# Invalid gem format

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/invalid-gem-format/180025>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 9, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/invalid-gem-format/180025 "2009-12-09T22:40:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![brianspaid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@brianspaid](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/brianspaid)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/invalid-gem-format/180025/1 "2009-12-09T22:40:55Z")

</div>

I’m having some issues installing gems such as Thin. Please see debug  
below:

XXXXX@laptop:~$ sudo gem install sup --debug -V  
Exception `NameError' at /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/rubygems/command_manager.rb:161 - uninitialized constant Gem::Commands::InstallCommand Exception `Gem::LoadError’ at /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:827 - Could  
not find RubyGem test-unit (\>= 0)

Exception `Gem::LoadError’ at /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:827 - Could  
not find RubyGem sources (\> 0.0.1)

GET 200 OK: [RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/latest_specs.4.8.gz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/sup-0.9.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/ferret-0.11.6.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/ncurses-0.9.1.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/rmail-1.0.0.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/highline-1.5.1.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/trollop-1.15.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/lockfile-1.4.3.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK: [RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/specs.4.8.gz)  
Exception `EOFError' at /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:135 - end of file reached Exception `EOFError’ at /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:120 - end of  
file reached  
connection reset after 10 requests, retrying  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/mime-types-1.15.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/mime-types-1.16.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/gettext-2.1.0.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/fastthread-1.0.7.gemspec.rz)  
GET 200 OK:  
[RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/locale-2.0.5.gemspec.rz)  
Installing gem ferret-0.11.6  
Exception `Gem::Package::FormatError' at /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/rubygems/package/tar_input.rb:110 - No metadata found! Exception `Gem::InstallError’ at  
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/rubygems/installer.rb:121 - invalid gem format for  
/var/lib/gems/1.8/cache/ferret-0.11.6.gem  
ERROR: Error installing sup:  
invalid gem format for /var/lib/gems/1.8/cache/ferret-0.11.6.gem