REMOTE GEMS \*\*\*

GET 200 OK: [http://gems.github.com/latest\_specs.4.8.gz](http://gems.github.com/latest_specs.4.8.gz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[http://gems.github.com/quick/Marshal.4.8/andreasronge-neo4j-0.0.4.gemspec.rz](http://gems.github.com/quick/Marshal.4.8/andreasronge-neo4j-0.0.4.gemspec.rz)  
ERROR: While executing gem … (ArgumentError)  
comparison of String with 3 failed

So removing this gem from the index and rebuilding should fix the  
problem.

Anyhow, let’s see why it’s broken:

$ curl  
[http://gems.github.com/quick/Marshal.4.8/andreasronge-neo4j-0.0.4.gemspec.rz](http://gems.github.com/quick/Marshal.4.8/andreasronge-neo4j-0.0.4.gemspec.rz)

> neo4j.gemspec.rz

Let’s dump it out:

$ ruby -rubygems -e ‘Marshal.load  
Gem.inflate(File.read(“neo4j.gemspec.rz”))’  
/Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems/specification.rb:296:in `>': comparison of String with 3 failed (ArgumentError) from /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems/specification.rb:296:in `\_load’  
from -e:1:in `load’  
from -e:1

Yup, still fails, heavy artillery time! Need to fake out the  
Gem::Specification stuff and dump the spec:

$ ruby -e ‘module Gem; class Requirement; def marshal\_load(arr) @arr =  
arr; end; def inspect() @arr end; end; Version = Requirement; class  
Specification; def self.\_load(str) p Marshal.load(str); nil end end;  
end; Marshal.load File.read(“neo4j.gemspec”)’  
[“1.2.0”, “2”, “andreasronge-neo4j”, 0.0.4, Wed Oct 22 15:00:00 -0700  
2008, “A graph database for JRuby”, \>=#Gem::Requirement:0x34c60,

> =#Gem::Requirement:0x34b98, “ruby”, [], “neo4j”,  
> "removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
> ", [“Andreas R.”], “A graph database for JRuby”,  
> "[http://github.com/andreasronge/neo4j/tree](http://github.com/andreasronge/neo4j/tree)  
> ", “true”, “ruby”, nil]

Ok, so now we have a dump of the gem. Let’s look at where the error  
came from in Gem::Specification:

```
285 ##
286 # Load custom marshal format, re-initializing defaults as

```

needed  
287  
288 def self.\_load(str)  
289 array = Marshal.load str  
290  
291 spec = Gem::Specification.new  
292 spec.instance\_variable\_set :@specification\_version,  
array[1]  
293  
294 current\_version = CURRENT\_SPECIFICATION\_VERSION  
295  
 → 296 field\_count = if spec.specification\_version \>  
current\_version then  
297  
spec.instance\_variable\_set :@specification\_version,  
298 current\_version  
299 MARSHAL\_FIELDS[current\_version]  
300 else  
301 MARSHAL\_FIELDS[spec.specification\_version]  
302 end  
303  
304 if array.size \< field\_count then  
305 raise TypeError, “invalid Gem::Specification format  
#{array.inspec  
t}”  
306 end  
307  
308 spec.instance\_variable\_set :@rubygems\_version,  
array[0]  
309 # spec version  
310 spec.instance\_variable\_set :@name,  
array[2]  
311 spec.instance\_variable\_set :@version,  
array[3]

So, specification\_version is what’s broken with the gem. RubyGems  
expects it to be a number, but we can clearly see in the above dump  
that the second item is a String. The version of the gem is stored in  
the fourth field, 0.0.4

Pulling down this project and looking through the history we find:

$ git log --grep=release  
[…]  
commit 0e10242e2ef63addf3ac294bb2e932202fa900fc  
Author: Andreas R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Date: Mon Nov 17 23:05:26 2008 +0100

```
 release 0.0.5, added CHANGELOG

```

commit 0b283793ee2c8e0689274d85f049bb8c2cf4250c  
Author: andreas [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Date: Thu Oct 23 16:19:27 2008 +0200

```
 released to rubyforge gem repository

```

commit 22bd9de5a5a6874ec4903af60fb5a95606f229ee  
Author: andreas [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Date: Thu Oct 23 10:38:33 2008 +0200

```
 prepare for rubyforge release of gem. Added license file

```

commit 715e4384f0cc34a56580c2c52054e2756c5d06ac  
Author: andreas [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Date: Mon Oct 20 12:13:00 2008 +0200

```
 released as 0.0.3. Updated documentation

```

So it looks like 0b283793ee2c8e0689274d85f049bb8c2cf4250c is release  
0.0.4.

$ git checkout 0b283793  
$ cat neo4j.gemspec

# WARNING : RAKE AUTO-GENERATED FILE. DO NOT MANUALLY EDIT!

# LAST UPDATED : Thu Oct 23 15:05:22 +0200 2008

# 

# RUN : ‘rake gem:update\_gemspec’

Gem::Specification.new do |s|  
s.description = “A graph database for JRuby”  
s.files = [

# …

]  
s.rubygems\_version = “1.2.0”  
s.platform = “ruby”  
s.date = “Thu Oct 23 00:00:00 +0200 2008” # ← STRING?  
s.homepage = “[http://github.com/andreasronge/neo4j/tree](http://github.com/andreasronge/neo4j/tree)”  
s.rubyforge\_project = “neo4j”  
s.bindir = “bin”  
s.summary = “A graph database for JRuby”  
s.rdoc\_options = […]  
s.specification\_version = “2” # ← STRING?  
s.email = “removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid”  
s.version = “0.0.4”  
s.required\_rubygems\_version = “\>= 0”  
s.require\_paths = [“lib”]  
s.required\_ruby\_version = “\>= 1.8.4”  
s.extra\_rdoc\_files = [“README.rdoc”]  
s.has\_rdoc = “true”  
s.name = “neo4j”  
s.authors = [“Andreas R.”]  
s.loaded = “false”  
end

So the gemspec has a String for specification\_version. Also, why is  
the date a String? It should be a Time object! It seems that this  
was hand-built.

There’s a bunch of extra fields set here that RubyGems has defaults  
for, like required\_rubygems\_version, required\_ruby\_version,  
require\_paths.

Hrm, what’s that Rake task look like?

$ cat Rakefile

# […]

# Thanks to the Merb project for this code.

desc “Update Github Gemspec”  
task :update\_gemspec do

# […]

```
 spec.instance_variables.each do |ivar|
   value = spec.instance_variable_get(ivar)
   name = ivar.split("@").last

```

# […]

```
     case value
     when Array
       value = # ...
     when String
       value = # ...
     else
       value = value.to_s.inspect # WHAT?
     end
     result << " s.#{name} = #{value}\n"
   end
 end
 result << "end"
 File.open(File.join(File.dirname( __FILE__ ),

```

“#{spec.name}.gemspec”), “w”){|f  
| f \<\< result}  
end

So the author of this gem isn’t entirely to blame here. What’s  
especially strange is that this is an especially broken implementation  
of Gem::Specification#to\_ruby which had RDoc all the way back to 0.8.11!

Looking in the merb source, it seems this code was added here:

commit 7d14e7e28be657c9a1a6b4f0730dd4f6d2f7031b  
Author: Daniel Neighman [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Date: Fri Apr 25 13:07:49 2008 +1000

```
 Adds Code for generating a gemspec for github

```

> <https://github.com/wycats/merb/commit/7d14e7e28be657c9a1a6b4f0730dd4f6d2f7031b>

So it looks like Daniel Neighman is to blame. (He may not actually  
be, since he doesn’t say where he got this code from.)

I’m not sure how this code was written without looking through  
Gem::Specification, nor how the author missed  
Gem::Specification#to\_ruby (which is exactly what they wanted).

It appears that there are other projects infected by this code:

[http://www.google.com/codesearch?q=skip\_fields+new\_platform+original\_platform](http://www.google.com/codesearch?q=skip_fields+new_platform+original_platform)

So if you own one of these, please delete that code!

Fortunately, I now have new things to protect gem repositories from!  
(Ryan hit me for not protecting RubyGems enough)

And again, a gemspec is not something that you just dump something on.  
It’s not a big truck.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/john_old)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-list-r-d-generates-error-on-http-gems-github-com/173042/5 "2009-08-03T07:07:10Z")

</div>

On Aug 2, 2009, at 08:45 , John wrote:

> Is there a workaround to this problem, which would allow me to  
> obtain the name & description for gems starting with “a”.

nope. the gem index in tainted. until the github gem repository is  
cleaned of the offenders, it’ll keep happening.