# HELP! Installing Rails on OS X breaks irb?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-installing-rails-on-os-x-breaks-irb/53646>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [February 13, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-installing-rails-on-os-x-breaks-irb/53646 "2006-02-13T01:09:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![John\_NSAlegre](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@John\_NSAlegre](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_NSAlegre)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-installing-rails-on-os-x-breaks-irb/53646/1 "2006-02-13T01:09:44Z")

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OK … I need help.

According to the info out on the Hivelogic site for Rails to work on OS  
X I  
had to do a build and install of Ruby and Rails to /usr/local. I did so  
and Rails is working fine. However when I try to use irb I get this  
error …

salamanca:~ jna$ irb  
dyld: NSLinkModule() error  
dyld: Symbol not found: \_rl\_completion\_matches  
Referenced  
from: /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/powerpc-darwin8.4.0/readline.bundle  
Expected in: flat namespace

Trace/BPT trap

If I use the installed /usr/bin/irb everything works fine. What did I  
break? Another question is if the Hivelogic info is correct. Is there  
a  
way to get Rails working with stock OS X ruby.

(I have OS X 10.4.3 which comes with Ruby 1.8)

All comments welcome … PLEASE

john

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![John\_NSAlegre](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@John\_NSAlegre](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_NSAlegre)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-installing-rails-on-os-x-breaks-irb/53646/2 "2006-02-13T01:19:08Z")

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“John N. Alegre” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) writes:

> If I use the installed /usr/bin/irb everything works fine. What did I  
> break? Another question is if the Hivelogic info is correct. Is there a  
> way to get Rails working with stock OS X ruby.
> 
> (I have OS X 10.4.3 which comes with Ruby 1.8)

I had readline troubles with Ruby 1.8.4 too (I have OS X 10.3, which  
came with a much older version of Ruby, but I had already upgraded to  
to Ruby 1.8 without trouble). I finally gave up trying to fix it  
myself and installed the DarwinPorts version of Ruby 1.8.4. Then I had  
no trouble with Ruby on Rails. Here’s what worked for me

[http://hammer.prohosting.com/~theaney/RubyOnRails/osx.html](http://hammer.prohosting.com/~theaney/RubyOnRails/osx.html)

I hope this helps,

Tim

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![John\_NSAlegre](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@John\_NSAlegre](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_NSAlegre)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-installing-rails-on-os-x-breaks-irb/53646/3 "2006-02-13T22:13:51Z")

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Thanks Tim,

This worked just as U said.

Peace  
john