# Runtime Error Installing Ruby 1.8.5 **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [December 12, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/runtime-error-installing-ruby-1-8-5/79106 "2006-12-12T06:05:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/runtime-error-installing-ruby-1-8-5/79106/1 "2006-12-12T06:05:17Z")
Hi there, I’m trying to get amaroK installed on my minimalist Slackware 10.2 machine. I know: “minimalist” and “amaroK” might not be intuitively concurrent. Still, I thought I’d give it a whirl. Of the three mandatory dependencies, I have two successfully installed: kdelibs (required installing qt) and taglib. Ruby, though, is giving me fits during installation. Here’s the error that kills things: “/home/muraii/temp/ruby-1.8.5-p2/lib/fileutils.rb:1239:in `copy’: unknown file type: ./.ext/. (RuntimeError)” I’ve googled the hell out of it, but can only seem to find one person who’s [publicized having the problem](http://www.artima.com/forums/flat.jsp?forum=123&thread=186273) _and_ who fixed it. That person made readline and then copied a resultant readline.bundle file into the Ruby install directory. I suppose the installing architecture is a bit different on OS X, that person’s machine, from Linux, as I only manage to make a readline.so file (or that’s the only one that looks important), which I copied to /usr/local/lib/ alongside the ruby executable in /usr/local/bin. Nothing. Ruby installed into /usr/local/bin/, and responds to “$ ruby -v”; but when I type only “$ ruby”, it hangs. I don’t imagine it’s properly installed. I’ve already got some readline libraries installed, so I’m not sure what this one has to do with anything. I know I could likely just grab a package from linuxpackages, but I’d prefer to go manual here. Anyone have any experience or thoughts? Thanks, Daniel ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 11:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/runtime-error-installing-ruby-1-8-5/79106/2 "2006-12-12T11:17:48Z")
On Tue, Dec 12, 2006 at 02:05:05PM +0900, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > Ruby installed into /usr/local/bin/, and responds to “$ ruby -v”; but > when I type only “$ ruby”, it hangs. I don’t imagine it’s properly Are you sure it’s really hanging? Maybe it’s just waiting for your input. Type this when it hangs: puts ‘Hello world!’ Press and Ctrl-D. See if it works. By the way, since you use Slackware, if you want to compile ruby (or any software) from source, I suggest you use checkinstall so uninstalling or upgrading will be easier. Thanks, Lei Ming ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/runtime-error-installing-ruby-1-8-5/79106/3 "2006-12-12T16:04:23Z")
Lei Ming wrote: > puts ‘Hello world!’ > > Press and Ctrl-D. See if it works. > > By the way, since you use Slackware, if you want to compile ruby (or any > software) from source, I suggest you use checkinstall so uninstalling or > upgrading will be easier. I was wondering if that mightn’t have been what was going on, but I’m not at all familiar with using Ruby. I’m really only motivated to install it because I’m installing amaroK. But you’re absolutely correct! This leaves me with the question: is it installed sufficiently well to work for that purpose? I’m not really keen on leaving partially crippled apps on my machine, but if it’s okay for now, it’s okay. I’ll give it a shot. And thanks for the checkinstall pointer. I’m looking into it. Especially for folks newer to Linux, understanding where things are and how to clean an unused software off, or upgrade it effectively, is a little daunting. Luckily, it’s not the Windows registry. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/runtime-error-installing-ruby-1-8-5/79106/4 "2006-12-14T04:50:47Z")
On Wed, Dec 13, 2006 at 12:00:06AM +0900, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > This leaves me with the question: is it installed sufficiently well to > work for that purpose? I’m not really keen on leaving partially > crippled apps on my machine, but if it’s okay for now, it’s okay. I’ll > give it a shot. I checked Amarok’s documentation. Ruby scripts simply use the command line dcop interface to communicate with Amarok, so a basic Ruby installation should be sufficiently enough. > Daniel Be a happy slacker 🙂 Lei Ming