# Gems and superuser rights

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-and-superuser-rights/136335>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [April 30, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-and-superuser-rights/136335 "2008-04-30T22:21:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-and-superuser-rights/136335/1 "2008-04-30T22:21:42Z")

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Dear all,

several gems I’ve recently installed can only be used if executed  
as superuser (gsl and rmagick) on Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10).  
What could be the reason for this ?

Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Axel

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Axel\_E](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Axel_E)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gems-and-superuser-rights/136335/2 "2008-05-01T04:46:35Z")

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Hi,

Did you do:  
sudo gem install \<gem\_name\>

or:  
sudo su  
gem install \<gem\_name\>

Dan