# Strange results when require'ing RMagick **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [June 4, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/strange-results-when-requireing-rmagick/62420 "2006-06-04T15:45:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_Conrad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/strange-results-when-requireing-rmagick/62420/1 "2006-06-04T15:45:19Z")
I’ve read about some packages that return false when they are require’d through rubygem’s special version of require, and I think I understand the issue well enough. But this behavior has me confused anew… Included are the transcripts from two separate irb sessions where I attempt to require RMagick. Apparently the only way I can get the library loaded is by require’ing it twice but switching the case of the first two letters between calls to require. Thanks in advance for any help with this, John Emerson Conrad $ ruby -v ruby 1.8.4 (2005-12-24) [powerpc-darwin8.5.0] [FIRST SESSION] $ irb irb(main):001:0\> require ‘rubygems’ =\> true irb(main):002:0\> require ‘RMagick’ =\> false irb(main):003:0\> Magick NameError: uninitialized constant Magick from (irb):3 from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/specification.rb:227 irb(main):004:0\> require ‘rmagick’ =\> true irb(main):005:0\> Magick =\> Magick irb(main):006:0\> exit [SECOND SESSION] $ irb irb(main):001:0\> require ‘rubygems’ =\> true irb(main):002:0\> require ‘rmagick’ =\> false irb(main):003:0\> require ‘RMagick’ =\> true ---
**Author:** ![John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_Conrad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/strange-results-when-requireing-rmagick/62420/2 "2006-06-04T16:34:12Z")
John Conrad wrote: > between calls to require. > irb(main):001:0\> require ‘rubygems’ > irb(main):005:0\> Magick > irb(main):003:0\> require ‘RMagick’ > =\> true What version of RMagick do you have installed? In the 2nd session, when require returns “false”, try this: puts Magick::Long\_version What happens? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_Conrad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/strange-results-when-requireing-rmagick/62420/3 "2006-06-04T16:52:32Z")
On 6/4/06, Timothy H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I have rmagick-1.11.1 installed, and I uninstalled all previous versions to make sure they weren’t somehow confusing my system. The second session is the same as the first session except the order of the calls are reversed. The constant ‘Magick’ is uninitialized until I make the second call to require (perhaps I should have demonstrated this explicitly as I did in the first session). Anyway, here’s what happens: $ irb irb(main):001:0\> require ‘rubygems’ =\> true irb(main):002:0\> require ‘rmagick’ =\> false irb(main):003:0\> puts Magick::Long\_version NameError: uninitialized constant Magick from (irb):3 from /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/specification.rb:227 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_Conrad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/strange-results-when-requireing-rmagick/62420/4 "2006-06-04T22:08:51Z")
> I’m stumped. I purged my playpen version of RMagick and installed it via > a normal “gem install”: After I have loaded RMagick (by require’ing it twice and changing from ‘RMagick’ to ‘rmagick’ between require calls), I get the same result as you from puts Magick::Long\_version. Man I’m stumped. Thanks for trying… JEC ---
**Author:** ![John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_Conrad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/strange-results-when-requireing-rmagick/62420/5 "2006-06-04T20:52:02Z")
John Conrad wrote: > > > > explicitly > NameError: uninitialized constant Magick > from (irb):3 > from > /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/specification.rb:227 I’m stumped. I purged my playpen version of RMagick and installed it via a normal “gem install”: timothyhunter$ ruby --version ruby 1.8.4 (2005-12-24) [powerpc-darwin8.3.0] timothyhunter$ gem --version 0.8.11 timothyhunter$ irb irb(main):001:0\> Magick NameError: uninitialized constant Magick from (irb):1 irb(main):002:0\> require ‘rubygems’ =\> true irb(main):003:0\> require ‘RMagick’ =\> true irb(main):004:0\> puts Magick::Long\_version This is RMagick 1.11.1 ($Date: 2006/05/27 21:05:59 $) Copyright (C) 2006 by Timothy P. Hunter Built with ImageMagick 6.2.7 04/27/06 Q8 [http://www.imagemagick.org](http://www.imagemagick.org) Built for ruby 1.8.4 (2005-12-24) [powerpc-darwin8.3.0] Web page: [http://rmagick.rubyforge.org](http://rmagick.rubyforge.org) Email: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid =\> nil irb(main):005:0\> ---
**Author:** ![John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_Conrad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/strange-results-when-requireing-rmagick/62420/6 "2006-06-04T22:30:05Z")
John Conrad wrote: > Thanks for trying… > > JEC One last thing: I’m using RubyGems 0.8.11. As a last resort you could uninstall the rmagick gem and install RMagick from source. It’s not all that much more work (especially since you’ve already got ImageMagick/GraphicsMagick installed) and then you just wouldn’t have to depend on RubyGems. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Conrad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/John_Conrad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/strange-results-when-requireing-rmagick/62420/7 "2006-06-04T23:34:52Z")
> One last thing: I’m using RubyGems 0.8.11. > > As a last resort you could uninstall the rmagick gem and install RMagick > from source. It’s not all that much more work (especially since you’ve > already got ImageMagick/GraphicsMagick installed) and then you just > wouldn’t have to depend on RubyGems. I’m using RubyGems 0.8.11 too. Sorry, I forgot to mention that before. Thanks for your help. I think I’ll follow your advice and install from source. (But if anybody else on the list has any clue what’s going on, I’d still love to solve this mystery.) JEC