# Ruby gems on ubuntu

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-gems-on-ubuntu/118450>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [October 27, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-gems-on-ubuntu/118450 "2007-10-27T02:03:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**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:** [October 27, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-gems-on-ubuntu/118450/1 "2007-10-27T02:03:40Z")

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I removed rubygems entirely to start out clean. When I reinstalled the  
package (via Synaptic), I ran this from the command line.

$gem -v  
/usr/local/lib/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in  
`gem_original_require': no such file to load -- sources (LoadError) from /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require’  
from  
/usr/local/lib/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/source\_info\_cache.rb:6  
from  
/usr/local/lib/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in  
`gem_original_require' from /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require’  
from  
/usr/local/lib/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/remote\_installer.rb:12  
from  
/usr/local/lib/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in  
`gem_original_require' from /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require’  
from /usr/local/lib/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems.rb:112:in  
`manage\_gems’  
from /usr/bin/gem:10

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [October 27, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-gems-on-ubuntu/118450/2 "2007-10-27T03:27:15Z")

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removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote:

> I removed rubygems entirely to start out clean. When I reinstalled the package (via Synaptic), I ran this from the command line.

Is Ubunutu installing it under /usr/lib, instead of /usr/local/lib?

–  
James B.

“Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally  
for machines to execute.”

- H. Abelson and G. Sussman  
(in "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [November 3, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-gems-on-ubuntu/118450/3 "2007-11-03T23:59:50Z")

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Hi,

I had the same problem on Ubuntu Feisty and Gutsy and corrected the  
problem by setting the GEM\_HOME environment variable to :

GEM\_HOME=/var/lib/gems/1.8

Chris