# Postgres gem -- LoadError **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [June 3, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/postgres-gem-loaderror/105840 "2007-06-03T18:26:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/postgres-gem-loaderror/105840/1 "2007-06-03T18:26:27Z")
I’m at a loss to explain why the postgres gem will not work on my new server. I’ve gotten it working on several other servers in the past. The major difference between then and now is that I’m using a newer version of PostgreSQL. 8.x as opposed to 7.x. === Server setup OS: Fedora Core 6 (Commands shown with “$” are performed as the same user that mongrel is running as. “#” are commands from root.) $ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/psql --version psql (PostgreSQL) 8.2.4 contains support for command-line editing === The error message I’m currently running a Rails app with mongrel\_cluster on ports 8000-8002. When I try to access a page, I get the following in my production.log file. LoadError (libpq.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory - /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/postgres-0.7.1/./postgres.so): /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/postgres-0.7.1/./postgres.so Oddly, I can do the following. $ irb irb(main):001:0\> require ‘postgres’ =\> true Why would that work for the mongrel user at the command line, but not from the mongrel\_rails process? === Installing the postgres gem. First I did a “gem install postgres” and then I tried the following. # echo $LD\_LIBRARY\_PATH /usr/local/pgsql/lib # pwd /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/postgres-0.7.1 # make clean # ruby extconf.rb --with-pgsql-dir=/usr/local/pgsql checking for cygwin32\_socket() in -lwsock32… no checking for socket() in -lsocket… no checking for gethostbyname() in -linet… no checking for gethostbyname() in -lnsl… yes checking for sys/un.h… yes checking for socket()… yes checking for hsterror()… no checking for gethostname()… yes checking for PQsetdbLogin() in -lpq… yes checking for PQsetClientEncoding()… yes checking for pg\_encoding\_to\_char()… yes checking for PQescapeString()… yes creating Makefile # make gcc -I. -I. -I/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/i386-linux -I. -DHAVE\_SYS\_UN\_H - DHAVE\_SOCKET -DHAVE\_GETHOSTNAME -DHAVE\_PQSETCLIENTENCODING - DHAVE\_PG\_ENCODING\_TO\_CHAR -DHAVE\_PQESCAPESTRING -I/usr/local/pgsql/ include -fPIC -c postgres.c gcc -shared -L"/usr/local/pgsql/lib" -L"/usr/lib" -o postgres.so postgres.o -lruby -lpq -lnsl -lpthread -ldl -lcrypt -lm -lc # make install /usr/bin/install -c -m 0755 postgres.so /usr/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/ i386-linux # ldd ./postgres.so ``` linux-gate.so.1 => (0x0091b000) libruby.so.1.8 => /usr/lib/libruby.so.1.8 (0x00ef8000) libpq.so.5 => /usr/local/pgsql/lib/libpq.so.5 (0x009b7000) libnsl.so.1 => /lib/libnsl.so.1 (0x0085d000) libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x00110000) libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00b1f000) libcrypt.so.1 => /lib/libcrypt.so.1 (0x009d3000) libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x00127000) libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x0023b000) /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x00531000) ``` As the mongrel user, I get the same result from ldd. I can also do the following: $ cd /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/postgres-0.7.1/ $ ls -al total 164 drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jun 3 11:06 . drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Jun 3 10:50 … -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 5289 Jun 3 10:50 ChangeLog drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 3 10:50 doc -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 1232 Jun 3 10:50 extconf.rb -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 3545 Jun 3 11:06 Makefile -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 198 Jun 3 10:50 MANIFEST -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 7643 Jun 3 11:06 mkmf.log -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 34307 Jun 3 10:50 postgres.c -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 32004 Jun 3 11:06 postgres.o -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 684 Jun 3 10:50 postgres-ruby.gemspec -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 33624 Jun 3 11:06 postgres.so -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 2980 Jun 3 10:50 README -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 4347 Jun 3 10:50 README.ja drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 3 10:50 sample So I don’t think that it’s a permissions problem. Is this something as simple as “PostgreSQL 8.2.4 doesn’t work with Ruby” or am I missing something else obvious here? – James ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/postgres-gem-loaderror/105840/2 "2007-06-05T04:34:38Z")
On Jun 3, 11:25 am, jdl [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > is running as. “#” are commands from root.) > > Why would that work for the mongrel user at the command line, but not > /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/postgres-0.7.1 > checking for hsterror()… no > DHAVE\_PG\_ENCODING\_TO\_CHAR -DHAVE\_PQESCAPESTRING -I/usr/local/pgsql/ > libruby.so.1.8 =\> /usr/lib/libruby.so.1.8 (0x00ef8000) > the following: > -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 3545 Jun 3 11:06 Makefile > So I don’t think that it’s a permissions problem. > > Is this something as simple as “PostgreSQL 8.2.4 doesn’t work with > Ruby” or am I missing something else obvious here? > > – James Follow-up. I removed the following packages via ‘yum remove foo’. ruby-irb ruby-devel ruby-libs ruby I then removed the /usr/lib/ruby directory. Then I compiled a new copy of ruby with the tried-and-true ‘configure / make / make install’. Re-ran the setup for ruby gems. Installed the gems that I needed: postgres, rails, mongrel, etc. Some old executables where hanging around in /usr/bin (Yay for yum not removing them as instructed.) /usr/bin/ruby /usr/bin /usr/bin/mongrel\_rails /usr/bin/mongrel\_cluster\_ctl I removed those files, and made symlinks in their place. /usr/bin/ruby → /usr/local/bin/ruby etc… The gem install postgres process still needed some hand-holding, with the step of going into the gem directory and running everything by hand (see my original post). Everything works fine now. Moral: package managers suck. – James