# Installing ruby-opengl in Windows: ERROR: While executing ge **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [April 23, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-opengl-in-windows-error-while-executing-ge/92742 "2007-04-23T18:22:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sung\_Soo\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sung\_Soo\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sung_Soo_K)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-opengl-in-windows-error-while-executing-ge/92742/1 "2007-04-23T18:22:27Z")
Hi. I have questions. Because I need to generate complex simple 3D pictures in Windows XP, I want to use OpenGL, especially in Ruby. Please consider that I’m a complete newbie in OpenGL. Problem is… I cannot ‘gem’ ruby-opengl. Here are two qustions. 1. What do I need to install before installing ruby-opengl? What I did: (1) get opengl.dll, glu.dll, glut.dll from the internet and copied them to the windows sytem32 folder. (2) Installed ruby 1.8.6, rake, mkrf as shown in " [http://ruby-opengl.rubyforge.org/build\_install.html](http://ruby-opengl.rubyforge.org/build_install.html)" 2. But I cannot install ruby-opengl. Error messages are like this. (gem version is 0.9.2) What I did: (1) try installing ruby-opengl directly using gem (2) raking in ruby-opengl folder. In (1), I get, "ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension. In (2), I get, undefined method ‘exitstatus’ for nil:NilClass Following is the detail of the output Thank you. Sung Soo =========================================== C:\ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\ruby-opengl-0.33.0\>gem install -y ruby-opengl Building native extensions. This could take a while… ERROR: While executing gem … (Gem::Installer::ExtensionBuildError) ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension. rake RUBYARCHDIR=c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/lib RUBYLIBDIR=c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/lib extension (in c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0) Building common rbogl object file cd ext/common && rake (in C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/ext/common) cc -c -MD -Zi -O2b2xg- -G6 -Ic:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/i386-mswin32 -o rbogl.o rbogl.c rake aborted! undefined method `exitstatus’ for nil:NilClass C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/ext/common/rakefile:38 (See full trace by running task with --trace) rake aborted! Command failed with status (1): [cd ext/common && rake] c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/rakefile:56 (See full trace by running task with --trace) Gem files will remain installed in c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby- opengl-0.33.0 for inspection. Results logged to c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0 /gem\_make.out C:\ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\ruby-opengl-0.33.0\> =========================================== C:\ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\ruby-opengl-0.33.0\>rake (in C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0) Building common rbogl object file cd ext/common && rake (in C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/ext/common) cc -c -MD -Zi -O2b2xg- -G6 -Ic:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/i386-mswin32 -o rbogl.o rbogl.c rake aborted! undefined method `exitstatus’ for nil:NilClass C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/ext/common/rakefile:38 (See full trace by running task with --trace) rake aborted! Command failed with status (1): [cd ext/common && rake] C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/rakefile:56 (See full trace by running task with --trace) C:\ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\ruby-opengl-0.33.0\>rake --trace (in C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0) \*\* Invoke default (first\_time) \*\* Invoke build\_rbogl (first\_time) \*\* Execute build\_rbogl Building common rbogl object file cd ext/common && rake (in C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/ext/common) cc -c -MD -Zi -O2b2xg- -G6 -Ic:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/i386-mswin32 -o rbogl.o rbogl.c rake aborted! undefined method `exitstatus' for nil:NilClass C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/ext/common/rakefile:38 (See full trace by running task with --trace) rake aborted! Command failed with status (1): [cd ext/common && rake] c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:730:in `sh’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:737:in `call' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:737:in `sh’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:816:in `sh' C:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-opengl-0.33.0/rakefile:56 c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:399:in `call’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:399:in `execute' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:399:in `each’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:399:in `execute' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:369:in `invoke’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:362:in `synchronize' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:362:in `invoke’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:376:in `invoke_prerequisites' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:1021:in `each’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:1021:in `send' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:1021:in `each’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:375:in `invoke_prerequisites' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:368:in `invoke’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:362:in `synchronize' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:362:in `invoke’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:1935:in `run' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:1935:in `each’ c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/lib/rake.rb:1935:in `run' c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.7.2/bin/rake:7 c:/ruby/bin/rake.bat:20:in `load’ c:/ruby/bin/rake.bat:20 C:\ruby\lib\ruby\gems\1.8\gems\ruby-opengl-0.33.0\> ---
**Author:** ![Sung\_Soo\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sung\_Soo\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sung_Soo_K)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-opengl-in-windows-error-while-executing-ge/92742/2 "2007-05-05T05:51:43Z")
You have to setup a C development tool on Window, in order to build native extension for Ruby. You can either use GNU C or Visual C++. I have the same error on my Window machine. I install Visual C++, and afterward the error is solved. Several users on Linux, Unix or Mac OS have the same problems, because they don’t install C compiler tools yet. Just use the package management to install appropriate C compiler for each environment, it will be Ok. ---
**Author:** ![Sung\_Soo\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sung\_Soo\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sung_Soo_K)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 6:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-ruby-opengl-in-windows-error-while-executing-ge/92742/3 "2007-05-05T06:20:17Z")
I am sorry. The paragraph about C compiler above is meant for people who can not build the native extension, due to nmake error. If you have the error “undefined method `exitstatus’ for nil:NilClass”, it is because when you run gem install ruby-opengl gem looks for the newest version of opengl gem, which is very likely a Unix version of gem. You need to look for the specific gem for win32. I have the same problem “undefined method `exitstatus’ for nil:NilClass” when I install rmagick (for ImageMagick) on Window XP. So I have to download the gem rmagick-win32 to my local machine, and run gem from local. Everything is Ok.