# Installing Ruby 1.9.1 on Snow Leopard

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-1-9-1-on-snow-leopard/180219>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 15, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-1-9-1-on-snow-leopard/180219 "2009-12-15T03:59:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mac20](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e19b73/32.png) [@mac20](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mac20)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-1-9-1-on-snow-leopard/180219/1 "2009-12-15T03:59:59Z")

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Hello,  
I’m trying to install Ruby 1.9.1 alongside 1.8.7 on Snow Leopard. I’m  
following the instructions here  
[http://blog.twg.ca/2009/09/livin-on-the-edge-ruby-rails-and-snow-leopard/](http://blog.twg.ca/2009/09/livin-on-the-edge-ruby-rails-and-snow-leopard/)  
but here’s where it’s failing:

MacBookPro:~ martine$ rvm install 1.9.1  
 _Installing Ruby from source to: /Users/martine/.rvm/ruby-1.9.1-p376_  
   
 _Extracting ruby-1.9.1-p376 …_   
 _Configuring ruby-1.9.1-p376, this may take a while depending on your  
cpu(s)…_   
 Error running './configure  
–prefix=/Users/martine/.rvm/ruby-1.9.1-p376 --enable\_shared ', please  
check /Users/martine/.rvm/log/ruby-1.9.1-p376/configure.error.log

and the log shows:

[2009-12-14 18:41:52] ./configure  
–prefix=/Users/martine/.rvm/ruby-1.9.1-p376 --enable\_shared  
configure: error: unrecognized option: `--enable_shared' Try `./configure --help’ for more information.

Any ideas?  
Thanks in advance!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mac20](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e19b73/32.png) [@mac20](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mac20)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-1-9-1-on-snow-leopard/180219/2 "2009-12-15T06:41:10Z")

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This looks like a problem with rvm. Have you tried just building Ruby  
1.9 from scratch? I followed these instructions and was pretty  
successful:

> **[Dan Benjamin](https://danbenjamin.com)**
>
> Dan Benjamin's personal website.

skim

Mac Martine wrote:

> Hello,  
> I’m trying to install Ruby 1.9.1 alongside 1.8.7 on Snow Leopard. I’m  
> following the instructions here  
> [http://blog.twg.ca/2009/09/livin-on-the-edge-ruby-rails-and-snow-leopard/](http://blog.twg.ca/2009/09/livin-on-the-edge-ruby-rails-and-snow-leopard/)  
> but here’s where it’s failing:
> 
> MacBookPro:~ martine$ rvm install 1.9.1  
> _Installing Ruby from source to: /Users/martine/.rvm/ruby-1.9.1-p376_  
>    
> _Extracting ruby-1.9.1-p376 …_   
> _Configuring ruby-1.9.1-p376, this may take a while depending on your  
> cpu(s)…_   
> Error running './configure  
> –prefix=/Users/martine/.rvm/ruby-1.9.1-p376 --enable\_shared ', please  
> check /Users/martine/.rvm/log/ruby-1.9.1-p376/configure.error.log
> 
> and the log shows:
> 
> [2009-12-14 18:41:52] ./configure  
> –prefix=/Users/martine/.rvm/ruby-1.9.1-p376 --enable\_shared  
> configure: error: unrecognized option: `--enable_shared' Try `./configure --help’ for more information.
> 
> Any ideas?  
> Thanks in advance!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mac20](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e19b73/32.png) [@mac20](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mac20)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-1-9-1-on-snow-leopard/180219/3 "2010-01-25T03:56:29Z")

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That was a temporary (single release) tyop issue  
(s/enable\_shared/enable-shared/) long since fixed. If you ever have  
issues  
with rvm leave a message in #rvm on irc.

~Wayne