# Gem problems: install "bulk updating..." gets oom killed: no memory

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-problems-install-bulk-updating-gets-oom-killed-no-memory/166876>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [April 30, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-problems-install-bulk-updating-gets-oom-killed-no-memory/166876 "2009-04-30T13:35:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/itsastickup)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-problems-install-bulk-updating-gets-oom-killed-no-memory/166876/1 "2009-04-30T13:35:47Z")

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Hello,

ruby 1.8.4, gems 1.0.1

On a 256MB VPS my gem installs blow up. I had this problem when the  
VPS was at 128MB, then upgraded to 256 and it went away. But now it’s  
happening again. It doesn’t matter how many processes I kill to make  
free memory I still run out. This time around I can’t justify  
upgrading the VPS.

I also can’t update the gem system in case this is a bug that’s been  
fixed: the same thing happens.

Any help appreciated.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/itsastickup)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-problems-install-bulk-updating-gets-oom-killed-no-memory/166876/2 "2009-04-30T13:44:38Z")

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2009/4/30 itsastickup [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> Hello,
> 
> ruby 1.8.4, gems 1.0.1

That version of gems is really old. The version on my box is 1.3.1. I  
think there are some backwards incompatibilities between the newer and  
older versions which can cause issues such as what you describe. See  
if upgrading to a newer gems version helps.

Farrel

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/itsastickup)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-problems-install-bulk-updating-gets-oom-killed-no-memory/166876/3 "2009-04-30T14:00:36Z")

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> > Hello,
> 
> > ruby 1.8.4, gems 1.0.1
> 
> That version of gems is really old. The version on my box is 1.3.1. I  
> think there are some backwards incompatibilities between the newer and  
> older versions which can cause issues such as what you describe. See  
> if upgrading to a newer gems version helps.

Thanks for that.

Is there a way of upgrading without the memory problems? I’ve tried  
gem install \<url to 1.3.1\>

but it still insists on “Bulk updating…” and dies.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/itsastickup)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-problems-install-bulk-updating-gets-oom-killed-no-memory/166876/4 "2009-04-30T16:30:57Z")

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> Is there a way of upgrading without the memory problems? I’ve tried  
> gem install \<url to 1.3.1\>
> 
> but it still insists on “Bulk updating…” and dies.

So the solution seems to be to use the -B option to avoid the bulk  
update feature. It then gets each one at a rate of 7 a second for  
22,000: I had to wait an hour, but the following worked:

gem update --system -B 100000000

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@itsastickup](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/itsastickup)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gem-problems-install-bulk-updating-gets-oom-killed-no-memory/166876/5 "2009-04-30T20:54:40Z")

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On Apr 30, 2009, at 07:30, itsastickup wrote:

> > Is there a way of upgrading without the memory problems? I’ve tried  
> > gem install \<url to 1.3.1\>
> > 
> > but it still insists on “Bulk updating…” and dies.
> 
> So the solution seems to be to use the -B option to avoid the bulk  
> update feature. It then gets each one at a rate of 7 a second for  
> 22,000: I had to wait an hour, but the following worked:
> 
> gem update --system -B 100000000

You can also upgrade my manually upgrading, see the last set of  
install instructions here:

[http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?forum\_id=31661](http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=31661)