# Mongrel startup fails now: already initialized constant OPTIONS

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115>\
**Category:** Mongrel\
**Created:** [November 13, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115 "2007-11-13T21:45:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 17\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/1 "2007-11-13T21:45:11Z")

</div>

I updated to ruby 1.8.6p111 last night and updated some gems and now  
mongrel doesn’t work:

MacOS 10.4.10

$ ruby --version  
ruby 1.8.6 (2007-09-24 patchlevel 111) [i686-darwin8.10.1]

$ gem list rails

\*\*\* LOCAL GEMS \*\*\*

rails (1.2.5, 1.2.4, 1.2.3, 1.2.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.0, 1.1.6)

Here’s a simple test:

$ rails test5  
create …

$ cd test5  
$ script/server  
=\> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)  
=\> Rails application starting on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
=\> Call with -d to detach  
=\> Ctrl-C to shutdown server  
\*\* Starting Mongrel listening at 0.0.0.0:3000  
\*\* Starting Rails with development environment…  
\*\* Rails loaded.  
\*\* Loading any Rails specific GemPlugins  
Exiting  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:15:  
warning: already initialized constant OPTIONS  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:18:  
undefined method `options' for []:Array (NoMethodError) from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:32:in `gem\_original\_require’  
from  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:32:in  
`require' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:495:in `require’  
from  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:342:in  
`new_constants_in' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:495:in `require’  
from  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/server.rb:39  
from  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in  
`gem_original_require' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require’

Here were the gems I upgraded:

$ gem outdated  
Bulk updating Gem source index for: [http://gems.rubyforge.org](http://gems.rubyforge.org)  
fastercsv (1.2.0 \< 1.2.1)  
ruby-debug (0.8.1 \< 0.9.3)  
mofo (0.2.1 \< 0.2.10)  
mongrel (1.0.1 \< 1.1.1)  
rails (1.2.4 \< 1.2.5)  
actionwebservice (1.2.4 \< 1.2.5)  
ruby-debug-base (0.8.1 \< 0.9.3)  
activerecord (1.15.4 \< 1.15.5)  
tzinfo (0.3.3 \< 0.3.5)  
gem\_plugin (0.2.2 \< 0.2.3)  
libxml-ruby (0.3.8.4.1 \< 0.5.2.0)  
ruport (0.8.12 \< 1.2.2)  
image\_science (1.1.1 \< 1.1.3)  
erubis (2.2.0 \< 2.4.1)  
uuidtools (1.0.0 \< 1.0.2)  
cgi\_multipart\_eof\_fix (2.1 \< 2.5.0)  
attributes (4.0.0 \< 5.0.0)  
net-ssh (1.0.10 \< 1.1.2)  
mongrel\_cluster (1.0.2 \< 1.0.4)  
capistrano (1.4.1 \< 2.1.0)  
merb (0.2.0 \< 0.4.1)  
actionmailer (1.3.4 \< 1.3.5)  
actionpack (1.13.4 \< 1.13.5)  
json (1.0.1 \< 1.1.1)  
daemons (1.0.5 \< 1.0.9)  
RubyInline (3.6.2 \< 3.6.5)  
activesupport (1.4.3 \< 1.4.4)  
builder (2.1.1 \< 2.1.2)  
hpricot (0.5.110 \< 0.6)  
fastthread (1.0 \< 1.0.1)

```
     from script/server:3

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/2 "2007-11-14T15:43:31Z")

</div>

Works for me. Do you have any strange gem\_plugins installed? Maybe try  
uninstalling the old version of mongrel::cluster?

Evan

On Nov 13, 2007 3:29 PM, Stephen B.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/3 "2007-11-14T15:44:06Z")

</div>

Evan W. escribió:

> > =\> Ctrl-C to shutdown server  
> > /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:32:in  
> > from
> > 
> > ruby-debug-base (0.8.1 \< 0.9.3)  
> > net-ssh (1.0.10 \< 1.1.2)  
> > hpricot (0.5.110 \< 0.6)

Try to run your application with webrick, maybe is a require that you  
need in a gem (webrick show the error more friendly).

Regards

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/4 "2007-11-14T15:55:12Z")

</div>

On Nov 13, 2007 3:29 PM, Stephen B.  
[removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I updated to ruby 1.8.6p111 last night and updated some gems and now  
> mongrel doesn’t work

IIRC, if you update ruby, you’re supposed to reinstall your gems –  
especially those with C components. (You’ll probably want to update  
mysql, too.) Something about libraries and linking…?

Cheers,  
-Nate

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/5 "2007-11-14T16:28:42Z")

</div>

> On Nov 13, 2007 3:29 PM, Stephen B.  
> [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:
> 
> > I updated to ruby 1.8.6p111 last night and updated some gems and now  
> > mongrel doesn’t work
> 
> IIRC, if you update ruby, you’re supposed to reinstall your gems –  
> especially those with C components. (You’ll probably want to update  
> mysql, too.) Something about libraries and linking…?

I didn’t do that – and that sounds like a likely cause for strange  
errors.

Hmmm … is there an easy way to ask all the versions of all my gems to  
rebuild themselves – I don’t actually need to download them – they’re  
already on my system.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/6 "2007-11-14T16:28:07Z")

</div>

> Works for me. Do you have any strange gem\_plugins installed? Maybe try  
> uninstalling the old version of mongrel::cluster?
> 
> Evan

I’ve got to drive home now. I’ll be back online in a couple of hours. I  
think it might be some kind of gem error.

This is where I’ve gotten to:

Some more clues from tracing with ruby-debug (I’m still learning how o  
use this tool):

dev mode, rails 1.2.5, ruby 1.8.6 patchlevel 111, gem v0.9.4  
this is on a newly created rails app with no changes to it

I set a debugger statement at the end of environment.rb and run  
script/server.

When it fires I set this breakpoint:

b  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/gem\_plugin-0.2.3/lib/gem\_plugin.rb:114

This is in the middle of the GemPlugin::Manager.instance.load loop where  
gems are loaded which is called from load\_plugins line 231 in in  
mongrels configurator.rb.

(rdb:1) where  
–\> #0  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/gem\_plugin-0.2.3/lib/gem\_plugin.rb:114  
in ‘load’  
#1 /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/source\_index.rb:166 in  
‘each’  
#2  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/gem\_plugin-0.2.3/lib/gem\_plugin.rb:112  
in ‘load’  
#3  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.1/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:231  
in ‘load\_plugins’  
#4  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.1/bin/mongrel\_rails:117 in  
‘cloaker\_’  
(rdb:1) l 112  
[107, 116] in  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/gem\_plugin-0.2.3/lib/gem\_plugin.rb  
107 def load(needs = {})  
108 sdir = File.join(Gem.dir, “specifications”)  
109 gems = Gem::SourceIndex.from\_installed\_gems(sdir)  
110 needs = needs.merge({“gem\_plugin” =\> INCLUDE})  
111  
112 gems.each do |path, gem|  
113 # don’t load gems more than once  
=\> 114 next if @gems.has\_key? gem.name  
115 check = needs.dup

I set an exception capture here for the NoMethodError

cat NoMethodError

then 34 times through this loop (many ‘conts’)

(rdb:1) cont  
Exiting  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:15:  
warning: already initialized constant OPTIONS  
Catchpoint at  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:18:  
`undefined method`options’ for []:Array’ (NoMethodError)  
from  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in  
`gem_original_require' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in`require’  
from script/server:3  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:18  
ARGV.clone.options do |opts|  
[13, 22] in  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb  
13 :ip =\> “0.0.0.0”,  
14 :environment =\> (ENV[‘RAILS\_ENV’] || “development”).dup,  
15 :detach =\> false  
16 }  
17  
=\> 18 ARGV.clone.options do |opts|  
19 opts.on("-p", “–port=port”, Integer, “Runs Rails on the  
specified port.”, “Default: 3000”) { |v| OPTIONS[:port] = v }  
20 opts.on("-b", “–binding=ip”, String, “Binds Rails to the  
specified ip.”, “Default: 0.0.0.0”) { |v| OPTIONS[:ip] = v }  
21 opts.on("-d", “–daemon”, “Make server run as a Daemon.”) {  
OPTIONS[:detach] = true }  
22 opts.on("-e", “–environment=name”, String,

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/7 "2007-11-15T21:41:47Z")

</div>

fyi:

Gregory B., the developer of Ruport reports:

At 8:02 AM -0500 11/15/07, Gregory B. wrote:

> If you have versions 0.8.10 -\> 0.8.14 laying around and are  
> experiencing this problem, try deleting them.
> 
> Also, thanks for pointing this problem out, I’ve seen it before but  
> only in weird cases, and was wondering what happened.

Sounds like it could be a problem with gem\_plugin, or interactions  
between gem\_plugin and rails, or gem\_plugin ,rails, mongrel, ruby 1.8.6,  
and ruport \<1.0

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 8:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/8 "2007-11-15T08:00:15Z")

</div>

> On Nov 13, 2007 3:29 PM, Stephen B.  
> [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:
> 
> > I updated to ruby 1.8.6p111 last night and updated some gems and now  
> > mongrel doesn’t work
> 
> IIRC, if you update ruby, you’re supposed to reinstall your gems –  
> especially those with C components. (You’ll probably want to update  
> mysql, too.) Something about libraries and linking…?

Eric H. (who is coordinating rubgems) doesn’t think I should have to  
do that …

At 6:02 PM -0800 11/13/07, Eric H. wrote:

> I’ve never heard of this before, and I’ve been using gems for a long  
> time. I’ve never reinstalled my gems when upgrading ruby. I’ve used  
> C components from ruby 1.8.2 with 1.8.6.
> 
> If you do have to recompile, this is a bug in either Ruby or the  
> extension because something changed incompatibly. Probably the  
> extension though.

But I think there is something wrong with my local gems. I fixed the  
problem by removing all the versions of one gem that should have NOTHING  
to do with mongrel or rails ???

The problem occurs with a rails 1.2.5 app as simple as this:

$ rails test125  
$ cd rails125  
$ script/server

In fact it also occurs when I create new apps using rails version 1.2.0,  
1.2.1, 1.2.3, 1.2.4, and 1.2.5.

Mongrel uses a gem that Zed wrote called gem\_plugin.

I put a break on the line that requires the dependant gems for mongrel:

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/gem\_plugin-0.2.3/lib/gem\_plugin.rb:134

Here’s the line of code:

require File.join(gem\_dir, “lib”, gem.name, “init.rb”)

This is called from line 231 of mongrel’s configurator.rb:

GemPlugin::Manager.instance.load(load\_settings)

In my simple 1.2.5 test app here were the sequential values for gem\_dir:

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel\_cluster-1.0.2  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/seesaw-0.2.5  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel\_cluster-1.0.2  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/seesaw-0.2.5  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruport-0.8.10

These represent the root path to the gem that is being loaded. An actual  
full path looks like this:

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel\_cluster-1.0.2/lib/mongrel\_cluster/init.rb

Of course there are some strange entries there!

This is what I have installed:

mongrel (1.1.1, 1.0.1, 1.0, 0.3.13.4)  
A small fast HTTP library and server that runs Rails, Camping, Nitro  
and Iowa apps.

mongrel\_cluster (1.0.5, 1.0.4, 1.0.3, 1.0.2, 0.2.1, 0.2.0)  
Mongrel plugin that provides commands and Capistrano tasks for  
managing multiple Mongrel processes.

seesaw (0.2.5)  
Ripple-restart a mongrel cluster with no downtime

So it’s pretty strange that mongrel-cluster-1.0.2 and mongrel 1.0 are  
being required.

Also the duplication doesn’t seem right

The crash happens when I let the debugger continue after that last  
require of ruport (??!!).

OK – so I delete all the ruport gems I have installed … and it works  
?!?!

\*\*\* Here’s what the same tracing shows on my now working system (for  
just what reason I don’t yet know).

$ rdebug script/server.rb

[I made a copy of script/server and renamed it script/server.rb so rdebug would start it from the command line]

set a breakpoint in gem\_plugin on the line that require’s the dependant  
gems:

(rdb:1) b  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/gem\_plugin-0.2.3/lib/gem\_plugin.rb:134

Then let the program run in the debugger:

(rdb:1) cont

I get this printed:

=\> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)  
=\> Rails application starting on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
=\> Call with -d to detach  
=\> Ctrl-C to shutdown server

then at the first break gem\_plugin requires:

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel\_cluster-1.0.2/lib/mongrel\_cluster/init.rb

and at the second break:

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/seesaw-0.2.5/lib/seesaw/init.rb

this then gets printed:

\*\* Starting Mongrel listening at 0.0.0.0:3000  
\*\* Starting Rails with development environment…  
\*\* Rails loaded.  
\*\* Loading any Rails specific GemPlugins

and then at the third break mongrel 1.0 is required:

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0/lib/mongrel/init.rb

and this is printed:

\*\* Signals ready. TERM =\> stop. USR2 =\> restart. INT =\> stop (no  
restart).  
\*\* Rails signals registered. HUP =\> reload (without restart). It might  
not work well.  
\*\* Mongrel 1.1.1 available at 0.0.0.0:3000  
\*\* Use CTRL-C to stop.

and the whole thing is working ???

How did ruport ever get on that list?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/9 "2007-11-16T15:13:02Z")

</div>

No aspersions cast on Zed but I hate gem\_plugin, and the team is  
planning to remove it in a couple months. We just need a temporary  
hack for now so that Ruport isn’t busted.

Evan

On Nov 15, 2007 3:41 PM, Stephen B.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/10 "2007-11-29T16:29:03Z")

</div>

I had a similar problem today that was resolved by uninstalling and  
re-installing mongrel. I don’t have ruport installed. I tried  
uninstalling gem\_plugin first and then reinstalling, but that seemed to  
make no difference, mongrel still died with the “options” method error  
for Array. In case it helps, here are the relevant lines:

Ian$ script/server  
=\> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)  
=\> Rails application starting on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
=\> Call with -d to detach  
=\> Ctrl-C to shutdown server  
Exiting  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.6/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:15:  
warning: already initialized constant OPTIONS  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.6/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:18:  
undefined method `options’ for #Array:0x136ef38 (NoMethodError)  
…

Ian$ sudo gem uninstall mongrel  
Successfully uninstalled mongrel version 1.1  
Remove executables and scripts for  
‘mongrel\_rails’ in addition to the gem? [Yn] y  
Removing mongrel\_rails  
…

Ian$ sudo gem install mongrel  
Select which gem to install for your platform (powerpc-darwin8.10.0)

1. mongrel 1.1.1 (ruby)
2. mongrel 1.1.1 (jruby)
3. mongrel 1.1.1 (mswin32)
4. mongrel 1.1 (mswin32)
5. mongrel 1.1 (ruby)
6. mongrel 1.1 (jruby)
7. Skip this gem
8. Cancel installation

> 5  
> Install required dependency daemons? [Yn] y  
> Install required dependency fastthread? [Yn] y  
> Select which gem to install for your platform (powerpc-darwin8.10.0)

1. fastthread 1.0.1 (mswin32)
2. fastthread 1.0.1 (ruby)
3. Skip this gem
4. Cancel installation

> 2  
> Building native extensions. This could take a while…  
> Building native extensions. This could take a while…  
> Successfully installed mongrel-1.1  
> Successfully installed daemons-1.0.9  
> Successfully installed fastthread-1.0.1  
> …

Ian$ script/server  
=\> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)  
=\> Rails application starting on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
=\> Call with -d to detach  
=\> Ctrl-C to shutdown server  
\*\* Starting Mongrel listening at 0.0.0.0:3000  
\*\* Starting Rails with development environment…  
\*\* Rails loaded.  
\*\* Loading any Rails specific GemPlugins  
\*\* Signals ready. TERM =\> stop. USR2 =\> restart. INT =\> stop (no  
restart).  
\*\* Rails signals registered. HUP =\> reload (without restart). It might  
not work well.

I then upgraded to mongrel 1.1.1 and this also worked.

Stephen B. wrote:

> fyi:
> 
> Gregory B., the developer of Ruport reports:
> 
> At 8:02 AM -0500 11/15/07, Gregory B. wrote:
> 
> > If you have versions 0.8.10 → 0.8.14 laying around and are  
> > experiencing this problem, try deleting them.
> > 
> > Also, thanks for pointing this problem out, I’ve seen it before but  
> > only in weird cases, and was wondering what happened.
> 
> Sounds like it could be a problem with gem\_plugin, or interactions  
> between gem\_plugin and rails, or gem\_plugin ,rails, mongrel, ruby 1.8.6,  
> and ruport \<1.0

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/11 "2007-12-05T19:31:15Z")

</div>

In my case this didn’t help–when I tried to boot script/server webrick  
it booted webrick THEN mongrel (odd). Temporary fix: gem uninstall  
mongrel

> I had a similar problem today that was resolved by uninstalling and  
> re-installing mongrel. I don’t have ruport installed. I tried  
> uninstalling gem\_plugin first and then reinstalling, but that seemed to  
> make no difference, mongrel still died with the “options” method error  
> for Array. In case it helps, here are the relevant lines:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/12 "2007-12-05T20:03:16Z")

</div>

On Dec 5, 2007 3:31 PM, Roger P. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> In my case this didn’t help–when I tried to boot script/server webrick  
> it booted webrick THEN mongrel (odd). Temporary fix: gem uninstall  
> mongrel
> 
> > I had a similar problem today that was resolved by uninstalling and  
> > re-installing mongrel. I don’t have ruport installed. I tried  
> > uninstalling gem\_plugin first and then reinstalling, but that seemed to  
> > make no difference, mongrel still died with the “options” method error  
> > for Array. In case it helps, here are the relevant lines:

script/server is borked.

Historically it do odd things with the way it loads and loads mongrel,  
if you search this list you will find a few cases that describe this  
situation.

I suggest stick to mongrel\_rails start or mongrel\_service in case  
you’re running on Windows.

## – Luis L. Multimedia systems

Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort,  
which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that  
is worthwhile.  
Vince Lombardi

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/13 "2007-12-08T12:31:11Z")

</div>

Stephen B. wrote:

> I updated to ruby 1.8.6p111 last night and updated some gems and now  
> mongrel doesn’t work:
> 
> MacOS 10.4.10
> 
> $ ruby --version  
> ruby 1.8.6 (2007-09-24 patchlevel 111) [i686-darwin8.10.1]
> 
> $ gem list rails
> 
> \*\*\* LOCAL GEMS \*\*\*
> 
> rails (1.2.5, 1.2.4, 1.2.3, 1.2.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.0, 1.1.6)
> 
> Here’s a simple test:
> 
> $ rails test5  
> create …
> 
> $ cd test5  
> $ script/server  
> =\> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)  
> =\> Rails application starting on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
> =\> Call with -d to detach  
> =\> Ctrl-C to shutdown server  
> \*\* Starting Mongrel listening at 0.0.0.0:3000  
> \*\* Starting Rails with development environment…  
> \*\* Rails loaded.  
> \*\* Loading any Rails specific GemPlugins  
> Exiting  
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:15:  
> warning: already initialized constant OPTIONS  
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:18:  
> undefined method `options' for []:Array (NoMethodError) from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:32:in `gem\_original\_require’  
> from  
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:32:in  
> `require' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:495:in `require’  
> from  
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:342:in  
> `new_constants_in' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.4/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:495:in `require’  
> from  
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/server.rb:39  
> from  
> /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in  
> `gem_original_require' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require’
> 
> Here were the gems I upgraded:
> 
> $ gem outdated  
> Bulk updating Gem source index for: [http://gems.rubyforge.org](http://gems.rubyforge.org)  
> fastercsv (1.2.0 \< 1.2.1)  
> ruby-debug (0.8.1 \< 0.9.3)  
> mofo (0.2.1 \< 0.2.10)  
> mongrel (1.0.1 \< 1.1.1)  
> rails (1.2.4 \< 1.2.5)  
> actionwebservice (1.2.4 \< 1.2.5)  
> ruby-debug-base (0.8.1 \< 0.9.3)  
> activerecord (1.15.4 \< 1.15.5)  
> tzinfo (0.3.3 \< 0.3.5)  
> gem\_plugin (0.2.2 \< 0.2.3)  
> libxml-ruby (0.3.8.4.1 \< 0.5.2.0)  
> ruport (0.8.12 \< 1.2.2)  
> image\_science (1.1.1 \< 1.1.3)  
> erubis (2.2.0 \< 2.4.1)  
> uuidtools (1.0.0 \< 1.0.2)  
> cgi\_multipart\_eof\_fix (2.1 \< 2.5.0)  
> attributes (4.0.0 \< 5.0.0)  
> net-ssh (1.0.10 \< 1.1.2)  
> mongrel\_cluster (1.0.2 \< 1.0.4)  
> capistrano (1.4.1 \< 2.1.0)  
> merb (0.2.0 \< 0.4.1)  
> actionmailer (1.3.4 \< 1.3.5)  
> actionpack (1.13.4 \< 1.13.5)  
> json (1.0.1 \< 1.1.1)  
> daemons (1.0.5 \< 1.0.9)  
> RubyInline (3.6.2 \< 3.6.5)  
> activesupport (1.4.3 \< 1.4.4)  
> builder (2.1.1 \< 2.1.2)  
> hpricot (0.5.110 \< 0.6)  
> fastthread (1.0 \< 1.0.1)
> 
> ```
> from script/server:3
> 
> ```

* * *

I had a similar issue, but now I have resolved it.  
After I’ve installed some rails plugins on window xp,  
mongrel server didn’t work.

As I ran the rake task, ‘rake rails:update’,  
web server has worked.

## change to the root of rails project

$ cd test5

## check the rake tasks

$ test5\> rake --tasks

## run the ‘rails:update’ task

$ test5\> rake rails:update

If you have installed the ruby 1.8.6 from souce package,  
maybe you must be re-install all the gem plugins(rails, rake, mysql,  
…).

## ref.

## [http://scoop.cheerfactory.co.uk/2007/11/02/upgrading-ruby-on-ubuntu-dapper/](http://scoop.cheerfactory.co.uk/2007/11/02/upgrading-ruby-on-ubuntu-dapper/)

[http://wiki.ajaxstart.com/usemodj/browse.screen?Ruby\_1.8.6\_Source\_Install](http://wiki.ajaxstart.com/usemodj/browse.screen?Ruby_1.8.6_Source_Install)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/14 "2007-12-08T17:59:23Z")

</div>

Blanket gem updates is usually a bad idea.

Evan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 12:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/15 "2008-07-06T12:01:35Z")

</div>

The problem is in missing gems.

For me it was aws-s3, after ‘gem install aws-s3’ installation with all  
dependencies everything worked fine.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 9:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/16 "2008-04-29T09:12:12Z")

</div>

Sj Seo wrote:

> Stephen B. wrote:
> 
> > I updated to ruby 1.8.6p111 last night and updated some gems and now  
> > mongrel doesn’t work:
> > 
> > (group doesn’t allow long quotes)
> > 
> > $ cd test5  
> > $ script/server  
> > =\> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)  
> > =\> Rails application starting on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
> > =\> Call with -d to detach  
> > =\> Ctrl-C to shutdown server  
> > \*\* Starting Mongrel listening at 0.0.0.0:3000  
> > \*\* Starting Rails with development environment…  
> > \*\* Rails loaded.  
> > \*\* Loading any Rails specific GemPlugins  
> > Exiting  
> > /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:15:  
> > warning: already initialized constant OPTIONS
> 
> * * *
> 
> I had a similar issue, but now I have resolved it.  
> After I’ve installed some rails plugins on window xp,  
> mongrel server didn’t work.
> 
> As I ran the rake task, ‘rake rails:update’,  
> web server has worked.
> 
> ## change to the root of rails project
> 
> $ cd test5
> 
> ## check the rake tasks
> 
> $ test5\> rake --tasks
> 
> ## run the ‘rails:update’ task
> 
> $ test5\> rake rails:update
> 
> If you have installed the ruby 1.8.6 from souce package,  
> maybe you must be re-install all the gem plugins(rails, rake, mysql,  
> …).
> 
> ## ref.
> 
> ## [http://scoop.cheerfactory.co.uk/2007/11/02/upgrading-ruby-on-ubuntu-dapper/](http://scoop.cheerfactory.co.uk/2007/11/02/upgrading-ruby-on-ubuntu-dapper/)
> 
> [http://wiki.ajaxstart.com/usemodj/browse.screen?Ruby\_1.8.6\_Source\_Install](http://wiki.ajaxstart.com/usemodj/browse.screen?Ruby_1.8.6_Source_Install)

* * *

I realize this is an old post, so apologize for bumping it if that’s  
what occurs. I encountered the same issue on a new Gentoo box after a  
“darcs get”, whereby script/server started WEBrick but then out popped  
Mongrel…and then the error “warning: already initialized constant  
OPTIONS.”

This made no sense to me, and I landed here. The suggestion to run the  
rake tasks had no effect, but a mongrel\_rails start did report a  
different error:  
/usr/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in  
`gem\_original\_require’: no such file to load – tzinfo  
(MissingSourceFile)

Subsequently, only a single “gem install tzinfo” (your circumstances may  
vary) was required to allow both “script/server” and “mongrel\_rails  
start” to function normally. So, an FYI for the community at large.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@stepheneb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stepheneb)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mongrel-startup-fails-now-already-initialized-constant-options/120115/17 "2008-08-31T04:17:38Z")

</div>

Kirk Schafer wrote:

> ## […]
> 
> I realize this is an old post, so apologize for bumping it if that’s  
> what occurs. I encountered the same issue on a new Gentoo box after a  
> “darcs get”, whereby script/server started WEBrick but then out popped  
> Mongrel…and then the error “warning: already initialized constant  
> OPTIONS.”
> 
> This made no sense to me, and I landed here. The suggestion to run the  
> rake tasks had no effect, but a mongrel\_rails start did report a  
> different error:  
> /usr/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in  
> `gem\_original\_require’: no such file to load – tzinfo  
> (MissingSourceFile)
> 
> Subsequently, only a single “gem install tzinfo” (your circumstances may  
> vary) was required to allow both “script/server” and “mongrel\_rails  
> start” to function normally. So, an FYI for the community at large.

In my case the cause for the problem was a spelling error in  
environment.rb. The error message of “mongrel\_rails start” was much more  
helpful than what came out of “script/server”. Thank you, Kirk for  
posting!