# How to update gem to a version that's not the latest?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-update-gem-to-a-version-thats-not-the-latest/151895>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [October 27, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-update-gem-to-a-version-thats-not-the-latest/151895 "2008-10-27T16:42:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gaudimila](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@gaudimila](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gaudimila)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-update-gem-to-a-version-thats-not-the-latest/151895/1 "2008-10-27T16:42:53Z")

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I posted an earlier question but am amending it with this question  
instead which hopefully gets to the heart of the matter:

I’m trying to get from rubygems version 0.9.5 to version 1.2.0 because I  
believe that 1.3.0 has a possible bug. However when I install 0.9.5 and  
then do a gem update --system it updates to 1.3.0 because that’s the  
most recent in my remote repository (we use an internal repository,  
btw).

The repository does have 1.2.0. How do I get to version 1.2.0 instead  
of 1.3.0?

Thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gaudimila](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@gaudimila](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gaudimila)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-update-gem-to-a-version-thats-not-the-latest/151895/2 "2008-10-27T23:00:51Z")

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Download it manually and install from local file.

–  
Rados³aw Bu³at

[http://radarek.jogger.pl](http://radarek.jogger.pl) - mój blog

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gaudimila](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@gaudimila](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/gaudimila)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-update-gem-to-a-version-thats-not-the-latest/151895/3 "2008-10-27T23:28:32Z")

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Thanks for the response, but the question of “how” was really the heart  
of my question. I understand that _gems_ can be installed locally by  
using the -l switch, but when I try

gem update --system -l [some file name]

it does not work and I’m not clear on the difference between

gem install rubygems-update-0.9.5.gem

and

gem update --system

and

update\_rubygems.

Am I the only person that finds this confusing?

Thanks.

Radosław Bułat wrote:

> Download it manually and install from local file.
> 
> –  
> Rados�aw Bu�at
> 
> [http://radarek.jogger.pl](http://radarek.jogger.pl) - m�j blog