# Sqlite3-ruby gem install problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [August 4, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sqlite3-ruby-gem-install-problem/144939 "2008-08-04T15:21:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sqlite3-ruby-gem-install-problem/144939/1 "2008-08-04T15:21:19Z")
[on Kubuntu Linux 8.04.1, with Ruby 1.8.6 and latest rubygems] I think the installation routine was looking for sqlite3.h and couldn’t find it, but I may be way off. I’m clearly beyond my comfort/knowledge boundary…again. Here’s the first part of the console output: === tomc@tomc-desktop:~/Ruby-work$ sudo gem install sqlite3-ruby [sudo] password for tomc: Building native extensions. This could take a while… ERROR: Error installing sqlite3-ruby: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension. # /usr/local/bin/ruby extconf.rb install sqlite3-ruby checking for fdatasync() in -lrt… yes checking for sqlite3.h… no \*\*\* extconf.rb failed \*\*\* Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of necessary libraries and/or headers. Check the mkmf.log file for more details. You may need configuration options. . . . I’m installing this for use with Radiant, if that matters, as advised by [http://wiki.radiantcms.org/Installation](http://wiki.radiantcms.org/Installation) - “If you are using a newer version of SQLite3, make sure you have the latest version of sqlite3-ruby (1.2.1), or you will have problems with NULL fields.” IF it needs sqlite3.h (which I confirmed is not to be found in my file system), where do I get it, and where do I put it? It’s not in the Adept package manager. Thanks for any help, which is much needed at this point. t. – ```auto Tom C., MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226 << removed_email_address@domain.invalid >> (email) << TomCloyd.com >> (website & psychotherapy weblog) << sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health issues weblog) ``` ---
**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sqlite3-ruby-gem-install-problem/144939/2 "2008-08-04T15:57:39Z")
Tom C. wrote: > ERROR: Error installing sqlite3-ruby: > . > package manager. > > Thanks for any help, which is much needed at this point. > > t. Well, drat. While poking around a blog post about the Junebug wiki, relevant because it’s installed on the [Radiantcms.org](http://Radiantcms.org) website (which presumably is running Radiant (!) - and that confuses me - I found this: “make sure you have the libsqlite3-dev package installed on (ubuntu|debian), or the sqlite gem won’t compile” I love secret knowledge, but only when I’m in on the secret. I simply cannot imagine how I might have know this in advance. In any case, THAT IS in the adept package manager, and installing solved the problem. On to the next one. t. – ```auto Tom C., MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226 << removed_email_address@domain.invalid >> (email) << TomCloyd.com >> (website & psychotherapy weblog) << sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health issues weblog) ``` ---
**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sqlite3-ruby-gem-install-problem/144939/3 "2008-08-04T16:32:17Z")
Hello, Tom C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I love secret knowledge, but only when I’m in on the secret. I simply > cannot imagine how I might have know this in advance. hm, a missing header file can mostly be compensated by installing the sources/header files of the underlying library. this seems kind of logical to me. and those header packages are normally called “libXXX-dev” on debian. so this isn’t really a secret. just do a “apt-cache search libsqlite | grep dev” and install the resulting packages. Greetings, Niklas ---
**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sqlite3-ruby-gem-install-problem/144939/4 "2008-08-04T16:26:59Z")
On 4 Aug 2008, at 14:18, Tom C. wrote: > [on Kubuntu Linux 8.04.1, with Ruby 1.8.6 and latest rubygems] > > I think the installation routine was looking for sqlite3.h and > couldn’t find it, but I may be way off. I’m clearly beyond my > comfort/knowledge boundary…again. Here’s the first part of the > console output: You probably need the libsqlite3-dev package. Fred ---
**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/sqlite3-ruby-gem-install-problem/144939/5 "2008-08-04T17:03:58Z")
Niklas B. wrote: > Hello, > > Tom C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > I love secret knowledge, but only when I’m in on the secret. I simply > > cannot imagine how I might have know this in advance. > > hm, a missing header file can mostly be compensated by installing the sources/header files of the underlying library. this seems kind of logical to me. and those header packages are normally called “libXXX-dev” on debian. so this isn’t really a secret. just do a “apt-cache search libsqlite | grep dev” and install the resulting packages. > > Greetings, > Niklas Niklas, I would only ask you to consider that there are people out there struggling with ruby - to get some rather mundane things done (like translate HTML to Textile) - who come from very far away, conceptually. We find minutes in the evening, and sometimes hours on weekends, to do our struggling. We do NOT know what header files are (could that be because we’re not C programmers? Maybe. I’m just guessing, though.) Many things are a mystery to us. I’d love to take a year off and get really educated in things Ruby-related, but that’s not going to happen. I’m glad - very glad - that there are forums to which we can bring our simple questions, else we’d mostly just die in the midst of our perennial ignorance. So, I’m glad that what’s a problem for me probably isn’t for most other people here on in the Ruby community. And I do know that every month a learn a little more, but it comes slowly. I’m not in any way offended by anything you said, or by the fact that my question might have seemed bafflingly simple. I’m just wanting to explain things a bit. I’m an expert in a very different field, and I know that THERE, it also is easy to forget how little others know who pass through my world only occasionally. For what it’s worth, in well over a decade of being professionally involved in my field, and avocationally involved in yours, I never once met any who comes close to my level of knowledge of matters relating to computer and programming. I’m sad about that, but it’s true. Here I’m pretty dumb, true, but not in the rest of the world. (All of which is not much help to me when I get stuck.) But don’t worry. I’ll likely give you and others occasion to practice patience again, and possibly soon! t. – ```auto Tom C., MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226 << removed_email_address@domain.invalid >> (email) << TomCloyd.com >> (website & psychotherapy weblog) << sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health issues weblog) ```